Product Description

Modern Hebrew for Beginners offers high school, college, and independent-study students a state-of-the-art learning experience. This combination text- and workbook is designed to be used with web-based audio, visual, and interactive materials to give students multiple learning opportunities suited to a variety of learning styles. This allows intense practice of all four language skills: reading, writing, listening comprehension, and conversation.

Esther Raizen introduces the basic concepts of Hebrew through a wide variety of written and oral exercises in this text, many of which link to the website's computer tutorials and short original films based on contemporary Israeli life and society. She emphasizes the spoken language, while also paying attention to various aspects of normative grammar, of the written language, and of cultural elements associated with Hebrew. With this variety of materials and the capacity for continuous updating via the website, teachers and students will find this book endlessly adaptable and highly suitable for self-paced training.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199511 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-15
• Original language: English, Hebrew
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
This new introductory textbook is far-and-away the most interesting, innovative, and promising development in Hebrew education in America that I have seen. . . . Its strength lies in its integration of multiple modes of presenting Hebrew to the learner. . . . This variety in modes of presentation helps teach students the range of communicative skills they would need to function in everyday life in Hebrew. (Daniel Lefkowitz, author of Words and Stones: Language and the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict )

Customer Reviews

Great for students, Good for other learners
This book is excellent for students in school learning Hebrew. Not only is it a bargain (VERY inexpensive for a textbook!), but it is also one of the best Hebrew instruction books I've seen.

The book gives a remarkable amount of vocabulary and grammar for the compact size. The material is presented in a relatively fun manner. It is also nice that the book opens from right-to-left and quickly moves into unpointed (no vowels) text which is used in most Israeli writings.

The multimedia material is only available online, which causes some problems. I would prefer to see the material on CD/DVD as an option for an additional charge (with updated materials still available online for those who prefer). I had some trouble with the videos on certain computers despite updating all of the software. It is also inconvienent to get online only to listen to the new vocabulary or a reading when a CD would have been so much faster.

The mutlimedia aspects (such as e-flashcards, videos, audio tracks, pictures with labels and captions) are pretty good once you get them open. They certainly are helpful in learning proper pronouncation and improving your comprehension if you are learning on your own (or even with a teacher).

The lack of an answer key is probably the biggest drawback of this book if you are not a student taking a class. If you are on your own, you will not be able to check your answers to the problems and know how well you have mastered the material. Some parts of this book may also be less interesting due to an academic focus, but a majority of the book has everyday items useful to anyone.

Overall, this is a great book and an excellent value for all that you get!

Excellent resource for learning modern Hebrew
This book is an excellent program for learning modern Hebrew. It combines vocabulary, grammar and conversation in a very digestable format. My only complaint is that it was designed to be used along with a website which does not appear to exist. This book can be used by itself but is most useful when accompanied by a teacher or tutor. Suitable for anyone over 13. The format is easy to use but not designed for younger students.

Helpful and affordable
As an individual learner, I find this to be one of the best language-learning books that I've come across. Vocabulary in the textbook is supported by online flashcards and tutorials which contain both audio and video components. One of the most attractive features of the program is that it's relatively low-cost, because the listening exercises crucial to learning a language are all available on a free website. Grammar points are explained clearly and concisely; if it's in your budget, I'd recommend working through this book after a vocab-acquisition program like Pimsleur, but if not, the book seems to work well on its own. There are also many reading tutorials online which allow you to get comfortable with reading the language before starting with vocabulary and grammar.