Learning Arabic and Hebrew For Your Journeys

Israel and Hebrew
Signs in Israel are bilingual in Hebrew and English. However it is handy to be able to recognize the Hebrew letters.

Basic Hebrew Is Handy - My Story Of Searching For A Friend
I visited an English friend in Israel. She was staying in a flat. I found the block, but the block had about sixty bells - all with the names written alongside in Hebrew!

My friend's first name was Davina. I looked down the right of the right hand column, because Hebrew is written right to left, hoping to see her first name or surname.

You can imagine my relief when I spotted that within the first column were three names started with D. One was D-v-d, David. Another was long, and I could not recognize all the letters, but it was too long to be Davina. The third was a name with the three letters DVN in Hebrew! I can't remember whether the dots for vowels were under and over the consonants. It didn't matter. I rang the bell and my friend answered.

To learn to recognize the Hebrew on road signs, street names, and addresses when visiting friends and businesses, you can learn for free on the internet, or take classes at many synagogues.

Where else might you see Hebrew?
Travelling:
Mosaics from biblical times.
Archaeological ruins.
Old synagogues in Spain.
The Jewish quarter of Prague on a guided tour or self-guided tour of museums, synagogues and graveyards.
Holocaust memorials worldwide.

When Socialising:
Prayer books at a barmitzvah, Jewish wedding or Jewish funeral.
A framed embroidered or illustrated ketubah (marriage certificate) on the wall of a Jewish home.
The walls of synagogues converted to churches and mosques (Spain and the East End of London).
When shopping or walking to lunch. The outside of old buildings now used as shops or offices or housing.

The word kosher
It is pretty easy to recognize the word cosher, c-sh-r, but spelled right to left, on products such as matzoh (unleavened bread or crackers) and on kosher wine bottles in supermarkets and wine shops.

You will see Hebrew writing on many food products in supermarket. Also many products and instruction books.

Arabic
Arabic is useful in Israel and in numerous countries such as: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Malaysia and Arab quarters of cities. Plus reading street signs behind commentators in TV news reports from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries.

Arabic is on menus in Halal restaurants. You will also see Arabic writing on many foods from supermarkets and other products.

Duolingo also has Arabic.
Both languages are related to Aramaic, the language used and spoken by the Jewish citizens at the time of Jesus.
Google translates Arabic and Hebrew.
you probably already know
Duolingo.com

Signs are bilingual in Hebrew and English. However it is handy to be able to recognize the Hebrew letters. I visited an English friend in Israel. She was staying in a flat and the block had about sixty bells all with the names written in Hebrew. My friend's first name was Davina. You can imagine my relief when I spotted that within the first column was a name with the letters DVN!

To learn to recognize the Hebrew on road signs, street names, and addresses when visiting friends and businesses, you can learn for free on the internet, or take classes at many synagogues.
Duolingo also has Arabic.
Both languages are related to Aramaic, the language used and spoken by the Jewish citizens at the time of Jesus.
Google translates Arabic and Hebrew.

You probably already know the plural in Hebrew, im, from the words cherabim and seraphim, in English cherubs and seraphs.

Useful Websites
Duolingo.com

See also my post on Eurovision in Israel.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English and other languages.