After some Twitter friends started begging for my extra Moleskine journals that were not given away at Christmas, I decided maybe I should use them as a contest prize. I plan to design a custom Gocco screen print for them.

What I want in exchange, are your comments about how you take notes. When I translate a Hebrew passage, I create a notebook which contains all the details and notes of my translation. When I read a book, I put Post-Itâ„¢ notes in the margins and write my thoughts. But I also love to carry around mini Moleskine journals for keeping track of expenses, photography details, book finds, and newly made contacts. I do take notes with my laptop and iPhone too.

So, what kind of note-taking preferences do you have? Digital or paper? Do you back up notes on Evernote? Do you scan paper notes for archive purposes (I do)? What computer software or iPhone apps do you use? What kind of physical paper or notebook do you prefer?

I’ll keep this contest open until January 15th, and then I’ll pick a few comments at random to receive the Moleskine journals.

    

• Bob MacDonald
• John Murphy
• Sytze van der Laan
• Rick

I’ll be in touch with you to find out if you are going to SBL or if I need to mail the Og comic book to you.

Time for another B2B contest. This time I want to know what Biblical Hebrew textbook you used when you first learned Hebrew. Leave a comment and tell me the name of the textbook and a little bit about whether you thought it was helpful. What did you like/dislike about the book?

Also, if you have taught Biblical Hebrew to other people, let me know what textbook you chose to use and why.

Your reward for your comments? I’m giving away some Og the Terrible comic books. I’ll put everyone who has contributed a comment into a random generator to select the winners! You can enter more than once by describing your experiences with different textbooks.

    

Ze’ev Clementson suggested another resource (this time for Modern Hebrew).

Another nice resource for someone learning Hebrew (modern Hebrew, not Biblical Hebrew) is Sha’ar La’Matchil — a weekly newspaper written in easy Hebrew with vowels and vocabulary help. It is available in both printed and online versions: http://www.shaaronline.co.il/Eng/index.asp
It allows one to learn new vocabulary by reading and/or listening to current news articles.

This is a great resource if you are trying to learn Modern Hebrew. It is an easy-to-read newspaper. However, there is a fee: $60 for the year ($6 a month) for the digital edition. I don’t think the print edition is being offered any longer.

Steve B. pointed us to another online tool.

I have personally used this and can say that it is very helpful. The only trick is that the guys behind the Hebrew section are still adding pieces of the Hebrew section (they’re friends from Gordon Conwell). The best piece of this program (besides the fact its free and reliable!) is that it takes which words you don’t know and quizzes you for five mins a day on them. The idea is to commit words to long-term memory by monitoring the user’s day-to-day knowledge of vocab(which, of course, requires honesty!). I know of nothing better (and it’s continuing to improve!)
http://www.quisition.com/

Quisition is a browser-based flashcard system that repeats old cards and introduces new ones at optimal time intervals. There are “decks” of cards for all kinds of subjects (not just Hebrew). It looks like there are currently 28 decks for Biblical Hebrew, all based on the Van Pelt/ Pratico word lists. The vocabulary will take you down to a frequency of 50. There is also a deck for numbers and one for transliteration practice.You can group existing decks into your own deck (“My Decks”) for a custom study set. For the student or teacher who really wants to go the extra mile, you can create new decks (and share them). So, an instructor could create decks that dovetail with a specific curriculum.

Ze’ev also gave a couple of suggestions for people learning Hebrew who have an iPhone.

1. My own HebrewBible (shameless plug!!!) iPhone app provides a ‘Words’ tab that lets one do a lookup of any Hebrew word’s English definition based on the first 2 characters of the root. This can be
done either online (with an Internet connection) or offline (storing the definitions locally on the iPhone) and provides Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic definitions. The app also has Google Translate lookup
functionality that allows for the translation to/from multiple different languages and Hebrew (modern Hebrew, Internet access required for this functionality).
Description: http://sites.google.com/site/hebrewsoftware/
iTunes Link: http://itunes.com/app/HebrewBible
Cost: $4.95

2. Nogasoft provides an excellent off-line iPhone dictionary that translates Hebrew (modern) to/from English, French, Russian, and Spanish. If you only require 1 language (e.g. just Hebrew to/from English), you can buy just the single module for a cheaper price.
Description: http://www.nogasoft.com/Products/TopDictionariesIPhone.asp
iTunes Link: Select the desired product from the bottom of the Nogasoft page or search for ‘nogasoft’ in iTunes.
Cost: $39.99 for 4 languages, $19.99 for 1 language

I’ve done a more extensive review of Ze’ev’s Hebrew Bible app here. I think that the language tools are a good reference, but not currently set up as a flashcard-type program for practice.

