The point is not really to “teach” you Hebrew. In a traditional
learning environment like school or Ulpan, you'd have a teacher, and
they would explain stuff, give you exercises, feedback on the
exercises, and the opportunity to practice and ask if something is
unclear. This guide cannot really give you most of that. It is simply
meant to give you the basic idea on how to understand the most basics
of the language, in order to get you somewhat ready to learn yourself.
That's why all the examples are extremely simplistic.
How to learn Hebrew (in my opinion)
Best ways - go to Ulpan, or join the IDF. For many people these are
not really viable options, so I will do my best to get you up to
speed with basic stuff. The basics loop to learn Hebrew, using this
guide -
-
Learn the alphabet - you can do it in a week, don’t skip it.
-
Read the grammar guide - you don’t have to memorize everything,
but it is recommended you at least remember the prefixes and
suffixes (ה, ב, ל, etc), as this will make reading a lot easier.
-
Read - find something you find interesting, and read using a
dictionary.
More about reading in a different section. Do this for a while until you are used to the language at a
basic level. This can take anywhere between a few months to years,
depending on how good you want to become and what your goals are. It
is recommended that you start using other methods like listening and
talking to a tutor when you feel ready. Convert to Judaism and
reclaim the holy land.
Notice - this is only my opinion. Many will
not agree with me on the effectiveness of this method / loop. Feel
free to use this guide (or don’t use it) as you please! You can read
the “inspiration” section to know why this is what I recommend.
Inspiration (feel free to skip) -
this guide was inspired by my
journey to learn the Japanese language. My main wish was to avoid
grammar as much as possible. I wanted to know the basics, and start
reading. I had no interest in traditional learning methods
(textbooks like Genki, Tobira or Minna no Nihongo), simply because
they are extremely boring. Learning a new language takes a long
time, and I really don’t want to demotivate myself by starting with
boring shit. Chilling in r/hebrew, I realized there is no one place
to learn and look up some basic grammar, and people were redirected
to places like Doulingo (🤮). So, based on Tae Kim’s guide to
japanese grammar, and Sakubi, I wrote this guide in hope it may help
someone to learn Hebrew, just like the people who wrote those guides
helped me learn (the much, much more popular online) Japanese. (TODO
- add Tae Kim and Sakubi links). I've reached what I consider a very
good level of Japanese reading and listening comprehension, simply
by reading. I started reading within 2 weeks of starting, and I
believe this is the best way to go, because you actually see native
content instead of wrestling with weird sentences and boring
articles made for learners (don’t get me started on graded readers).
I’m a big fan of Steve Kaufman - look him up on Youtube - and this
is his main point, and he speaks a lot of languages. I am also a big
fan of lingQ, so i’ll write a whole section about it. So this guide
exists now, and hopefully it will help someone one day. Don't forget
to mention me in the credits when there is peace in the middle east.