Is it possible to learn Hebrew on your own? How to quickly learn a new language from scratch

Victoria Raz: Hello. Victoria Raz and the Ivrika project for learning Hebrew online are with you. And today I want to introduce you to Sveta Khachaturyan. Sveta repatriated from Russia 6 years ago. And I want to ask her a question about how she learned Hebrew, because she did it, in my opinion, simply brilliantly. Sveta, a few words about yourself and how you learned Hebrew.

Svetlana Khachaturyan: Hello. My name is Sveta, I do coaching in Israel. I am a psychologist and coach. How did I learn Hebrew? When I arrived in Israel, I didn’t know the language at all. Everything was new to me, and I was sure that studying would take me 10 years. Then I started going to ulpan in Tel Aviv. There was intensive training 5 days a week for 5 months. I believe the base should be intense based on my experience. After I completed the first Aleph course, I began to study a lot on my own: read, do some exercises. For example, study the forms of verbs - take words and run their gender to all the binyans. And she did this for many hours a day.

Victoria Raz: What helped you motivate yourself, because we are all too lazy to learn anything?

Svetlana Khachaturyan: I had strong motivation, because at that time I also had difficulties with English. Those. I had only one language, and I needed to adapt to this country as quickly as possible. I wanted to study Hebrew and be part of the community. Those. a clearly defined goal - to learn the language as soon as possible - this is what helped me. And plus I had great support from my husband, who read with me and talked. I talked to different girls and asked why they don’t study with their husbands, although many have husbands who have been in the country for many years and speak the language. And many claim that their husbands have little patience. Maybe so, but it seems to me that this is simply not the right approach. We need to agree on this, we need to understand why he himself needs it. My husband has patience and the ability to teach people, so I'm lucky to have him.

Victoria Raz: You recently took a business course with me in Hebrew. How do you recommend starting learning Hebrew? Is it worth delaying this and waiting until you learn Hebrew perfectly, or is it better to jump straight into the water, take some course in Hebrew and try to understand as you go? Your experience.

Svetlana Khachaturyan: How did I do it? I learned Hebrew to such a level that I could speak and understand it in about 2 years, i.e. by this time I spoke fluently household topics. But I needed a professional language, and that’s why I went to study coaching in Israel. It was a course for a year and 2 months, where there were very difficult things. It was necessary to write reports every week, i.e. I got a letter connected. And this was perhaps the most difficult thing. When I wrote these reports, I made a lot of mistakes - through sweat and blood I learned to write in Hebrew. My coach demanded the maximum from me, he did not make any discounts for me because I had only been in the country for 3 years. It was an academic language - psychology, everything connected with it. It was very difficult for me in class: while other people could express themselves easily and freely, I, who was used to expressing myself high level in Russian, in Hebrew she was more silent. But I must say that people here are somehow more relaxed about such things.

Victoria Raz: Many people are simply embarrassed to talk. In fact, there is nothing to be ashamed of here, everyone is very loyal.

Svetlana Khachaturyan: We Russian speakers have this language barrier. Its roots lie in school, where we were not allowed to make mistakes. You need to rebuild this in yourself, because in other countries in the world no one bothers with how you speak and whether you make mistakes. Well, maybe they'll laugh, at most. This psychological problem In fact. Now there are different teachers who help get rid of what is called horoda miasopha – those. apathy, phobia, fear of speaking foreign language. Those. language barrier, they treat it, they help you get over it. Yes, you can help yourself too.

Victoria Raz: Do you know any little technique you can use to help yourself overcome the language barrier? I think many users are interested in this question.

Svetlana Khachaturyan: Of course there is. This technique will help overcome not only the language barrier, but any fear, any emotional state, which prevents you from taking any step. We are used to doing this: if we are afraid, we try to hide this fear. Those. put on a confident face - and go ahead! This is very bad way overcome fear. In fact, fear must be felt: where it is located in the body. Typically, my fear is in my stomach - I already know because I study it all the time. And when I start to simply breathe into this area, not trying to hide this fear somewhere to show a beautiful, intelligent face, but just breathe into it - and after that go and do what is scary. Those. fear should become an assistant in overcoming it. This is very interesting. And when a person first discovers overcoming his fear in this way, he realizes how easy it is. Fear will not go away; it will accompany us until the end of our days.

Victoria Raz: Those. We are all afraid, and I was afraid, and Sveta was afraid of a lot of things. This is not something unique. Exactly the same emotions are experienced by all other people around us. It’s just that maybe they are masking it, they want to show themselves as so cool and invulnerable. Those. you have to be afraid - and do it.

Svetlana Khachaturyan: Yes, calmly acknowledge your fear. Sometimes I even warned that my Hebrew is not very good, so if possible, speak more slowly - i.e. I asked directly.

