copied off a medieval manuscript so letters may look off plus i dont know hebrew

Ok here’s a word I never learned in Hebrew school.

כְּשֶׁכִּשְׁכַּשְׁתָּ

7 letters but really only three. Yikes. 😬

Not sure we have a word with similarly repetitive letters in English?

I'm currently putting together a teaching resource for primary school pupils about different scripts/orthographies around the world. The task has 18 translations of 'languages are amazing/incredible' in various languages which have differing scripts. I've checked the translations with multiple online translation tools, but I'm well aware that these do not always catch the nuanced points that native speakers can, hence why I wanted to post here for advice.

Would this be a suitable translation for Hebrew, or is there a better alternative?

השפות מדהימות

Thank you in advance for any help you lovely r/hebrew Redditors can offer!

אחת השאלות שאני נשאל על ידי תלמידות ותלמידים שלי באולפן, אבל גם על ידי דוברי עברית כשפת אם - איך יש לומר: לִבְרִיאוּת או לַבְּרִיאוּת?

קודם כל - אחלה שאלה בעיניי. אז הנה ההפתעה: שתי הצורות נכונות ומקובלות. נכון שהצורה הראשונה נחשבת נפוצה יותר - אבל אין סיבה גם לא להשתמש בצורה השנייה.

כעת להסבר: לִבְרִיאוּת - ל+בריאות לא מסוימת, לא ספציפית, כלומר בריאות כללית

לַבְּרִיאוּת - ל+ ה+ בריאות, כלומר הבריאות המסוימת של מישהו. חשוב להזכיר בהקשר זה, שאחרי ה"א הידיעה תמיד יבוא דגש באות ולכן לַבְּרִיאוּת

באופן אישי - אני אוהב לגוון. ומה איתכן, איתכם?

Hi there, I had an idea related to Hebrew and I was wondering if it's something any one else is already thinking about.

I remember reading an article about the discovery of ancient Hebrew writing dateable to the time of King David's reign, and of course the artifact they found was written on using the paleo-Hebrew alphabet.

Ever since then I've started writing in my best interpretation of that script based upon what I found on Wikipedia. The most interesting thing I've found is that the letters mem and nun are basically a latin "m" or "n" with a tail that either curls beneath it or drops down. The motion of the hand used to write the mid-word מ & נ and end-word ן is the same in Paleo-Hebrew just with differently-shaped lines; this is less obvious in the font you're reading these letters in but if you look at a proper calligraphy letter it's a bit more obvious.

Am I the only one who thinks the paleo-hebrew alphabet is cool? If not I would be eager to be connected with others sharing my fascination.

I have a decent level in Hebrew but my reading is just slow. What is something you would recommend to improve reading itself. Not necessarily with comprehension just to improve the ease with the alphabet

hello all. is anyone able to read and translate this for me. these are on the backs of photos of my great grandfather. if it helps for context this photo is from panevezys in lithuania. thanks for the help!

Honestly, it sounds pretty logical, right? An adult (for me, that’s anyone over 18) starts learning a new language—in our case, Hebrew—and turns to original Hebrew children's books to improve their skills.

Here’s the catch: children's books are written primarily for native-speaking kids, not for adult second-language learners. You could debate that point, sure, but what you can’t debate is the actual Hebrew level in these books. The language used is often surprisingly advanced, poetic, and literary. That’s because the main goal is to expose kids who already speak everyday Hebrew to richer, higher-register vocabulary.

Here’s a great example: in the classic דירה להשכיר (written by Leah Goldberg in 1972 and still an absolute staple), they don't ask:

The question is:

This is a very formal, high-register phrasing that nobody uses in daily conversation. It’s definitely not suitable for a beginner (Aleph / University Level 1) who is just building confidence with basic sentences, figuring out how to order coffee, or talking about what they like to do.

