Top 5 Difficulties for New Students of Hebrew
This list is in no way comprehensive but it’s a good start for new students of the Hebrew language. Consider this more of a warning for those of you just starting to learn:
1. Genderization!
In Hebrew the nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns… heck, just about nearly every word has a gendered conjugation.
The conjugation of verbs are difficult for every student of foreign languages but in Hebrew it can be particularly tedious. I think the number one difficulty new students have when beginning to learn Hebrew is sorting out this complexity.
This is especially true for native English speakers who have tried very hard in recent years to eliminate gendered words completely from the language. Remember that push for political correctness? We’ve rooted out gendered English words such as “waiter/waitress” and “steward/stewardess” and replaced them with the gender neutral “server” and “flight attendant”.
Be prepared to study hard when it comes to Hebrew verbs as the different forms are conjugated by gender, tense, and number (this means learning at least 12 different forms of each verb!).
2. Lack of vowels
Where, oh, where have the nikudote gone??
Someone once told me that native Israeli children stop reading Hebrew with nikudote (or vowels) by the time they’re in 1st grade. Having just learned the Hebrew alphabet and barely read simple words with nikudote at the time, I felt sheepish knowing that a five year old child could read circles around me even WITHOUT the nikudote.
The reality is that when you’re first starting to read Hebrew, the nikudote are a big help. Otherwise, you’re simply guessing the pronunciation of a word. For example: כסא (chair). Transliterated, the letters are K-S-A. If I had never heard this word before, I might guess the pronunciation as ‘kasah’, ‘kesah’, ‘kosay’, or any other combination of vowels.
But in fact, with the nikudote ‘ כִּסֵּא ‘ it’s now clear that this word is pronounced “keesay”.
Unfortunately, Hebrew is rarely written with the nikudote in every day life. The challenge for new students is knowing how to pronounce a word without any vowels. This can only be overcome by hearing the pronunciation of words and practice, practice, practice!
3. The letters ‘chet’ and ‘reysh’
Oye vey! How do they pronounce those letters!
The gutteral “chet” seems to be universally difficult for students of the Hebrew language while “reysh” is especially challenging for native English speakers.
With chet, most students must learn to make its gutteral sound which is similar to the German ‘ach’.
As for ‘reysh’, native English speakers (especially Americans) tend to pronounce it as they normally would like in the words “round” or “really”. But in fact, the Hebrew letter ‘reysh’ has a distinct pronunciation amongst native Israelis. I can only describe the sound as originated at the back of the tongue instead of at the front.
Native Israeli friends of mine describes an American’s use of the letter “R” as sounding like a cartoon dog as opposed to the Israeli’s softer and more elegant pronunciation.
Again, practice makes perfect and the more you hear this sound in your ear, the easier it will be to emulate it.
4. Most Israeli’s Already Know English
If you’re studying Hebrew in Israel, it may seem like an advantage that most Israeli’s know a decent level of English. But to students of the Hebrew language, it may serve as more of a crutch than an advantage. Practicing Hebrew with native Israelis can be difficult when you can easily explain yourself in English to them too.
While at the ulpan, the instructor will speak with you completely in Hebrew and this may be the only other time in public that you will be forced to listen and speak only in Hebrew. If trying to practice Hebrew with people in stores and shops, you may find it tempting to switch to English when things get difficult. Alternately, Israelis will switch to English when they hear your mistakes in Hebrew and foreign accent.
A good tip to use when in Israel is to activate Hebrew subtitles on your television and dedicate an hour or two to listening and watching Israeli programs (especially the news). This is a nice alternative if you aren’t quite at the “public speaking” level yet still need to hear native Israelis speak.
5. Hebrew Words That Sound Like English
It’s confusing, to say the least, but be aware of several Hebrew words that sounds suspiciously like English but who’s meaning couldn’t be more different:
Pay special attention to the words I’ve highlighted. Me is who is he is she. Confused yet? I know I am.
Is there something particularly difficult for you that I haven’t listed here? Add it to the comments section!
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4 Responses to “Top 5 Difficulties for New Students of Hebrew”
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Pronouns on the ends of words making them sound different..
interesting material, where such topics do you find? I will often go
I learned "Me is who, who is he, he is she, dog is fish." It's funny, and it actually helps.
It's funny, the words are slightly changed in Engilsh. Enough which is probably pronounced as DAY is not written as die
as in English. Me is mi. But appraently this way it is easier for a english/ american to learn hebrew better but it is alo more difficult, as learning is both auido visual 
. These words will help audio wisw, buy visual wise, it is a very hard device to prefer in learning Hebrew 
Boy I guess writen as boi not boy
Mi ze means who is it? If you try learn this way believe me you will never be able to learn it the meanings or words and you will be confused a lt