Hebrew for Dummies (For Dummies Series) (English and Hebrew Edition)

I've been dabbling in foreign languages for decades and finally decided to give this a shot. Oddly enough, I came across a few obstacles. For one, there are many books that are designated for Bible students. Kinda dumb as the Hebrew written by the finger of God on the tablets of Moses are the same as studied by kids in Tel Aviv. Another thing is that lots of the books are well over-priced. Kinda like learning the Jewish language earns some sort of entitlement. Uh, yeah, right. And there's also a distinct lack of books with accompanying CDs. It's a pretty common accompaniment, but people hawking Hebrew how-to's don't seem to have a clue. Well, here's the common cure. Hebrew For Dummies provides a CD, a basic guide as to how to decipher the Hebrew alphabet, and practical nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and all you need to make headway in the kitchen-and-garden dialogue suited for dozens of everyday occasions. The Dummies series has always been a great starting point for millions of students the world over for thousands of different areas of study. This is no exception. For those inspired to learn the language written by the finger of God on Mt. Sinai, Hebrew For Dummies is a great place to start.

Despite the other reviews, this is actually a very helpful and useful book! While it does not have phrases written in Hebrew, it does have the full alefbet and the vowel points. In Hebrew if you can pronounce it, you can usually spell it so learning to have correct pronunciation is key! Romanizing the phrases allows you to easily practice speaking. Once you understand pronunciation, it’s easy to transition to spelling and reading. I highly recommend this book as a beginner Hebrew learning tool. It won’t make you fluent, but you will be able to communicate effectively.

"Hebrew for Dummies" is a basic starting point for those who would like to learn Hebrew for travel purposes. For example, you will learn basic phrases (greetings, hotels, how to...) and plenty of nouns (animals, for example) - the usual. A useful and comprehensive pronounciation guide is also inlcuded at the beginning of the book. The author also provides little hints such as good Israeli DVDs and CDs to buy (and importantly, where to get them from!) - so you can practice hearing Hebrew and to learn a little about Israeli/Jewish culture. Additionally, what I really liked was that there is a whole section on Biblical Hebrew (*BASIC* prayers - such as the Sh'ma) and a little biblical grammar. Another great part of this book is the accompanying audio CD which compliments the book nicely . It contains pronounciation guides and conversations to repeat and practice. The only downfall of this book is that there is NO HEBREW lettering - everything is transliterated (hence, the simplicity of "Dummies" books). The only place where Hebrew can be found is in the Biblical section in a small number of the prayers. Overall, this is an excellent guide for beginners who want to start learning Hebrew - you'll get a lot out of it - but for those who already have some prior knowledge of Hebrew, I highly recommend "Hebrew: a Language Course (levels 1, 2 & 3)" by Band & Bergman, all of which can be purchased here at Amazon.

get this, not the new one with red on the cover. this one is Hebrew. Like many languages, Hebrew has masculine and feminine speech. The update has so many errors. I sent it back and got this.

It is one of the best Hebrew Language course you can get. Plus it comes with a media package that helps you listen to the phonetics. Those who are going to do Aliyah - This is the right choice because it's the very modern israeli hebrew plus it gives you a bunch of local tips that you silly tourists won't ever learn. If you like Languages and you find Hebrew a pretty awesome language to learn - Get it NOW! If you are planning in visiting Israel and want to show up some language's skills - Get it NOW! It is what it is a Hebrew Course for Dummies ;)

There is no Hebrew Script in this book. Only transliteration of everything. This has a good disc of discussions and topics, however.

I picked up this book and couldn't put it down. I already knew some Hebrew but thought I had forgotten much of what I had learned when I lived in Israel. This book has a lot of necessary information, is actually quite interesting, and is very well organized. I think it is not only an easy book to learn from, especially with the accompanying cd, but it is also enjoyable, sometimes even fun. I highly recommend this book.

Can't go completely gushing all over this book - I looked @ the Rosetta Stone Hebrew course & it sounded like you needed at least a fundamental base of Hebrew in order to get through it - ordered this book - got about halfway through chapter 2 so far & it looks & sounds that's exactly what this book will give you - a "fundamental" base with which to work with ... one thing I needed to mention 5 star's no holds bar for the author - she comes out swinging in her fundamental beliefs which is such a breath of fresh air & gave me instant confidence in know that I bought this book for exactly what I need - which is to study the old Testament in Hebrew - naturally will take more then just this book - but - it's start :)

Funny book helps with learning

The book keeps its promise to remain simple, but fails when does not introduce the reader deeper in the writing system. At some point, who is learning the language will have to deal with the words as they are really written, anyway.

un otttimo manuale per chi è alle primissime armi con la lingua ebraica,fatto molto bene,ottimamente strutturato,lo consiglio (prima di visitare Israele)

It will teach you the alphabet and the numbers and how to get around, it’s a great starting point for Hebrew

Hebrew language written in Latin characters. Maybe useful if you only want to learn some basic phrases in order to communicate when traveling to Israel for work or pleasure.