Hebrew Explained?

[Friends just call me Ross]

I always wondered how the Israelites could read Hebrew.  

How did they know which vowels went with which words?  

 

Could this possibly explain it?  

 

 

                     Hrebw  Epxaliendd?

 

Aoccdrnig to rscheearchres at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,

the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer

be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you

can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

 

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not

raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig , huh?

 

 

Jehovah must have hard-wired Hebrew right into Adam's perfect brain.  

[kejedo]

They were familiar with the pronunciation of the whole word and learned decoding by consonants. If we see the letters BLDG, we know it stands for building, because that is a word we know fully. We do not guess it to be bildiga, because that is not a known word in our language. Some people still speak Aramaic, and we can figure out pretty close pronunciation patterns. I learned Latin in Middle School and nobody really knows exactly how it was spoken. Now that I have learned how well spoken Greek was in those days, I wish I studied Greek. I taught myself to read by the whole word method when I was three and taught my sons to read very early by the whole word method. I now free tutor and a have a young man I am teaching by the sight word method. There is not just one way to build a ship. People can learn reading and pronunciation by several methods. Time is of the essence. I was just talking to a Ukrainian Woman. Now that she has been reading and writing in Am. English, when she writes to her fam. in the Ukraine, her words are often our of order. I digress; I am glad your post makes the point that we read the whole word. My children were reading and writing books by age 3 and a half (not a trick, anybody can do this). They were made to stop reading when they entered kindergarten because they had not learned by the phonetic method (also useful). Their school also used automatic writing (spelling not important). So they learned two methods of spelling. At home, accurate spelling was expected. At school, just write down the sounds. I am also familiar with speed reading dynamics, whereby one skips parts of the sentence and just reads the central parts. This is possible, but not useful imho, because I want to relish every word. Thanks for the post! 

[carlos]

Pauline, I have often wondered how are people taught to read English.

 

In my language, reading is pretty straightforward: every letter has just one sound, so you just put them together and you're done. You can pronounce any word even if you have never come across it before, because the orthography is logical (most of the time). Children are taught: ma me mi mo mu, ta te ti to tu, ra re ri ro ru. Mi mamá me mima. Yo amo a mi mamá.

 

But in English?

[MizPeg]

interesting posts, people.

I was helping my nephew with his reading, as he was still struggling at 13! Once he realized, after a bit of coaching, that reading words, and knowing the sounds of each letter, he caught on quite nicely. Yes, some of the vowels will make a child groan with despair, but they really start to blossom, when the vowel sounds don't make them cringe.

[Qapla]

It depends on the culture what can be assumed or understood without vowels. While it is true many in the US would see bldg as building many here in the south would just as likely see bulldog - also a common word - context would still be needed to be sure

[Qapla]

Then again ......

 

Take the sentence:

 

WOW! That bldg is a real beast.

 

Is that referring to an animal or a structure? Without additional context, who knows. Let's see:

 

WOW! That bldg is a real beast. Just look at that rear portion, it is really built.

 

Well, still not enough context .....

 

WOW! That bldg is a real beast. Just look at that rear portion, it is really built. I'll bet it really eats into the budget, big time.

 

Perhaps, still not enough context .....

 

WOW! That bldg is a real beast. Just look at that rear portion, it is really built. I'll bet it really eats into the budget, big time. With a build like that, the owner must be mighty proud.

 

Even more context is needed.....

 

Now, let's see how many of us can add to this "context" withOUT revealing if this is an animal or structure.

[Old]

Every thing I know about Hebrew is summed up with this: "Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning,

The Hebrews learn it backwards, Which is absolutely frightening."

Might want to ponder over this for a bit.

[carlos]

Every thing I know about Hebrew is summed up with this: "Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning,

The Hebrews learn it backwards, Which is absolutely frightening."

Might want to ponder over this for a bit.

 

Arabic is written without vowels too.

[rocket]

Every thing I know about Hebrew is summed up with this: "Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning,

The Hebrews learn it backwards, Which is absolutely frightening."

Might want to ponder over this for a bit.

 

Are you trying to say that you have a disgust for the English language used in this Forum? Or is it that you watch too many Plays? 

[Old]

Ouch!