Honestly, it’s not even a great fit for intermediate students (Bet / Level 2) or even advanced ones (Gimel / Level 3). Realistically, only students around Level Dalet—people ready to take academic courses or work professionally in Hebrew—can comfortably tackle these texts.

A quick tip if you have kids: ask them to retell you the story in their own words instead. It’s actually a great, fun activity for Olim with kids!

Consider the following sentence: I studied all night but when morning came I had not learned anything

In Hebrew I think you'd say:

למדתי כל הלילה אבל כשהגיע הבוקר לא למדתי כלום

In English we distinguish between studying, making an effort to acquire knowledge, vs. learning, actually acquiring the knowledge. So you can engage positively in studying but still fail to learn.

But Hebrew uses the same word for both the effort to acquire knowledge and the actual acquisition of the knowledge. It feels strange that in the same sentence I can engage positively and say למדתי yet fail and describe that failure as למדתי.

In Hebrew is there a way to distinguish between studying vs. learning?

Hi everyone! Kinda new, I wanted to know what type of Hebrew (or other Jewish language) I should use for the scientific names of my spec evo plant clade. You see, I want one of the first biologists exploring my project’s planet (Hephaestia, named such for its abnormal levels of iron) to be an ashkenazi Jew, or an Israeli national perhaps, sorta as a reference to my jewish ancestry. So I was thinking give the botanist this key feature, and having the majority of their discoveries being named in one of the languages that hold the most importance to their people, similar to how you usually find Latin all over Western Europe and its derivative cultures like Americans due to its significance to us

If you could give me a specific version that would hold a similar weight as Latin, maybe some basics on how it names things (any case affixes? Any perticular order for compound words? Etc.) , that would be great! Thank you in advance!

I'm trying to track down the song that plays on Nuchem's ringtone in the Kugel TV series. The lyrics seem to be in Hebrew (Shazam and other AI things can't make it out), or maybe you recognize the song?

https://reddit.com/link/1w34fn8/video/y1ozyjolcnmh1/player

This is the first time I record myself reading in Hebrew in a long long time. How are my pronunciation and delivery? Thank you for your feedback!

(For those interested, I am reading from Gillian Higgins' book מיינדפולנס בחיי היום יום)

מיינדפולנס הוא שיטה המתורגלת כבר אלפי שנים, ואנשים רבים שמעו עליה--אבל מהי בדיוק? מיינדפולנס פירושו לשים לב לרגעים בחיי היום יום בסקרנות ובפתיחות, מתוך כוונה. להיות נוכחים בחוויית הרגע, בהווה, ולהיות מודעים למה שאנחנו עושים בזמן שאנחנו עושים זאת, ללא שמץ שיפוטיות. בעצם, מדובר ביכולת לחוות את ה״כאן והעכשיו״, במקום לערוג לחיים שיהיו כפי היינו רוצים שיהיו

So I came across this sentence, and I was wondering if אלא could also have been used (in lieu of כי אם) here.

‏לא הזמן הוא המרפא כי אם הבחירה מה לעשות איתו בכל רגע נתון

I’m trying to understand the syntax here. Isn’t מנת the word מנה in construct form? Then why isn’t it being followed by another noun? Can a construct noun be followed by a complement clause? Also, this is an excerpt from a poem I came across on FB.
פעם אדם התלבט.
‏כמה אנשים יגיעו על מנת שיסכים
לקיים שיעור.
…

My name is Stephen and I am a Jewish American. I am having problems remembering my name in Hebrew is. I kind of remember Simcha is that possible? I have no living family to verify this. Could someone please help me
Thanks
Steve

New strategy: Pronouncing the words, writing the transliteration, then spelling the transliteration back to Hebrew.
I was trying to learn the meanings at the same time and it was really tripping me up. I’m old and this is difficult

So far the words I know (below), I know by sight and what they go to, . This is how I hope to learn all the words. I am hoping this is the best way!

