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Title: The First Hebrew Primer for Adults, Second Edition by Ethelyn Simon, Nanette Stahl, Linda Motzkin ISBN: 0-939144-05-0 Publisher: Eks Pub. Date: January, 1983 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A complete but dry intro to BH
Comment: The Hebrew Primer published by EKS is a manual that will take you deep into the Hebrew language if you have the courage and patience to go through its endless exercises and can bear with its dry, impersonal tone. It covers both elementary and intermediate Hebrew and in this respect is more advanced that its rival on the market, Hebrew Step by Step by Mansoor.
Each lesson begins with a series of (non Biblical)sentences that include the points of grammar of the preceding lesson followed by a short list of new words. Then comes the grammatical theory. The lesson proceeds with an impressive (and sometimes overwhelming)array of exercises, all with non Biblical sentences, followed by an extract of the Book of Ruth and a folk tale from the Western tradition(in Hebrew of course).
The book is large with a big Hebrew font, which makes it the most visually appealing although it lacks illustrations.(The format makes for easy reading but not for easy transportation outside your deskroom. One of the reasons why I ended up buying Mansoor's manual was because I wanted to study Hebrew anywhere and its small format was what I needed.)
The material contained in one lesson is really elephantine, specially toward the end of the book, but the strategy of HP is just that: help you to memorize through constant repetition.
The main advantage of the Hebrew Primer(HP)is its very thorough and clear coverage of the verb forms, a domain in which it undoubtedly beats HSBS, which is shoddy and superficial in its treatment of this vital aspect of Hebrew grammar. Not only does HP explain the verbs and their modifications very well, it also gives you plenty of examples of the verb form under consideration in the exercises that follow the grammatical theory. In addition, there are huge charts with all the verb forms(imperfect, perfect, participle, imperative, infinitive and participles)at the end of the book. What more could a serious Hebrew student desire? And the same applies to the nouns: there are charts for the plural and construct forms. Finally HP explains how to use the BDB English and Hebrew Lexicon, the best Hebrew dictionary available on the market.
What I found most disappointing about this book is its dry, strictly technical approach to the language and its impersonal tone. Don't expect any historical or cultural digressions, witty remarks, encouragements or study hints. There is simply no dialogue between the authors and the student, which leads me to the assumption that this manual was probably meant primarily for the classroom and not for the independent student.
The staggering amount of silly sentences in the exercises can become tiring and I remind you that most of the book is made of non Biblical material and sometimes you just get very bored with it.
Contrary to Hebrew Step by Step, HP has no accompanying cassette to help you pronounce the language and the part on pronunciation is quite shallow and even misleading. The pronunciation of the "a" sound is for example explained with the English word "yacht" but that is plainly a "o" sound. So you end up thinking that Hebrew has no "a" sound and that "Abraham" should be pronounced "Obrohom". Why not take examples from French or Italian? The authors apparently assume that their audience are completely ignorant of foreign languages.
All in all, the Hebrew Primer remains the best introduction to Biblical Hebrew in the absence of a better alternative. But you may consider buying Mansoor's simpler and more concise manual when the ride gets really too tough and you feel like Jonah in the belly of Leviathan.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful resource
Comment: This book has a lot of meat to it, but is fun, too. As well as focusing on biblical Hebrew, stressing vocabulary and grammatical forms used in the bible, the authors include a 'tall tale' in each chapter (a familiar story, in Hebrew, at the current reading level of the student). Assumes no prior knowledge, not even the alphabet, but moves right along. I found success studying this book with a small group of people, for mutual reinforcement. A highlight for us has been the way the book gradually leads us thru the Book of Ruth, starting at a simplified level, with vocabulary hints, and gradually moving to the original, as we progress. Also available are an answer book for the exercises, and vocabulary flash cards.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent for self study if disciplined (get answer book)
Comment: I shopped around for a number of texts to pursue self-study of hebrew with the goal of being able to read (with dictionary assistance) biblical texts and understand prayerbook liturgy. This text - with the answer book which is a separate purchase - is what worked for me.
The approach is to cover the grammer at a high level to allow an over-all translation competence at the end of the book, while blurring some of the fine points (especially the patterns of vowel changes). This has worked well for me. It is necessary to do all of the exercises to make this work, altho I have skipped the english-to-hebrew exercises, since I'm only interested in translation. I also found it necessary to buy the accompanying set of flashcards to drill myself on the vocabulary constantly. I've taken about a year to go through this in my (little) spare time, but I'm almost done and I'm impressed by how much I am able to read.
When done, I'll go on to studying individual texts with dictionary and more advanced grammers for reference as issues arise.
If you are self motivated to learn to read biblical hebrew and are willing to spend a bit more for accessories (answer book and flash cards) this is the best self-education system I found - and I bought at least 3 other "introductory" grammers.
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Title: Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Hebrew: Learning Biblical Hebrew Grammatical Concepts through English Grammar by Gary A. Long ISBN: 1565637135 Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon by Francis Brown, S. Driver, C. Briggs ISBN: 1565632060 Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, A by Larry Mitchel ISBN: 0310454611 Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company Pub. Date: 04 May, 1984 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia ISBN: 3438052199 Publisher: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Pub. Date: 01 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $69.99 |
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Title: Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar by Gary D. Pratico, Miles V. Van Pelt ISBN: 0310237602 Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $41.99 |
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