Victoria Raz: Do you remember exactly what phrase you said? How did you ask me to speak slower?

Svetlana Khachaturyan:

Victoria Raz: Here, friends, take this phrase into service.

Svetlana Khachaturyan: And you know, people begin to slowly, carefully explain the words. And to this day, when I sit in courses where only locals are around, and if they pronounce some word or verb that I have never heard, I understand the context, but it is important for me to clarify. I ask what this word means. Those. It is very important not to be shy to ask when you don’t understand.

Victoria Raz: This is very consistent with how I have always acted - i.e. with mistakes, but speak, go to study in Hebrew, ask even some basic words. Even if, for example, in the supermarket they forgot the name of something. And then everything will work out. And in conclusion, Svetlana, can you give me some summary, a wish for our listeners, those who are new to the country or are just about to move, who are afraid because of the language, because of their career, or work?

Svetlana Khachaturyan: Yes, sure. I am a psychologist, so I will speak “from my bell tower.” It is very important to overcome these limiting beliefs within yourself. For example, I don’t understand other languages ​​well, I have no hearing, poor memory, I’m slow at doing things - everything that was instilled in us as children. Very often you can hear this from pensioners who are trying to learn Hebrew. But quite the opposite, pensioners, when they teach new language, form new neurons in their brain, and thereby strengthen their memory. Those. on the contrary, it can be taken as a challenge that will help develop the brain. When a person understands why he is doing this and how quickly he needs to achieve a certain result, he will try. And of course, you shouldn’t believe promises to learn a language in 3 hours or, for example, in 9 days. I believe in systematic and persistent system training, just like any muscle training.

Victoria Raz: This analogy with sports is also very close to me - indeed, the language, the body, and memory - everything needs to be trained. Thank you, Svetlana, all the best!

Svetlana Khachaturyan: Believe in yourself and achieve your goals. All the best, bye!

Is it possible learn Hebrew on your own?

It's real and possible!

Short Hebrew lessons will be published, with specific examples, voiceovers and necessary explanations. No prior knowledge is required to start classes! Start learning Hebrew from scratch!

Hebrew self-teacher and 7 learning principles for those who learn Hebrew on their own

I'll tell you how to learn Hebrew correctly so that it YOU learn. That is, to communicate freely in Hebrew, read and write in Hebrew.

By observing the following rules, you certainly achieve success in learning Hebrew.

1. Regularity

Your classes should be regular. At the initial stage of training, this is critical. If you study rarely and irregularly, you will not learn anything and will only waste your time.

SPEND AT LEAST HALF AN HOUR TO HEBREW DAILY

Half an hour is the most minimum minimum.

It is ideal to devote a total of about 2 hours to studying Hebrew daily. It could be half an hour in the morning on the way to work - listening to audio in Hebrew. Half an hour during lunch break - reading in Hebrew and repeating new words. An hour in the evening - writing, reading and reciting in Hebrew.

2. Intensity

At the initial stage, it is very important to study intensively. What does it mean?

This means that if you learn one word a day, you will not learn Hebrew. Every day you need to write, and read, and compose phrases, and repeat the texts you have learned, and learn words.

Have you ever lit a fire? At first the flame is weak, and a slight breeze of wind can extinguish it. But if you add some wood and fan the fire harder, the fire will soon flare up.

So it is with Hebrew. At the beginning of learning, you need to protect and support the first fragile knowledge. And then your fire of study will burn so strong that it will constantly demand new information. And you will no longer be stopped.

START LEARNING HEBREW FROM ZERO INTENSIVELY

3. Integrated approach

Learn to write, read, listen and speak at the same time. Complex classes greatly increase the efficiency of material absorption.
While working on the text, listen to it, read it out loud, rewrite it and retell it in your own words.

READ, WRITE, LISTEN AND SPEAK HEBREW

4. Effectiveness

Achieve specific results in each lesson. Read the text until reading Hebrew becomes smooth and easy, and the text is familiar and understandable. Write the words until you write them without mistakes. Practice a new rule in different contexts to help you remember it better. Practice your pronunciation by repeating loudly after the announcers.

ACHIEVE RESULTS IN EVERY HEBREW LESSON

5. From simple to complex

Keep the expressions you want to say in Hebrew as simple as possible. Many phrases cannot be translated word for word from Russian into Hebrew. Use simple statements and familiar words.

As it expands vocabulary and knowledge of Hebrew syntax, you will be able to build more complex sentences and convey your thoughts more accurately.

USE SIMPLE HEBREW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

6. Less is more

It is better to take a small text and completely disassemble it than to grab a huge book and quit on the first page.

It is better to learn 10 words well than to review and forget 100.

Be realistic about your strengths. Focus on quality, not quantity.

