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Learning Biblical Hebrew: Alphabet Sounds

LamorakDesGalis

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Here is the alphabet with the associated sounds. These are the consonantal sounds, although we will see next time that some of these letters do function as vowels.

Aleph א has a short “throaty” sound similar to the “h” in “heir” and “honest” - and sometimes its silent. Its pronounced with a vowel and the later examples will be helpful...
Bet ב has a “v” sound while בּ has a “b” sound
Gimel ג has a soft “g” sound like the g in George whileגּ has a harder “g” sound like go
Dalet ד has a "th" sound while דּ has a “d” sound
He ה has an “h” sound
Waw ו has a “w” sound – modern Hebrew has the “v” sound
Zayin ז has a “z” sound
Het ח has a “ch” sound, back in the throat like Bach or Scottish loch
Tet ט has a “t” sound
Yod י has a “y” sound
Kaph כ has a “ch” sound as in Scottish loch or Bach while כּ has a hard "k" sound
Lamed ל has an “l” sound
Mem מ ם has an “m” sound
Nun ן נ has an “n” sound
Samek ס has an “s” sound
Ayin ע is similar in sound to Aleph, but a little more “throaty.” Like with Aleph, the examples will be helpful.
Pe פ has an “ f ” sound whileפּ has an “p” sound
Sade ץ צ has a “ ts ” sound as in jets
Qophק has a “q” sound
Res ר has an “r” sound
Sin שׂ has an “s” sound
S(h)in שׁ has an “sh” sound as in Shalom
Taw ת has a “th” sound while תּ has a “t” sound

Notice that some letters have the same sounds - such as tet ט and taw תּ, both with “t”. A word may sound the same as another word but be spelled differently. Therefore one needs to pay careful to how a word is spelled and how it sounds. Next up: the vowels...


 

Tishri1

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awesome I learned new sounds too some of those I didnt know

I will admit to having a bit of Hebrew before and picking up alot in congregation:thumbsup:

ETA talk about learning Hebrew look at this
http://www.christianforums.com/t7423227/

 
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varsity

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Perhaps I might make a few comments for anyone who is an aspiring Torah reader about the pronunciation commonly used in synagogues today. The gimel with and without a dagesh is pronounced as "g", the dalet with and without a dagesh is pronounced "d", and the tav (taw) with and without a dagesh is pronounced as "t". If for some reason one wants to use historical pronunciations, the dalet without a dagesh is pronounced as the "th" in "the", while a tav without a dagesh is pronounced as the "th" in "thin". Also note that speakers who learned their Hebrew in an Ashkenazi tradition will pronounce a tav without a dagesh as "s". Thus you will hear them say, "Barkhu es Adonoi" rather than "Barkhu et Adonai". A common word ending in tav, for which you will hear three different pronunciations, is the Hebrew word for "house of". You will hear "beth", "beit", or "beis".

You would certainly draw stares in my congregation if you pronounced vav (waw) as "w" or a gimel without a dagesh as the "g" in "George".
 
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LamorakDesGalis

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I appreciate your comments, varsity. :thumbsup: In academics, Hebrew pronunciation receives less emphasis than Hebrew spoken in communities. The older grammars taught the classical while the more recent introductory grammars now teach the modern pronunciation. So modern is probably the way to go now...


LDG
 
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yonah_mishael

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Gimel ג has a soft “g” sound like the g in George whileגּ has a harder “g” sound like go

Note for those who have been learning this. The letter ג never has a "j" sound in biblical Hebrew. Originally, there was a difference between ג (no English equivalent - similar to Arabic letter غ) and גּ ("g" in "good"). There hasn't been a difference between the two in millennia, and "j" was never one of its variant sounds.

Dalet ד has a "th" sound while דּ has a “d” sound

Dalet never had the sound of the "th" in "think" (IPA /θ/), but the sound of "th" in "that" (IPA /ð/). There are two "th" sounds in English, and we must distinguish between them when talking about the ancient pronunciation. It was ת that bore the "th" sound in "think" (IPA /θ/).

In Israeli Hebrew (basically the Sephardi pronunciation) there is no difference between ד and דּ (both /d/), between ג and גּ (both /g/) or between ת and תּ (both /t/). It's not worth learning a difference between them.

There are several points on which I would disagree with previous instruction on this forum in the pronunciation of Hebrew. Because an audio element will be added to each lesson in the upcoming class, please see that you're at least attempting to pronounce the language according to spoken norms.

