The Method Behind “At Home with Hebrew”

Hebrew has 22 letters, all of which are considered consonants. In modern Israeli Hebrew, such as newspapers, vowels are not printed. The reader usually makes out each word without the vowels.

Vowels, called Nikud, are dots and other small symbols printed above or below the consonants. For example, a “Kamatz” looks like a small “T” symbol, and is pronounced as the “AH” sound (as the “a” in father). The “Segol” is three small dots, appears under a consonant, and is prounced like the “E” in the word “egg”.

In the tutorial “At Home with Hebrew” the letters and vowels are taught one step at a time. The first lesson teaches two consonants and 3 vowels, and the second lesson teaches two additional letters, and two more vowels.

Sometimes English letters must be used to represent the Hebrew letters, for example “V” for “VET” and “B” for “BET’. The first lesson of “At Home with Hebrew” would teach only these two letters. Nonsense syllables are used at first, such as VAHV, BAHB, BAHVAH, VAHBAH, BAHBEH, BEHBAH, and so on.

The second lesson adds to more consonants (Dalet and Gimmel), then the exercises rehearse the two new letters with the vowels from the prior lesson. For example DAH, GAH, DEH, GEH, DAHDAH, GAHGAH, DAHGEH, GAHDEH, DAHD, GAHG, DAHG.

Step by step, one or two more vowels are introduced. For example, the TZEREH, which can be pronounced like “EH” sound. The same consonants are then mixed with the new vowel sounds: For example: DEH, GEH, BEH.

Finally, toward the end of a lesson, the letters learned previously return, and the exercises now mix up everything that the student knows. Example words might be: BAHBAH, BEED, GEEV, VEEBAH, GABAH, and so on.

From time to time, a new letter being taught might look like an existing letter already taught. For example, when the letter “RESH’ is introduced, the student has already learned the letter “DALET”. The tutorial program shows teh two letters, side-by-side, so the student can compare and see the sublte differences. Text also explains the differences to make sure it is obvious.

By the end of the 13th lesson, the student will have learned all 22 letters and all the nikudot (vowels). Even though the student may not know the meaning of a word, he should be able to pronounce any printed Hebrew word. At this point, the student is ready to move on to vocabulary.