The Routledge Introductory Course in Modern Hebrew: Hebrew in Israel 2nd Edition

I used this book for self-study, and found it to be excellent. For a start, it is well-organized. It basically consists of eight units comprising 90 short, digestible chapters, whose content is presented methodically and thoroughly. It is also well-written. The explanatory materials in English are always clear and to the point, and the Hebrew narratives and dialogues that begin most of the chapters and also come elsewhere in the book are interesting and enjoyable. The exercises, of which there is a great variety, are also interesting, and challenging, and thus engaging. As a bonus, the book is attractively designed, which adds to the experience of using it. One of its biggest assets, moreover, is its companion website. Like the book, the website is appealingly designed and effectively organized, and it contains a wealth of content. For example, it contains readings of all the dialogues and narratives and various other elements of the book. The dialogue and narrative readings are done by professional actors (as well as the author), who bring the material to life. A difficult part of Hebrew is the verbs, and the website contains a verb dictionary that gives all the conjugations, in each tense, of practically every verb that appears in the book, and for each tense there's a recording of all the conjugations, so that you can hear how they sound. For each of the eight units, there's an answer key for the exercises in that unit, links to songs and videos related to the unit, additional reading and listening material, and more. There's also a "Resources" page with links to other websites that are useful or interesting, and other content as well. The content of the textbook is also eclectic. It includes poems, Biblical and Talmudic quotations, and even jokes. One particularly impressive aspect of the textbook is the caliber of its writing. The English explanations are invariably spot-on, and many of the dialogues and narratives have a literary quality to them, so that they're pleasant to read and listen to. Some tell stories, which sometimes continue serially for many chapters, in which the characters speak and act like real people in real situations; others are topical essays on assorted subjects. Also impressive is the diversity and depth of the exercises. You can't make up exercises like these off the top of your head. It's clear that years of thinking, and of pedagogical experience, went into creating this book. Everything in it (and on the website too, for that matter) seems carefully thought out. I feel lucky that I chose to use this book to study introductory Hebrew. Having finished it, I realize that I still have a long way to go before I can use the language with any competence. But at least, I feel, I'm off to a good start.

I had been teaching myself Biblical Hebrew for a while before I decided to take up Modern Hebrew as well, and I found this book. It may seem a little bit daunting at the beginning to look at all that Hebrew print, but do not let that dampen your motivation. Granted, the textbook is primarily conceived to be used in the context of a course, with a teacher (in which case I have no reason not to believe the praise lavished in the back cover by Hebrew language professors). But the book is also an excellent resource for self-study. It is important though to take a very methodical approach. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of thoroughly and conscientiously completing the introductory unit, Alef-Beit. It introduces the Hebrew alphabet, the phonological value of each letter, and spelling conventions of modern Hebrew, including the marking of vowels. It also introduces the print/block and script/cursive versions of the alphabet, with important reading and writing excercises. Last, but not least, it already introduces basic vocabulary that is then revisited in subsequent lessons. Another key component is the accompanying website, which contains all the relevant audio for each lesson (vocabulary and dialogues) and plenty of additional resources that address different dimensions --notional, functional, cultural--of learning Hebrew as an additional language.

I am an intermediate level adult learner of Modern Hebrew and linguist. I have always been impressed by all of Routledge's language texts. This book is gigantic and offers outstanding on-line recordings of all the vocabulary, dialogs, and other resources spoken beautifully by native speakers. However, you will not get so far as to have a thorough explanation and practice with the different "binyanim" or conjugations of a Hebrew root. Verbs in different structures are in the texts, but mostly as vocabulary items. To that end, this is not the only book you'll need to learn Hebrew and, sadly, it's very expensive.

Thought it would be a good beginner book to sort out some grammar rules that aren’t always explained. The website is needed and it doesn’t always work. Not all links work.The “free teachers edition” which I was willing to buy, isn’t available. Gatekeeper doesn’t believe I am smart enough. I’m a retired doctor. I’m doing the advanced grammar in Duolingo, I just wanted the explanation. Skip this and get one of the ulpan sets. There are several here on Amazon. My group decided not to use this. I will get the Modern Hebrew grammar text and if it’s better this is going back.

What is keeping this from getting a 5 is the lack of vowels. I can't use it alone because I don't know if I'm pronouncing the words correctly as a beginner. I wanted to teach myself. For those of you that don't know, Hebrew writing doesn't usually include the vowels. You just know what sounds to make because you know the words. They do have a vowel system, which beginners need so they know if it's ba, be, bi, bo, or bu, for examples.