Modern Hebrew I [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001

Hebrew, a Semitic language, is the official language of Israel. It was once considered a dead language with no native speakers, although it remained in use for liturgical purposes. Hebrew was revived as a spoken language in the mid 19th century and today is spoken by over 5 million in Israel.

The Pimsleur® Method: the easiest, fastest way to learn a new language. Completely portable, easily downloadable, and lots of fun. You’ll be speaking and understanding in no time flat! Hebrew I, Comprehensive includes 15 hours of spoken language practice and one hour of reading instruction in thirty, 30-minute lessons.

• In the first 10 lessons, you’ll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You’ll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with nearnative pronunciation skills.
• In the next 10 lessons, you’ll build on what you’ve learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You’ll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident.
• In the final 10 lessons, you’ll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level. In this phase, more directions are given in the target language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. You’ll be able to speak comfortably about things that happened in the past and make plans for the future.

Reading Lessons are included at the end of Unit 30 to provide you with an introduction to reading the Hebrew alphabet. These lessons, which total about one hour, are designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; 30 Lessons + Reading edition (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743500415
• ISBN-13: 978-0743500418
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 11.5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth its weight in gold!, November 7, 2003

By 

Shelley Gammon "Geek" (Kaufman, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modern Hebrew I (Audio CD)

For those new to the Pimsleur method, you may wonder how or why this audio course is superior to all others. The late Dr. Pimsleur studied intervals of repetition with students learning new languages... rote repetition over and over doesn't always sear new vocabulary and syntax into the brain - but Dr. Pimsleur discovered that repeating certain words and phrases in specific time intervals while learning other new things inbetween the intervals seemed to be the right method for training your brain to think in a new language.

American English is my native language and I didn't grow up hearing Hebrew or any other language at home. I was a late talker and have always had problems discerning sounds, despite my accute hearing. I didn't think an audio course would be worth my while.

All the Pimsleur programs start out the same way - a brief introduction - then you will hear an announcer speak in English, introducing a male and female native speaker of the language. At the beginning of lesson I, you first hear a brief conversation in Hebrew. If like me, you have had no prior foundation in the language, it might as well be gibberish. Then the announcer tells you that at the end of just that 30 minute lesson, you will understand the entire conversation you just heard - and they are not kidding.

I hope that everyone who uses this program will contact Simon & Schuster (the publishers) and beg them to come out with Hebrew II and Hebrew III like they have for Spanish, German & French.

I didn't study with these endlessly - I just had the lessons in the car and when I'd go to lunch during the work day, I'd listen to one lesson in my car. As the lessons progress, they get increasingly more challenging, so I had to listen to some lessons more than once.

After listening several times to all the lessons through the last lesson, lesson #30, I felt confident that I could go to Israel, order food and drinks, ask for directions to the Western Wall or a hotel, have someone fill up my gas tank and even visit with new friends, etc. - all in modern Israeli Hebrew.

I listened to the CD lessons for a few months before enrolling in a Hebrew class in college (which I am still taking) - after 2 months of studying in college, there are very few new words that I've learned in class that weren't already covered in my lessons.

Hearing native speakers speak the language is essential - you get the intonation drilled into your head, which really helps you to speak it with the right accents in the right place and gives you more of a feeling for the language. The announcer explains important things about Israeli culture when necessary and as needed, will explain that a particular verb or other grammatical element is different in some instances (all languages have "irregulars") and why that's the case.

This is like having an Ulpan-to-go. Granted, you won't be ready to run for the Knesset after mastering all 30 lessons, but you will be extremely confident in being able to conduct business and basic conversations in Hebrew. I took Spanish in High School and I feel like I have a much more comprehensive mastery of Hebrew in a couple of months than I ever had in Spanish after 2 years of classroom training.

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great beginners' course, if you know its limitations., August 22, 2002

By 

Daniel Field (Alice Springs, NT Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Hebrew I (Audio CD)

I reviewed this course a few months ago after nine lessons and promised to review it again when I had finished. Well, life catches up with one and for a variety of reasons I am still not there. I thought I should update my review because of the number of e-mails I was receiving with recurring questions.

The most common question I get is, "How good is your Hebrew after completing the course?" I will get to that soon. First, you should know the context of this course.

Pimsleur Language courses are published by Simon and Schuster Audio. The really popular languages (like Spanish, French and German) have three levels, each with thirty lessons. Hebrew is only available in level one. That is only one third of a "full" course. The publishers have told me (and some of my correspondents) that they have no plans to produce any further Hebrew levels. If you agree, I urge you all to contact Simon and Schuster to let them know that you are interested in Hebrew levels two and three. That way we might eventually get them.

Back to business. The real core question is, "How good will my Hebrew be if I do this course?" Well, first the bad news: If you do all thirty lessons, your Hebrew will still be quite limited. You will be able to confidently communicate in some "everyday" situations such as buying things, asking for directions, introducing yourself, etc. But if you listen to two people having a casual conversation in Hebrew then you may struggle to understand anything much at all.

Now the good news: the course really ingrains the grammar and vocabulary into your mind so that they become quite natural. That is, you are not taught any grammar theory, but you learn to speak with correct grammar by practice. All the sentences are broken down so you know exactly what you are saying. I personally still consider the Pimsleur course to be the best audio course available.

Oh yes, this course is really only for beginners. Okay, so you know "Shalom" and a few other words. If you can hold a sketchy, basic conversation in Hebrew then you might want to look elsewhere. If you cannot, then this course is at your level.

So my conclusion: The Pimsleur Hebrew course is an excellent way to start learning Hebrew. It teaches you enough to survive, but not enough to take part in a lengthy conversation. It gives you a natural confidence to speak what you do know, and it gives you a context for any further study of grammar. It teaches you the basic "nuts and bolts" type sentence structures, so that you can immediately use any new vocabulary you may learn. It also teaches you to read from scratch, provided the vowel markings are shown.

I highly recommend the course as long as you are aware of (and accept) its limitations. You need to be prepared to follow-up this course with quite a lot of further study and actual conversational experience if you are ever to become fluent. This course will give you a really good start, then the rest is up to you.

Thanks for reading. Shalom.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good foundation for further study, July 17, 2003

By 

Gregory Olsen "renaissance man" (San Ramon, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modern Hebrew I (Audio CD)

This is the third Pimsleur course I have done (Russian, Eastern Armenian, Hebrew). I can't say enough good things about the Pimsleur system in general. It is all audio, so it is useful for commuters. The repetition of the vocabulary is good. The introduction of grammatical concepts is good, particularly for an all audio system. The speakers are clear, although occasionally, I had to consult a book for spelling. Only present, imperative, and infinitive verb forms are used in level I. The focus is on 1st and 2nd person like all the Pimsleur tapes.

The problems I have found are: 1. Hebrew is only available at Level I, so you will not learn enough to be functional even as a tourist. 2. The course is good for learning syntax and grammar, but does not provide enough vocabulary. Also, in the Hebrew course, some nif'al and hif'il forms are introduced as imperatives or infinitives, and it would have been nice to introduce the present (active participle) as well. 3. The extensive use of imperatives, although grammatically correct, is not so colloquial in Israel, as I discovered living there. Imperfect and infinitives are more common with the exception of a few verbs that are commonly used in the imperative form. This course could give you the wrong impression about the use of the imperative.

Finally, Pimsleur costs too much!