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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
When were you able to speak Hebrew?



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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 4:49 am
My DD is in 10th grade and she remarks that she can not speak Hebrew despite 10 yrs of “Hebrew” language classes. Granted, Hebrew has always been presented to her in a boring way and has never been a robust, well taught subject. Does it come during seminary if living in Israel? (She is a very good student but probably didn’t spend lots of time on her own trying to study Hebrew).
I have no reference because I did not go to Jewish schools growing up.
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Raisin




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 4:57 am
Still can't but I didn't go to seminary in Israel. My husband, OTOH, spoke fluent hebrew before ever stepping foot in Israel, and not from formal ivrit lessons. He picked it up in Yeshiva.
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singleagain




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:13 am
I went to 12 years of Jewish school. And a year in Israel and I can only somewhat understand my fluent mother if she's not going too fast.

Language like any other is a skill you have to actively practice. Including talking and listening/watching Hebrew programs to keep up with slang and changing expressions.
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:22 am
After doing ulpan in E"Y.
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Chayalle




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:29 am
The high school I attended was very into speaking Hebrew. I came in speaking none, went to an elementary school with very weak Hebrew instruction and barely any dikduk. A few weeks of classes in Hebrew - all Hebrew subjects were taught in the Hebrew language, and they also had separate classes for Hebrew language and dikduk - and I was speaking/reading/writing on a basic level. When I got to Israel for seminary, I was pretty comfortable expressing myself in Hebrew.

I do think some people have a proclivity to languages and some don't. I've seen some people really struggle even with the kind of exposure/instruction I got, and some just take to it naturally. So I think there's more at play than just the instruction given in school.
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amother
Black


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:31 am
At the beginning of level "heh" (5th level) ulpan. I came to Israel and did ulpan after ullan non-stop until I finished all the levels (there are usually 6, I've heard a 7th exists but is rare).

I felt like there was no "intermediate" level. At the end of Daled I'd consider myself "advanced beginner" and at the beginning of Heh I would consider myself "advanced learner". Suddenly I went from being a person who was learning Hebrew but couldn't really speak it, to being a Hebrew speaker with an accent and some grammar mistakes.
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Success10




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:33 am
Some people are just very good at languages. Others will not learn in a classroom setting, it has to be absorbed, and at a young age.
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LovesHashem




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:35 am
When I moved to Israel.
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amother
Lawngreen


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:36 am
My DDs went to the same school and for the most part have had the same teachers. On speaks fairly fluently and the other not at all. One is confident, eager to try new things, and not afraid to make a mistake or embarrass herself. The other is a creature of comfort and habit and does not EVER take risks. Guess which one speaks and which one shuts down if you try to get her to speak. (Btw-she gets 100 on every Hebrew vocabulary and dikduk test.)
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:44 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
My DD is in 10th grade and she remarks that she can not speak Hebrew despite 10 yrs of “Hebrew” language classes. Granted, Hebrew has always been presented to her in a boring way and has never been a robust, well taught subject. Does it come during seminary if living in Israel? (She is a very good student but probably didn’t spend lots of time on her own trying to study Hebrew).
I have no reference because I did not go to Jewish schools growing up.
12 years of jewish day school. One year of sem. I only learned how to speak hebrew once I moved to Israel.
The hebrew that one learns in a jewish day school is not going to be enough to speak hebrew well at all. And a year of sem, well, they are in an english speaking environment so not then either.

If you want to be able to speak hebrew you can take an actual ulpan or come learn it in israel. Smile
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amother
Ecru


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:48 am
shabbatiscoming wrote:
12 years of jewish day school. One year of sem. I only learned how to speak hebrew once I moved to Israel.
The hebrew that one learns in a jewish day school is not going to be enough to speak hebrew well at all. And a year of sem, well, they are in an english speaking environment so not then either.

If you want to be able to speak hebrew you can take an actual ulpan or come learn it in israel. Smile


It really depends where. I grew up outside of New York, and our school imported limudei kodesh teachers from Israel. While some kids picked up the language more easily than others, everyone spoke Hebrew, and when I came to Israel after high school, I could participate in class with Israelis and read a newspaper.
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:55 am
amother [ Ecru ] wrote:
It really depends where. I grew up outside of New York, and our school imported limudei kodesh teachers from Israel. While some kids picked up the language more easily than others, everyone spoke Hebrew, and when I came to Israel after high school, I could participate in class with Israelis and read a newspaper.
Right, it definitely depends. Im assuming from the fact that the OP posted this question, that that was not the case for her daughter Smile
But I will say that even having israeli hebrew teachers isnt a sure way to speak hebrew either Smile
I have a friend who had israeli hebrew teachers her whole life. She just didnt care about the class. She made aliyah, has been here for almost 20 years and lets say that in the last maybe 3 years has she really been getting the hebrew. Before that she just spoke to everyone in english.
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 8:44 am
To learn to speak hebrew, you have to speak hebrew.

Reading comprehension, writing, listening comprehension, oral expression are different faculties that each have to be trained on their own...

You can have a very high level in reading comprehension and not speak, just because you never spoke.


therefore, even a year of seminary in Israel might not really help as long as she will not be in situations where she has to speak ivrit...
In my view, intense immersion in an ulpan (at least 4h per day for 4 weeks) is the best way of learning to speak, specially if she has already a lot of knowledge.

Maybe she could do an intense ulpan before she starts her seminary year. Rothberg school of language at hebrew University in Jerusalem has excellent summer courses for all levels (don't know about now with corona)

Speaking has different aspects: pronounciation (which is not that easy for english-speakers), finding your words (active vocabulary) and avoiding mistakes...

To improve listening comprehension: listen... watch movies in ivrit with subtitles in English or Ivrit (sdarot.co.il is a streaming site where you will find a lot) or listen to audio books in Ivrit, while following along in the written book in English or in Ivrit

To improve pronouciation:
learn alef-beith - in hebrew pronouciation (speically resh, chet, chaf) this is key to be understood....

same as listening comprehension, repeat everything that is said. (push pause or repeat of necessary)
Read texts in Ivrit - verify on audio-book
Record yourself.

to improve oral expression:
Conversation lessons
Tandem with someone who speaks ivrit
written expression helps, because there you have more time to find words...
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Chaya123




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 10:16 am
BH I can speak Hebrew fluently (although not as rapid fire as Israelis!Smile from my schooling and year in sem. Oh, how I miss EY!
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