A Great Resource for Learning Hebrew: A Review of the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide

A Great Resource for Learning Hebrew: A Review of the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide
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An Introduction to the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide

The Hebrew Vocabulary Guide, a free online resource hosted by LanguageGuide.org, can help you bulk up on your comprehension and recognition for Hebrew vocabulary words. This website has hundreds of images, with each picture accompanied by the written Hebrew word and a mouse-over audio feature that pronounces the word for you in Hebrew.

Because the Hebrew alphabet is very different from the English alphabet (and, keep in mind, is read from right to left rather than left to right), it is very helpful to hear the Hebrew words pronounced and see pictures of them: these aids help you truly learn the vocabulary words and remember them, whereas you may have an extremely difficult time trying to learn Hebrew vocabulary if all you had was a side-by-side list of Hebrew and English terms.

The Hebrew Vocabulary Guide is divided into 48 sections, each of which is listed on the main webpage by its category title: You can click on the various category labels to open new pages that contain the images, words and audio files for that particular category.

The domains of vocabulary you can learn on the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide are as follows (they’re also roughly divided into larger groupings–quite well organized):

Preliminaries: Alphabet, Greetings, Numbers

People and Clothing: the Body, Men’s Clothing, Women’s Clothing, Family

Foods: Fruits, Vegetables

Animals: Farm Animals, Pets, Sea Animals, Insects, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Sea Animals

Observing the world around you: Colors, Space, Plants, Weather, the Sea

Things at Home: the Den, the Dining Room, the Kitchen, the House, the Bedroom, the Utility Room

Work, Technology and Life: Jobs, the Farm, the City, Money, Computers, Electronics, Baby, Kids, Land Travel, Food, Medicine, Fantasy, Tools, Construction and Miscellaneous.

Because the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide is organized like this, it makes it an ideal resource for either systematically memorizing domains of vocabulary or utilizing for quick access to a particular word you’ve been wanting to learn.

How to Use the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide to Learn New Words

The 48 categories listed on the Vocabulary Guide homepage each represent another webpage: click on the word for any one category to open a new page with a bunch of pictures of various objects. Moving your computer’s cursor over the image of a particular object, you will hear a native Hebrew speaker pronouncing the vocabulary item, and you will see a pop-up box that gives you the spelling of the word in Hebrew (unless you already know the Hebrew alphabet, just focus on saying the word for starters!)

Hebrew Vocabulary Guide - the Body

For example, take a closer look at one of the domains of vocabulary you can learn: The Body. Clicking the link on the main page brings up a new webpage, where you will see colored images and lines pointing to many parts of the human body. Using your computer’s mouse to move the cursor over the images you see on the page, you will hear these words in Hebrew and see the words in Hebrew at the same time: eye, ear, nose, mouth, and so on.

Why is the picture/audio/printed word format so helpful for learning vocabulary? When you hear and see the Hebrew words alongside pictures of objects, you are learning the Hebrew vocabulary without interference from English, or your native language. Learning language without interference from another language is extremely effective. Also, when you see pictures along with the words you are hearing spoken, you are learning words in context. You will be able to memorize and remember words far better than if you simply tried to use rote memory to learn a written list of vocabulary words.

Although the Hebrew Vocabulary Guide is not a complete language learning course, it is a great resource that, when combined with other language learning resources, can help you increase your Hebrew language proficiency (in hearing, reading, speaking and writing). Use this Hebrew language learning resource to increase your Hebrew vocabulary knowledge, so that as you learn grammar and conversation skills with the help of other books and software, you will have hundreds of Hebrew words at your mind’s disposal, words that you can understand and speak well!