michaelaubrey September 2, 2009 Books, Grammar, Hebrew, Language, Language Learning

Hebrew Grammar Question

My familiarity with introductory Hebrew grammars is rather lacking, so I’m interested in some comments.

My wife is beginning first year Hebrew this next week and she’ll be using: Biblical Hebrew, Second Ed. (Yale Language Series) by Bonnie Pedrotti Kittel, Victoria Hoffer, & Rebecca Abts Wright.

Does anyone have any experience with this grammar and have any thoughts on it?

There are a variety of people I’d be interested in hearing from (John Hobbins being one of them; I also know that Mandy uses Kittel for teaching, so I’m curious about her thoughts).

Thanks!

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1

John Hobbins on September 2, 2009 at 5:32 pm
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I would download Cook and Holmstedt’s grammar from Holmstedt’s U of Toronto homepage as a backup to the Yale volume.

But really, learning a language doesn’t have all that much to do with the grammar book one uses, unless one plans to filter one’s knowledge of the language to be acquired through the categories of the grammar book forever.

At some point, it’s important to just listen /read / speak a language, all tools set aside. It’s a living thing after all. I hope that doesn’t sound too mystical.

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  Mike Aubrey on September 2, 2009 at 6:00 pm
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  Thanks for the advise, John.
  
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    Rob Kashow on September 2, 2009 at 7:55 pm
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    webster all the way
    
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      Mike Aubrey on September 2, 2009 at 8:41 pm
      
      Rob, uhm, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but a person only gets to choose the textbooks for classes they themselves are teaching.
      
      …and I’m not teaching my wife’s Hebrew class.
      
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      Rob Kashow on September 3, 2009 at 5:47 am
      
      like John, I was suggesting a backup.
      
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6

Geoff on September 3, 2009 at 7:48 am
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My Hebrew prof used that one originally, but when Robert Ray Ellis’ textbook came out that became his choice. It worked well for him.

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7

Hebrew Scholar on September 4, 2009 at 7:38 am
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Good question, glad you asked. “Biblical Hebrew” by Kittel, Hoffer & Wright is an excellent introductory grammar, and takes a different approach to a lot of other Hebrew grammars out there. Most traditional grammars take a methodical systematic approach to the grammar, building it up slowly, first the alphabet, then nouns, then masculine/fem, then singular & plural, and so on. By contrast, “Biblical Hebrew” by Kittel et al, takes an “intuitive” approach. They take real Hebrew sentences from the Hebrew Bible, starting with simple ones, analysing them, then systematically more complex ones, and so on. They are heavily into verbs from the beginning, while most grammars leave verbs til much later. You are let through the language at a much more intuitive level, trying to understand the Hebrew language from the inside out, rather than from the outside in, you might say.
Some people love this approach. Others will prefer the other academic approach to learning Hebrew. I have read all types of grammar, and “Biblical Hebrew” is very good. You feel like you are making progress with real Hebrew faster than other grammars.

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8

The Floppy Hat » Blog Archive » Why I Love Bonnie: A Review of Biblical Hebrew, by Bonnie Pedrotti Kittel, Victoria Hoffer, & Rebecca Abts Wright on September 4, 2009 at 7:40 am
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[…] was asked in a blog post to share my thoughts on Biblical Hebrew: A Text and Workbook, by Bonnie Pedrotti Kittel, Victoria […]

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9

Mandy on September 4, 2009 at 7:42 am
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I started to write a comment, but it just became too long so I decided to turn it into a post on my blog. Therefore, feel free to read my thoughts
here!

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10

Adam Couturier on September 4, 2009 at 2:47 pm
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Mike,
I would agree with Mandy (for the most part). Both Mandy and Calvin turned me onto this grammar, and I personally love it! I will also be teaching a Hebrew class in the fall, and this is the grammar that my students will be using.

I don’t think there is a perfect grammar for anyone, but if your wife likes learning languages w/a classic pedagogy, then she may not love this grammar. It is not classically systematic in its treatment of grammar, but that is why I personally love it.

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  Mike Aubrey on September 4, 2009 at 3:17 pm
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  I think it will be good for her then. We both hate traditional pedagogy.
  
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