We Need YOU! To Give Hebrew to the World

At Aleph with Beth, we want the whole world to have access to learning Hebrew and Greek in the most natural, effective way possible.

And as always, completely free and open access. It's time for 100 % of the world's population to have access to the biblical languages.

And for that, we need an army of volunteers. We need you. Before we talk about some of our ideas, ideas that you can help make possible, let's talk about language learning.

The best research has shown that we need a lot of simple stuff we can understand when we're learning a language.

The fancy term for that is comprehensible input. Basically, for example, material like you've seen in the

Aleph with Beth videos. But we need more than that. We need lots of stuff to read, too.

Super interesting stuff that beginners can enjoy reading. The Hebrew Bible is just too advanced for most beginners to dive into.

They need lots of other simple reading to get them up to speed so they can gradually work up to reading scripture without becoming discouraged.

A researcher named Dr. Steven Krashen has helped many people understand this idea. Here are some things he has to say.

We concluded that optimal input has these four characteristics. Number one, of course it's comprehensible.

This doesn't mean every detail is comprehensible. Input can be comprehensible even if there's a little noise in the input.

Some incomprehensible pieces. This includes unknown vocabulary and grammar, rules that have not yet been acquired but are not important for comprehension.

In other words, language acquisition does not require that you understand every word and every part of every word.

But of course, language acquirers should understand most of it. Number two, optimal input is extremely interesting, very interesting.

The word I like to use for this is compelling. Compelling input is so interesting, you temporarily forget that it's in another language.

If input is comprehensible and compelling, you won't even notice the noise in the input, most likely.

The next characteristic, optimal input is rich. This is characteristic number three.

It's rich in language that contributes to the message and the flow of the story or text.

The language included in the input also gives the reader support in understanding and therefore acquiring new parts of language.

Big point, it is not necessary to make sure that certain grammar and vocabulary is there in the input.

Rich input automatically includes new, unacquired language that acquirers are ready for.

We've called this I plus one. Number four, quantity. It takes a lot of comprehensible, compelling, rich input to make real progress.

Optimal input is therefore, we use the word abundant, which provides more opportunities for the acquisition of language.

The result of getting optimal input is subconscious language acquisition. Language acquirers will be focused on the story, the message, and they will not always be aware that acquisition has happened.

The knowledge will be represented subconsciously in their minds. That said, here are some ideas that you can start making a reality.

The important thing, just do it and make it free. Number one, are you a

Hebrew nerd? Write some simple stories in easy biblical Hebrew. You can simplify a text from the

Bible or make up something completely new. Check your stories for grammar and typos with other

Hebrew nerds and teachers, and then team up with an artist or video editor to bring your perfected stories to life.

Our friends over at Bible Learning are looking for people to help them create quality content, so you could look into collaborating with them.

Number two, find some simple stories in biblical Hebrew, have someone who pronounces

Hebrew well narrate them, and then make a video, acting them out with friends and family or using illustrations.

It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but if you make it awesome, then even better. Use a phone camera if you have to.

Number three, are you an artist? Then create some picture books for kids in Hebrew.

Kids can learn Hebrew too, and they need stuff to read. Picture books are also great for adults just starting out in Hebrew.

If you can't write the text yourself, then team up with a Hebrew nerd who can write it for you. Whether it's a

Bible story or some important Hebrew verbs that you need help remembering, use your art to help everyone remember them.

And if you want to put all that you've created into an app, you can use this free program called Reading App Builder, which we'll link in the description.

Don't have technical skills? Reach out to our friends over at Bible Learning and partner with them. Number four, are you a programmer?

There's so much you can do. We need someone to design an app with Scripture App Builder. Check out the link in the description that has as many world languages embedded in it as possible, along with Hebrew or Greek.

Or start collaborating over at openscriptures .org. And there's another important thing you should think about.

Help develop a free lexicon in your language. We'll link an exciting project in the description that's just starting to make a free

Hebrew lexicon. Number five, are you an awesome video editor? Team up with a

Hebrew nerd and dub some fun modern movie clips into simple biblical Hebrew. People do this all the time in other languages like Latin, and we need lots more of them in Hebrew.

Number six, do you have a great voice? Play an instrument? Write some songs in Hebrew.

We've done some of this at Aleph with Beth already, but we can't do it all. Write silly songs, serious songs, simple songs, interesting songs.

Let's flood the internet with beautiful, engaging biblical Hebrew songs that will help people learn the language.

Number seven, are you good at reading aloud? Record an interlinear audio Bible. Here's the idea.

Take the open source recording of the Hebrew Bible, link in the description, and record yourself reading in your mother tongue what it says, phrase by phrase.

Here's an example in English. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void. And darkness was over the face of the deep.

And darkness was over the face of the deep. Edit it all together, and people will have an amazing resource to listen to over and over as they learn

Hebrew. We'll also include a list in the description of the 100 simplest chapters in Hebrew Bible that you can start with.

So that's it for now with ideas. If you end up taking on any of these ideas, send them to us, and if we think they're helpful, we'll link everyone to your work in our resource section on our website.

But don't forget what's most important. Just do it, and make it free.