It makes better sense to use the Israeli pronunciation, given that it will make transition to spoken Hebrew easier in the future and because it's become the standard in scholarly works for dealing with Hebrew studies. Some may choose to use some kind of "reconstructed ancient pronunciation" or even to follow the Yemenite communities in their traditions, but it's worthwhile to learn the standard pronunciation as it is used today. This is what I'll be teaching.

Regards,
Yonah
 
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yonah_mishael

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I appreciate your comments, varsity. :thumbsup: In academics, Hebrew pronunciation receives less emphasis than Hebrew spoken in communities. The older grammars taught the classical while the more recent introductory grammars now teach the modern pronunciation. So modern is probably the way to go now...


LDG

I hadn't noticed this statement before I posted above. :) Modern is surely the way to go, and that's what we're going to be working on. Not modern Hebrew, but the pronunciation used in Israel today. It's become the standard, and it just makes sense that people should learn Hebrew that is communicable to others.

Yonah
 
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It's true that modern pronunciation is very different and much simpler that it was thousands of years ago. I would not even know where to begin researching ancient pronunciations. I doubt definitive answers even exist.

With regard to Tav, Gimel, Daled, and Vav, the dagesh never symbolizes a change in pronunciation in modern Hebrew or even the pronunciation of ancient Hebrew by modern Jews, with only a few exceptions. Even then it's hard to know exactly what was the correct pronunciation in ancient times. Today, two language traditions make use of the dagesh: Ashkenazic pronunciation of Tav (T/S), and Yemenite pronunciation of Gimel (G/J), Daled (D/Th), and Vav (V/W).

We can only guess what the ancient pronunciation was through what the Masoretes wrote down in the 8th century when they added vowelling to the Old Testament, as well as various texts such as the Sefer Yetzirah. The Masoretes used Tiberian Hebrew which had a complex pronunciation scheme. I'm guessing that's pretty close to the ancient pronunciation.
 
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yonah_mishael

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I'd avoid referencing gimel as ever sounding like the English "j" (IPA: [ʤ]). It either sounds like the "g" in "go" or (if it appears this way in Yemenite speech in imitation of Arabic) it sounds something like the Arabic letter غ (ghayin) (IPA: [ɣ]). It's nothing like English "j", so we must avoid that type of explanation.
 
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I'd avoid referencing gimel as ever sounding like the English "j" (IPA: [ʤ]). It either sounds like the "g" in "go" or (if it appears this way in Yemenite speech in imitation of Arabic) it sounds something like the Arabic letter غ (ghayin) (IPA: [ɣ]). It's nothing like English "j", so we must avoid that time of explanation.

Do you know of any reliable sources of ancient pronunciation?

I was under the understanding that Yemenite was mimicking Arabic as well and not really traditional, and from what I know about it is from learning at a Mizrachi Synagogue. So that is why I suppose we take the modern pronunciation as canon if you will. It is the most reliable thing we have for Jewish purposes anyway.

For Christian purposes, I don't know. Everyone here may have different religious reasons.

Interesting discussion on different pronunciation traditions anyway. :wave:
 
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yonah_mishael

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Do you know of any reliable sources of ancient pronunciation?

I was under the understanding that Yemenite was mimicking Arabic as well and not really traditional, and from what I know about it is from learning at a Mizrachi Synagogue. So that is why I suppose we take the modern pronunciation as canon if you will. It is the most reliable thing we have for Jewish purposes anyway.

For Christian purposes, I don't know. Everyone here may have different religious reasons.

Interesting discussion on different pronunciation traditions anyway. :wave:

Most say that Arabic has retained its semitic nature and is certainly what Hebrew sounded like in its more ancient form. We can't know for sure how they pronounced things in the past (since we don't have any recordings), but I'm sure the Yemenites didn't preserve the ancient Hebrew pronunciation intact. They simply immitated the sounds of the language of the greater populace, which was Arabic. Hebrew adopted different sounds depending on where the people lived who used it, what the external influences were.

One thing's for sure... if you want to come across intelligibly (so that others can understand you), you should use the Sefardi pronunciation (not including vav as "w" and double sounds for the begedkefet beyond bet, kaf and peh).

There's a young man who has attempted to reconstruct the pronunciation of Hebrew. He's made several videos on youtube. It may sound interesting, but as far as I'm concerned it's unintelligible and just grates on the ears. You might think differently. Here's his youtube video on how he pronounces the Shema:

YouTube - Kriyas Shema Yisrael

IMHO, it sounds awful. But, to each his own.

Regards,
Yonah
 
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