YOUR KNOWLEDGE SHOULD BE QUALITY

7. Repetition

I really don’t want to be banal, but...

Repetition is the mother of learning!

Today it seems that I have learned everything perfectly, everything is clear and simple. And after a week you can’t even string together words, and you don’t remember the rule and you don’t understand the text.

Everything that you have successfully analyzed and completed must be regularly repeated and refreshed.

REPEAT WHAT YOU HAVE PASSED

7. Pleasure

You must study with enthusiasm, interest and pleasure. You learn Hebrew on your own, for yourself. Don't do it under pressure. The result will be negative.

Every time you learn something new, enjoy interesting discoveries!

You have a goal - fluency in Hebrew. I'm sure you can do it! Prove it to yourself.

1. You have to really want it

Yes, it's as simple as that: it all starts with a strong intention. Honestly, after moving to Israel I had no desire to learn Hebrew, because the first lessons in ulpan were some kind of torture. None of the local teachers language schools ah doesn’t speak Russian (and that’s good!), with rare exceptions they know English, so immersion in the language at first turns out to be a bit harsh. I was lucky: six months before repatriation I was on I picked up the basics like the alphabet and basic phrases there. That is why I always insist that people repatriate after educational programs like Taglit and Masa, where you have the opportunity to calmly learn a language (at a special language school) and not worry about where to live and get money for food.

The desire to take Hebrew seriously arose only after the first successes in the lessons, when I began to see at least some return from educational process, and because of... envy. When I stood helplessly in a store or in a bank and could not reach the Israelis in English and at the same time saw my local friends tweeting fluently in Hebrew, I fiercely wanted to wake up one day and, like in the movies, have a program in my head with a complete vocabulary Hebrew stock. In addition, I understood that without language, career opportunities are significantly limited. A strong desire is actually half the battle.

2. You need to complete the free ulpan Aleph

After moving to Israel for permanent residence, every new repatriate has the right to receive more than 100 hours of Hebrew absolutely free, but not everyone takes advantage of this opportunity. Some people are stopped by their children (they need to be fed, and it’s difficult to live on one basket in Israel), others are simply lazy, others don’t see the point in this - there are different reasons. I was very lucky with a teacher who literally scolded me like a schoolgirl for absences and uncompleted assignments. I was angry, cried, threw textbooks, but in the end I passed all the exams with high score. The intensive course was not in vain: I had a base with which to develop the language further. I wrote about other subsidized language programs in Israel.

3. It takes a lot of independent work.

I pestered everyone: in stores - to sellers, on the street - to passers-by (fortunately, Israelis are very open and always ready to help with the language), on the bus - to drivers. I practiced phrases I had learned in ulpan, and at home I took Israeli magazines, copied articles by hand, translated and wrote out unfamiliar phrases. This method was taught to me by a friend who came to Israel from Russia many years ago and successfully opened a beauty salon here. It is difficult to engage in such self-education alone, without the help of others: there are phrases that cannot be found in the dictionary. My neighbors, with whom I rented my first apartments, helped me a lot. At the same time, there must be iron discipline: I allocated at least an hour a day to Hebrew, without any excuses for laziness. If you adhere to this scheme, in a month or two you can achieve good results.

4. Need a good volunteer mentor

If you don't have the money for a private teacher, look for service exchange sites. It often happens that those who want to learn Russian or need some service that you can provide remotely are ready to “repay” in return with their knowledge and help. There are entire websites dedicated to this topic, but, as always, Facebook saved me. I once wrote a lamentable post on my page that I was ready to give anything for the opportunity to practice Hebrew with someone, and one wonderful woman volunteered to help me completely free of charge. Once a week we called on Skype and chatted on different topics. Largely thanks to her, I now receive compliments almost every time I meet Israelis, who can hardly believe that after a year in the country it is possible to speak Hebrew so fluently.

5. We need to work with the Israelis

Firstly, with Israelis you will always have guaranteed earnings (Russians sometimes cheat on money), and secondly, you will quickly master basic Hebrew. I managed to work both in a hotel and in kindergarten, and in the store, and in each of these places, I took some part of my current vocabulary. The Israelis simply have titanic patience with new repatriates, or I was simply lucky with my colleagues: they corrected me, they helped me, they listened to me.

6. You need to constantly meet native speakers

If you are not afraid of dating sites, you can find a lot of interlocutors there in the language you need. Correspondence on various topics does not oblige you to anything, but at the same time provides an opportunity to improve your written Hebrew. And if you suddenly fall mutually in love with a native speaker, consider it a problem language barrier and completely resolved.

