I just want to report that I am slowly slowly developing a smallish vocabulary in Hebrew, such that I can tell people where I live, where I'm from, and make generally banal observations about the world around me ("She's very nice" "I want to learn Hebrew" "I am walking to the mall" "That is a big dog" "Those flowers are pink" etc etc). As well as recognising perhaps about one in ten words in the average Israeli's sentence. We've already learned about three dozen verbs, which is very useful. However so far we've only learned present tense - hence I feel I'm a bit stuck in an ever-present present which is frustrating when I want to tell someone either what I did yesterday, or what I'll be doing tomorrow. So at the moment I talk like a real immigrant, mixing my tenses ("Tomorrow, I go for a walk") (Yesterday I wash my dishes"). You get the idea.
Hebrew is one of those annoying languages where everything is either masculine (zachar) or feminine (nekevah). Which is, of course, endlessly troublesome for English speakers. You have to learn every word in its masculine and feminine forms, as well as masculine plural and feminine plural. I'm glad I learned French at school, as this prepared me a little bit for the complexities of learning a gendered language. It's funny though, now that I am learning Hebrew, stupid French words and phrases keep jumping into my head and getting in the way. And my adopted family in Arad think I speak Hebrew with a French accent. I interpret this as a signal that there's only space in my brain for one second language. Hebrew and French are going to have to fight it out between them to see who gets to set up camp in my grey matter....GentleLanguages, take your corners..... [dingding!]
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I can relate to your experience of languages fighting in your head! I learnt Hebrew and then when I tried to learn some basic Spanish, the equivalent word in Hebrew would alway pop into my head! For example, when I went to Argentina I'd say "toda raba" instead of "muchas gracias"! And who doesn't know 'thank you' in Spanish, really?!
ReplyDeletePeut etre at medaberet ivrit comme kacha parceque ha ima aussi medaberet francais - nu ? hein? eh? ay!
ReplyDeleteHey Rachel,
ReplyDeleteNice blog you have here, I enjoy reading it.
Welcome to Israel.. good luck with Hebrew learning!
Eyal(ex Kosher Deli wellington)
I know wass you mean wit da multiple langues.... every time I see a 'lorry' I think 'camion'... it just *looks* like a camion! Plus it's a much nicer sounding name for it. I have five battling it out inside my head and I have to say by the time they came to town there wasn't much room left for German and Maori...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, count yourself lucky that you're not learning German, which not only has masculine & feminine, it also has neuter, AND four cases as well! Oooh and those weird compound verbs where you have a preposition you have to remember to tack on the end of your sentence. Nicht leicht dass.
At least the spelling and pronunciation is easier than Cantonese... ;)