‏שלום
‏טוב
‏שבת
‏אתה
‏אמא
‏ לא
‏כן

I have a big interest in religious scripture, I already learnt Quranic Arabic and can understand the Qur'an and hadith (unrelated though I've also learnt Persian and Urdu to read Sufi literature and Islamic philosophical works and Hindi and some Sanskrit for Hindu works and Punjabi for Sikh works), and I want to learn Hebrew and Aramaic as well to reduce my dependence on translations when reading Jewish and Christian scripture, just as I've done with Islamic scripture

My algorithm brought up this older song by Hadag Nahash today, and while listening to it, I thought it might be helpful to Hebrew learners due to the language used.

Hadag Nahash - Shir Nehama הדג נחש - שיר נחמה

המיסים שלי קונים נשק, ואני רואה דרכו
הילדים שלי סוחטים הדק, ואני גאה מאוד
בכתלים שלי נפער סדק, רק שלא אפול דרכו
אולי הבית שלי צריך בדק, ואולי בעצם לא
אפשר לשבת כל היום, ולטחון ולטחון את זה
לשבת כל הלילה, וללעוס וללגום את זה
אבל למה לי לצלול, ולחטוף דיכאון מזה
יותר עדיף שלא, כי אין פתרון לזה

אז מה עושים מתנחמים, מתפננים על סיר חמין
מנפנפים גריל פחמים, עפים על ארק איילים
ושרים שיהיה טוב, שרים כדי לא לרעוב
שרים כדי לא לראות שאין על מה
שרים עוד שיר נחמה

סובבוני בשקלים, הלעיטוני בכזבים
ואני כשה תמים, עודני מאמין
עוד פעם, שיר נחמה

הנציגים שלי גידלו חדק, שוב נותן להם תקול
לילדים שלי עושה נזק, מקווה שלא גדול
הרצפה תחת רגליי רועדת, נזהר שלא ליפול
אולי הבית שלי צריך בדק, ואלי בעצם לא
אפשר לשבת כל היום, להפוך ולבחון את זה
להתהפך כל הלילה, לא לישון לא לישון מזה
וואחד סרט לאכול, אבל אין שום הגיון בזה
יותר עדיף שלא, כי אין פתרון לזה

אז מה עושים מתנחמים, מסירים מכסים מסירים
מסירים מוסר משרים, מסירים מסרים משירים
ושרים שיהיה טוב, שרים כדי לא לרעוב
שרים כדי לא לראות שאין על מה, שרים עוד שיר נחמה

סובבוני בשקלים, הלעיטוני בכזבים
ואני כשה תמים, עודני מאמין
עוד פעם

The course is not great, but due daily repetition I retain lots of words that directly pay off when I watch Israeli TV/ or listen to Israeli Radio.

I honestly think Duolingo and Memrize both are fantastic methods to keep learning when on the road, toilet, lunch breaks or every other moment you have.

It took me 333 days to get section 2 completed, not rushing it, just fitting in between 5 minutes to a hour but at least consistently every single day spend some time learning.

For everyone who completed the course, for how many months did you keep refreshing till you really mastered every single word from the head?

Hello, I'm an undergraduate student going into his second year of learning Biblical Hebrew. I've have a couple hundred words vocab and I've studied most of the grammar. I'm really excited about treating it as a living language and would be super interested in finding a pen-pal or speaking partner who would be willing to have conversations about the Bible or writing stories to each other or things of that sort in B-HEB. If you're interested DM me

Does anyone know of streaming services accessible in the U.S. with Hebrew language children’s shows? Can be paid/subscription. My kid loves watching the YouTube clips of his favorite Disney songs in Hebrew (“play Hebrew Let it Go, Mama!”) and I’d love to be able to let him watch some of his favorite shows in Hebrew.

We occasionally do “Sing it With Miss Sarah” on YouTube, but I’d love to pivot his exposure to a more conversational experience. I was once fluent but am a little rusty these days and dad doesn’t speak Hebrew so there’s limited opportunity for him to hear conversational Hebrew organically at home.