Learn To Speak Hebrew - Read Books For Kids

By Author: Gordon M
Total Articles: 9
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Reading is a great way to compliment your Hebrewcourse or program. When you read you should read to your level, what I mean by this is, if you are at a beginner Hebrew level you should read Hebrew books that are for beginners and in this case that would be kids books, start out with the most basic level, a book that teaches you your alphabet and the names of common objects, animals and such. As an adult it will not take you as long to go through these books as it would if you really were a kid but believe me you will be surprised by how quickly you start to build up a vocabulary and it's fun, if nothing else nostalgic.
 Kids books are well illustrated and they also use visible 'Nikkud'  or vowels which are omitted from the language once you reach a certain age, as a native Israeli speaker you know by the  word itself what vowels should be added, believe me this this can be tricky to get your head around when you first start learning Hebrew so by using kids books to learn to read Hebrew you are learning to read the same way as Israeli native speakers learn. Keep in mind ...
... that this is only a complimentary resource that you should use in addition to your Hebrew course or program and it is not going to be the basis for your whole learning experience but I believe that if learning a language you should try and immerse yourself in it.
 
As you progress through your course from beginner to intermediate you can also raise the level of books you are reading, try for a small short story book, again it is important that you stay within your level, you will of course come across words that you don't yet understand but just pull out your translator and check for the word (While there are many online translators  I am still a sucker for my now beaten and tattered English to Hebrew / Hebrew to English pocket book)
 
If you don't live in Israel you might find it hard to find kids Hebrew books but there are many available online and you only need a couple. 
 
Once you move on to upper-intermediate you might want to try reading some Hebrew news papers there are many such papers available, again online, with both free and paid subscriptions. Reading news papers is an excellent way not only to improve you reading and spoken skills but they are also a great way to immerse yourself in the culture and current events and makes the whole Hebrew learning experience more real in my opinion.
 
While the above may seem obvious it is nearly always overlooked when people first to learn to speak Hebrew but I have found great benefit in using this method alongside my Hebrew course