105 Journal 8

[Michelle Davidson]

Learning the history of a language can be helpful because if you learn that a language developed from a certain region or spawned off of another language then you may be able to recognize some of the words. Hebrew has a particularly interesting history because it technically died and was revived. It is similar to Latin in this regard, but Latin has not been revived as a spoken language only a written one, while Hebrew is now used for written and oral purposes. The use of Hebrew as a spoken language decreased because of the persecution of Jews who stopped speaking the language and assimiliated to their new countrys’ languages.  I think learning about the revival of Hebrew motivates me to want to learn the language so that it continues to live on. When Hebrew was dying out Yiddish was a common language spoken, but now Yiddish is dying out. I love some of the Yiddish language though so I hope it makes a revival like Hebrew.