Hebrew Introduction - Free Communicative Biblical Hebrew - equipping the global Church

Hi everyone, I'm Beth from Aleph with Beth. When it comes to learning Biblical Hebrew, few people have very good success, and the few who do make progress struggle to retain and use what they've learned.

The fact is, most people in the world weren't designed to learn a language by using a textbook and memorizing lots of rules.

Instead, we learn a language best by using it, hearing and speaking it.

While only a few can achieve eventual success through a traditional seminary course, everyone has the innate,

God -given ability to learn a language in the natural way they learned to speak their mother tongue as children. If you think about it, your parents didn't begin by teaching you the alphabet and grammar while you were in the cradle.

They simply spoke to you. You listened, you started understanding, and then speaking little by little.

And then you were ready for the alphabet. Aleph with Beth tries to approximate this natural, immersive style of learning, slowly building your comprehension as you watch.

This natural way of learning a language is far more enjoyable and more effective over time, as the sounds and grammar of Biblical Hebrew work their way into your long -term memory through repetition and use.

Since our goal is mainly to train people who will be involved in Bible translation, we want to make it as accessible as possible to anyone of any language.

That's why you'll never hear any English or any other language in the videos. Just as your parents never translated what they were saying to you as a baby into some other language to help you understand it, our videos let you experience the same kind of environment.

We try to make things as clear as possible with context and visuals, but you should fully expect to feel a bit disoriented at first, and that's okay.

A lot of people don't enjoy feeling like a child again, trying to guess what's going on, but if you persevere and watch the videos again and again, you'll eventually begin to internalize the language in an effective way.

The sounds and the structure will start to get into your blood, which is a good thing. Once again, it's okay to feel lost.

That's perfectly normal, and you shouldn't feel discouraged. The more you keep at it, the more you'll start to see the practical value of learning the language instead of merely learning about the language.

After learning some vocabulary and structure of the language intuitively through our videos, you'll be exposed little by little to the

Hebrew alphabet and eventually learn how to read as well as comprehend and speak. A few recommendations for those watching who are serious about making progress in Hebrew.

First, I really recommend practicing saying the words and phrases out loud, because this will help you internalize the language and feel like you own it.

Second, don't miss the quiz videos after every few lessons that give you an opportunity to practice out loud and to check yourself.

You may be surprised how much you've learned after just a few videos. Even if you can't remember all the vocabulary on the quiz, don't worry.

If you can produce it from memory, that's awesome, but the most important thing is that you recognize and understand the word when you hear it.

Third, do watch the lessons in order, because with each lesson we're building on what came before and assuming you're already familiar with the vocabulary and grammar presented in earlier videos.

So we invite you to join us on this journey into the language of the Hebrew Bible. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on new lessons, and please do share with friends from other countries and language backgrounds who may also be interested in learning

Hebrew. Also, consider supporting this work on Patreon so that we can keep making more and higher quality free videos for you all.