Contemporary Hebrew

Plot

This book is perfect for learning how to read and write Hebrew for those who prefer a grammer/structure-based approach. Each chapter focuses on specific items of grammer and usage. The book gives some fairly detailed discussion about grammer and pronounciation issues. Some verb patterns are not discussed, but the reference material in the back briefly describes them. There are cultural notes and photos throughout (though these are somewhat outdated). In addition to Modern Hebrew, this book also notes and discusses some Biblical Hebrew grammer and vocabulary so it can be used by students wanting to learn both.

I wouldn't recommend jumping right into this book if you don't already know the Hebrew alphabet (try "Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew" by Simon and Anderson for this). There is an introduction to the Hebrew alphabet, but if you've never seen it before, a few pages are probably not enough.

The book has plenty of English translations and explainations, but also includes a non-translated Hebrew reading section at the beginning of every chapter. The new vocabulary is listed AFTER the reading, but this allows you to practice reading passages and deriving the meaning of words (and then checking yourself). The later readings are adapted from a variety of sources (i.e. poetry, Bible, jokes). This and the right-to-left layout of the book gets you used to Hebrew without an unclear 'full imersion' structure as you start.

The Hebrew taught is pointed (has vowel symbols), which is not typically found in modern Israeli writings. However, most chapters include a short section on reading unpointed texts and the exercises sometimes encourage that you try it unpointed. Since this book contains no transliterations nor audio media, the use of pointed text is necessary to make pronounciation clear. It also enables some explaination for vowel changes to be discussed.

I did find several mistakes throughout the book. Use a good modern dictionary to verify words and double-check usage and information that doesn't seem consistent. The gender of many nouns are not given (though you can guess this). If genders confuse you, select a dictionary that lists genders to help you out. Irregular genders and plural forms are always given, however.

I prefer to learn grammer and language structure before jumping into a lot of vocabulary, so I thought this book was great. However, this book is not useful if you wish ONLY to learn to speak and understand spoken Hebrew since there are no audio materials available. I recommend Pimsleur's "Modern Hebrew 1" full course as a great way to learn to speak and understand Hebrew. This book can then be used to learn to read, gain more understanding of the grammer points that the Pimsleur course does not explain and also to increase your vocabulary.

Despite the name, I have not been able to locate a 'Contemporary Hebrew 2' book. This means you have to go to a different series to continue your studies. (This may not be such a bad thing since current Hebrew has new vocabulary and idioms since this book was published over thirty years ago!)

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in fully learning Hebrew. However, I only give it four stars since you can not do so using just this book alone.