Informal language learning

I have completed a beginners' course in Biblical Hebrew so I know a little. But modern Hebrew doesn't always use the same words or grammar, so there's different things to learn. For example, in the Scriptures, usually aDAM or eesh is man and eesSHAH is woman. But here, gaVAR is man -- a new word to me. Fortunately I was able to recognize at least one of the words when I went to the public toilets or I might have been in trouble!

Anyway, I have three levels of attack in learning to speak here. One is memorizing useful words -- I do several hours of that a day. Another is memorizing sentences -- things like "I am learning Hebrew.", "What is your name?" (with different words for asking male or a female), and "Please say that again." Then the third is having brief conversations, something like, "Good morning. I am learning Hebrew. My name is Robert. I am from New Zealand. What is your name? ... How much is the carrot juice? ..." etc. Then the third strategy is that I bought a book for little children (with the vowels printed in it) and I hope to be able to read it in Hebrew before I come home. So I'll get more words to learn out of that too.

One difficulty is that Israelis seem to speak quite fast. Of course, any new language seems too fast to a language learning, but different groups do speak at different rates.

Another difficulty is that it's hard to find someone to practice with who's not busy. In PNG and the Philippines, there were always people available to chat to, because they live outside their homes there, not inside them. But here, if someone's not busy, they're inside their house reading or watching TV or talking on the phone or something. So I go to a food stall and buy a cold drink and sit at a table drinking it slowly, trying to chat to the proprietor or the other customers.


Most road signs are written in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and then English. That does make it easier for English tourists, but harder to discipline yourself to read the Hebrew letters instead!