Hébreu biblique communicatif – introduction – Aleph avec Beth - Aleph with Beth

The Challenge of Learning Biblical Hebrew

Few people manage to learn biblical Hebrew, and those who manage to make progress find it very difficult to retain and use the knowledge thus acquired. The truth is that few people in the world are able to learn a new language by using a manual or by memorizing a long list of rules.

It is more efficient to learn a new language to be able to use it, listen to it, speak it. There are very few people who can learn a language through the methods of learning generally used in theological institutes.

Immersive Learning Through Listening and Repetition

Just as we learn our mother tongue in our childhood, God gave each of us the ability to learn a new language. When we think about it, we realize that when we were still in our cradle, our parents never started by memorizing any alphabet and some grammar rules.

They just spoke to us. By listening, we ended up understanding and speaking gradually. It was only after that that we were ready to memorize the alphabet. The series Aleph with Beth is inspired by this natural method of immersive learning to slowly bring the learner to understand while he listens and watches the videos.

This method allows the sound and grammar of the biblical Hebrew to penetrate into the long-term memory through repetition and the use of the language. It thus makes learning more pleasant while producing better results in the long term.

Training Translators and Making the Course Accessible

Our main goal is to train people who will get involved in biblical translation. We want to make these lessons accessible to everyone, whatever their language. That's why, apart from Hebrew, we never use French or any other language in the videos.

Just as your parents never translated what they told you when you were a child, our videos recreate the same learning environment for you. We try as much as possible to make things easy to understand by a judiciously chosen context and appropriate visual aids.

However, you must expect to be a little disoriented at first. It is quite understandable. Several people do not like to feel infantilized because they are asked a lot of questions. However, those who persevere and watch the videos several times will begin to internalize the language.

And the expected result may be obvious. The sounds and structures of the language will only make one with it. We will not say enough, it is normal to be a little lost. This should not discourage you at all.

Practical Advice for Progress in Hebrew

If you persevere, you will begin to discover how practical it is to learn a language rather than acquiring knowledge about a language. After an intuitive learning of the vocabulary and structure of the language, our videos will progressively expose the learner to the Hebrew alphabet while finally teaching him how to read, understand and speak.

Here are some practical recommendations for those who watch the videos and who want to make significant progress in Hebrew. I recommend developing the habit of repeating words and sentences out loud. This will help you internalize the language and appropriate it.

Never skip the quiz videos, which are offered in intervals. They offer the opportunity to train aloud but also to self-evaluate. You will probably be surprised by the amount of things you will have learned in just a few videos.

And even if you can't remember all the words proposed in a quiz, there is nothing to be alarmed about. Of course, it would be wonderful if you could remember them. However, it should be noted that what is important here is that the learner is able to recognize and understand the word when he encounters it.

It is important to watch the videos in chronological order for the simple reason that each lesson is based on the knowledge acquired in the previous videos, assuming that the learner is already familiar with the vocabulary and grammar seen so far.

We therefore invite you to join us on this journey in the language of the Hebrew Bible. Above all, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any new lessons. Please also share with your friends from other countries or who speak other languages and would like to learn Hebrew.

Shalom!