I’m going on business trip to Israel in November. Beyond “Shalom”, I’m pretty much lost. I would like to purchase a self study course to at least pick up some basics like “how are you”, “where’s the bathroom”, “taxi driver, take me to Tel Aviv, please”, etc. Even though English is the official business language of my company, I’d still like to make the effort to talk to my colleagues in their native tongue (at least until they can’t take my Hebrew anymore, and they switch back to English!)
Any suggestions on a course I could take? Since I have an hour long commute each way, I’d like something with an audio CD component, although I’m not averse to having something with a PC based component as well. I’m probably not going to spend a lot of time worrying about the Hebrew alphabet–not enough time to pick that up, I fear.
I’m using Rosetta Stone for Spanish. But I can’t imagine that spending an hour or so a day at it for 2 months would make me feel that I had the wherewithal to converse with natives. I’m sure there’s a proven structure to it, but the phrases are seemingly rather random and I find it useful only as a supplement to classes at the community college.
If your goal is to be able to use basic courteous phrases you might be better off with a phrase book with an audio component to help with pronunciation. Apart from full immersion I can’t think of a way to get conversant in 2 months, but maybe some of the more brilliant chiffers will know otherwise.
Those language learning courses are an okay start, but the only way to really learn a language is by immersing yourself in it. It takes a long time to become fluent, but if phrases are what you’re after, emm’s got it pegged; go to B&N and get a good phrase book.
It’s very hard to do but not impossible. I’ve taught myself an amazing amount of German in the past year although I still don’t feel comfortable or adequate talking or writing in it…I’ve mainly taught myself to read. I didn’t set out to teach myself to read, but I think reading lends itself to self-study more.
I’ve heard only good things about Pimsleur, but I’ve never tried it myself.
For Hebrew, check around at synagogues. Sometimes they give informal public Hebrew classes or know of places that do.
Thanks for the replies so far. I have no expectations of having any fluency. I just want to be able to handle a few of the common phrases, as I won’t always have English speakers around me. I have been using “Hebrew for Dummies”, but there’s not much of an audio component–everything is spelled out phonetically in the book. So, I’m not sure how correct my pronunication is.
Cran–good idea on the synagogues, although at this late time, I’m not going to be able to commit to something too structured. Something to keep in mind for the future, as I expect to go back in 2006 sometime.
The Teach Yourself courses (published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton) are excellent. I have the Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali courses which I acquired in order to learn the written forms of languages I learned to speak from former workmates. They are well structured with great audio material.
I bought a Pimsleur Spanish course off Ebay and thoroughly enjoyed it and felt that it taught me a great deal. Considering that I knew absolutely nothing to begin with.
And it did begin with basic phrases such as “I do/don’t understand.” “Where is the bathroom.” “Good morning, afternoon evening.” “what time is it?” etc.
But it wasn’t cheap and it takes a pretty strong commitment to daily listening and practice. And it’s impossible to retain for any length of time without continuing to practice.
This was one of the full Pimsleur courses, (I think there are at least four in Spanish) not one of the quicky ones.
Brewster:
Italy was my first trip to a country whose language I did not know. I was worried about not being able to communicate the basics. So, I went all out. I bought three books and a whole set of cassettes to learn. I had three months to get ready so I studied regularly. The reality when I finally got there is that it was fairly useless. Any other place I have gone, I simply bought a phrase book and listened to a few internet radio broadcasts to get a feel for how the language sounds and I’ve had no problems. Sometimes conversation have come down to hand gestures, but being polite goes a long way. My best advice is go to a bookstore and look through what is available and see which ones are laid out in a way that is convenient for what you are looking for because you don’t want to have to spend your trip with your nose buried in a book trying to find just the right words.
Cranberry: Don’t sell yourself short. If you’re comfortable reading German, there is no reason you cannot take the next step to converse and write. Personally, I find writing the most difficult in ANY language, but once you are surrounded with the conversation, it is fairly easy to pick it up. Just don’t be afraid to make mistakes. In other words: “Quatsch! Keine mehr faule Fische. Versuch es!”