7. You need to watch Israeli TV channels

The easiest option is direct connections from some important events. Editors don't have time to prepare a serious text, so reporters explain themselves in simple phrases, which are not difficult to understand. Another feature of local television is subtitles in Hebrew. That is, you simultaneously hear and read the dialogues. Literally all language school teachers give advice to watch TV, but few students follow it, because at first it’s very boring to watch programs or news that you don’t understand anything about. It is very important here to overcome the first resistance, and every day your interest will grow, as you will begin to recognize words heard somewhere by chance on the street, and then included in the context of someone’s monologue on TV.

Hebrew - most interesting language, part of the Afro-Asiatic languages. The closest “relatives” of Hebrew are Arabic and Aramaic. More than five million people consider Hebrew their native language. But in fairness it is worth noting that modern Hebrew is artificial language, the basis of which is the Hebrew language. On its basis, borrowing grammar and vocabulary from other languages, a new modern Hebrew was created. The creation of a new language based on an extinct one is a unique phenomenon, unique in the world.

Features of Hebrew

What is interesting about Hebrew is that only consonants are displayed in writing, vowels are completely excluded.
All recorded text information is read following in the left direction, which is unusual for us. The alphabetic characters of Hebrew have a very respectable age, more than three thousand years old. By learning Hebrew, a person simultaneously studies the historical past of Israel and gets to know its traditions.

How to quickly learn Hebrew at home can only be understood after studying the alphabet, which has 22 consonant Hebrew letters. The number 22 is not at all random. Numerologists say that such a number is special. There is a legend that says that a wise Jewish mathematician, having made complex calculations, came to the conclusion that the number 22 is the key to the universe.

A Hebrew teacher will tell you that this language is amazing; it attracts you with unknown forces. It actually has a unique sound that can only be heard by those who are inclined to it.

To understand how to learn Hebrew at home, you should remember important rule that Hebrew cannot be memorized, much less cramming should be done individual words. Hebrew requires respect and understanding of each phrase, therefore, in the process of learning Hebrew, attention is paid to phrases in different offers and word forms.

The first thing you should start with is to understand how to learn to memorize and subsequently classify the roots of words.

Hebrew lessons

Hebrew is studied on a completely different principle than other languages. A person may know many words, but cannot say even a simple phrase at all. This is a fairly common example. You should not blindly learn just one word. They are very short in Hebrew and easy to remember.

For many students, the real problem is not learning words, but constructing sentences, simply speaking. Some people find it very difficult to understand what others say in Hebrew. But in language this is the most important thing. It is important to learn to speak and understand.

A Hebrew tutor will always help and hone your speaking skills, but when the process proceeds independently, it is important to start with the simplest expressions. Only patience and work will help you master Hebrew, allowing you to plunge headlong into this amazing language space.

It is very important to say each phrase you learn out loud, even if it is completely short and simple. Of course, such a process will be more effective if it is accompanied by a Hebrew tutor; in Moscow it will not be difficult to find such a competent teacher.

Hebrew is the oldest language in the world, having preserved its original appearance and composition for many centuries. Currently, its written and spoken language has not changed. Many researchers claim that the Bible was written in a very similar language, since the composition, stylistic features And catchphrases, used today in Israeli literature and journalism, closely resemble biblical language.

Israel is a modern, powerful country with active political, cultural and friendly ties with Russia. Therefore, nowadays many schools and courses are opening where you can learn Hebrew.

There are various ways how to learn Hebrew. Many students do this using the Internet. In the capital and others major cities Beginners can learn Hebrew through specialized courses led by experienced teachers. You can also purchase the necessary tutorials, which contain all required material for purchase basic knowledge and to replenish your vocabulary.

How quickly can you learn Hebrew? Naturally, communicating directly with native speakers contributes to better learning linguistic features and pronunciation. Needed with social networks find friends who speak Hebrew fluently, they will be able to “train” in spoken language. IN lately Video lessons that take place online with a teacher are in great demand, but they are quite expensive.

Is it easy to learn Hebrew on your own?

Those who believe that you can easily learn Hebrew at home are mistaken. In addition to applying the necessary educational materials, audiobooks and video courses, practice of conducting dialogues with direct native speakers is necessary.

Many people ask where to learn Hebrew while having the opportunity for real communication. At the same time, you should not go to Israel, since classes in specialized schools provide such an opportunity for communication, albeit within study group. Simple memorization does not contribute to the development of fluent speech skills, but is perfect for expanding your vocabulary and correctly constructing phrases in Hebrew.

Many beginners are interested in how long it takes to learn Hebrew. Everything here is individual. Agreed texts in Hebrew can be quickly understood and mastered by many, since all the subtleties of grammar are reflected in the rules, and dictionaries have necessary words. However, inconsistent texts will certainly cause a number of difficulties, since not every tutorial has information about some linguistic nuances - rearrangement of root consonants or the subjunctive mood. Similar texts have words whose spelling is similar, but they are read differently depending on certain conditions.