When I first thought about what I was going to write for this journal entry, I did not think that I would have much to say. Honestly, at first, I did not really see why it would be beneficial to know about a language’s history. However, as I began researching the history of the Hebrew language, I found that it was actually very beneficial information that I was learning. Learning a language’s history essentially gives you a better idea of how that particular language evolved and most importantly how it has changed over time. Every minute of every day I am using the English language and yet, I never stop to think about where the words came from or how the entire concept of the English language and its structure came to be. When I think about it now, it is actually really interesting how languages develop and how each one is so different from one another, yet similar at the same time.
I found a lot of useful information while I was researching about the history of Hebrew and how it developed over time. For instance, I had no idea that there are two different dialects of Hebrew, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, Sephardic being the dialect that is spoken in Israel today. Also, the Hebrew alphabet has no vowels and most things written in the Hebrew in Israel are written without vowels. However, they do use features which are referred to as nikkudim. Nikkudim, which means points in English, were developed after Romans expelled the Jews from Israel. At that time, the rabbis believed that the Hebrew language needed help when it came to the pronunciation of words and sentences. As a result, they developed a system of dots and dashes which they referred to as nikkudim. These dots and dots are found either below, above or inside the particular letter of the alphabet and are used to indicate vowels.
Here is a table that illustrates some of these vowel points.
Also, while researching the history of the Hebrew language, I was surprised to find that very few English words come from Modern Hebrew vocabulary, but there are many words that come from the Hebrew of the Bible. For example, amen, hallelujah, and hosanna are common Biblical words used in English that actually come from Hebrew. In addition, because the Hebrew alphabet differs so greatly from the English alphabet, I would never have thought of the possibility of confusing words written in Hebrew for certain English words. However, as I have been learning more Hebrew vocabulary and familiarizing myself with the Hebrew alphabet, I have found that there are some Hebrew words, that although sound like a common English word, they actually have completely different meanings in Hebrew. For instance, in Hebrew, the word mi, which is pronounced like the English word “me” , actually means who. In addition, the Hebrew word hu, which is pronounced like the English word “who”, actually means he. And one more word that I found was the Hebrew word bageleh, which sounds like bagel, but actually means pretzel in Hebrew.
Overall, I would say that my research on the history of the Hebrew language was very successful. It is very safe to say that I learned a lot of new information, but that could also be because I have never known anything about the Hebrew language, or Israel for that matter, before taking this class J.
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