Another of Ze’ev’s suggestions was an online application that is very different!

One that is quite neat is HaDaR (Hebrew Dictionary Research Tool). It lets you select either the first, second, or third character of a Hebrew word root and then graphically displays all of the Hebrew words that contain that character in that position. It is ostensibly used to compare roots with related radicals but it would be a great aid for creating/solving Hebrew Bible crossword puzzles! In addition to being useful for crossword puzzles, it is neat in that it graphically illustrates concentrations of words around specific letter combinations. Have a look at it here: http://www.shiloam.net/radical-hebrew/hadar/viewrootmap.php

It took me a little while playing around with this tool to really get my head around how it works. You choose a root at the top of the window (I, II, or III), then the grid fills in where there are possible roots, based on the other two remaining slots. See if a picture helps (below). I’ve chosen the first root to be mem (see the green arrow at the top). Once I do that, a grid appears with squares aligning with letters across the top and down the left side. Then I’ve hovered my cursor over the square that is down the samek row and across the hey row (see the green arrow in the middle of the image). This would be for the root mem-samek-hey. Once I do that, a pop-up window appears with a gloss and some other information (see the second image). Get it? Ze’ev is right, it would be really helpful for crossword puzzles because you only get squares where there are possible roots! You need to play with it a bit.

Bob W. suggested this next website.

http://ancient-hebrew.org/7_home.html is a great way to start out. It builds from letters, then adds letters and goes through exercises pronouncing combinations. Eventually you will read small sections of scripture.

I’ll be honest, there are some helpful things here, but I am concerned about some of the material on the website. Particularly, the “mechanical translation” that the author of the website produces and sells. I disagree with his methodology and some of his ideas about languages, translation, and meaning. But, this is not the place to critique that particular item (maybe another time, because I do think it is important to address). I just want to make it clear that I am not condoning this entire site.

Chris Heard let me know about the following (originally, via Twitter… did you hear that Jim? Twitter).

I’m preparing some iFlipr decks for Hebrew vocab

This is a web and iPhone application. I didn’t know about iFlipr and I’ve really flipped for it! Watch this little video for a good intro to the app.

Now, here’s what some of the Biblical Hebrew decks look like on my own iPhone. One thing to pay attention to is the font display. The decks that are titled “Van Pelt” are difficult to read and the pointing does not always line up (the first image below is from a “Van Pelt” deck). However, the decks named “Basics of Biblical Hebrew” display beautifully (2nd image below). Once you “flip” the card to the back (on the “Basics of Biblical Hebrew” word) you not only see the gloss, but also a button that will play an audio track which pronounces the word (3rd image below). Note, the titles of the decks are generated by the deck author and are not necessarily indicative of an official textbook affiliation.

To find decks, go online and search for “Biblical Hebrew.” You will see several different sets of vocab (usually keyed to a particular textbook or grammar). Once you find the decks you want, you can download them to a library and pull them up to practice another time. You can sync your iPhone iFlipr app with the online login info so that the decks you identify online can be loaded to your iPhone. I can’t wait to see the decks that Chris is developing!!

The iFlipr app for your iPhone costs $4.99. BUT there are 7,000,000 cards on iFlipr (many, many other categories and languages than just Biblical Hebrew). You can find it in the iTunes app store here.

Ze’ev got in the last word with this final suggestion.

A nice Hebrew vocab (primarily verbs) quiz is here: http://quiz.emergence.dk/quiz/hebrew/

This resource is actually a two-for-the-price-of-one (although, there is no price because it is free!) since you can generate both Greek and Hebrew quizzes. It was designed by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen. The user can choose from an array of verb forms, and then restrict the quiz in a second window (there is also a noun section, but the verb choices are much more detailed). Finally, the desired quiz is generated. Very nice!

Well, that wraps it up for the vocabulary resources that were submitted for my B2B contest. I was surprised by the omission of some resources that I expected to see! So… stay tuned for my own additional list of vocab learning tools!

I have used this program in conjunction with Landes: Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary Learning Words by Frequency and Cognate: http://home.earthlink.net/~vikn/hebrew.htm These two resources work well together.

Here’s my entry: http://home.earthlink.net/~vikn/hebrew.htm
It does Hebrew and Greek, has options for flashcards, multiple-choice, fill in the blank, or a combo of those. And the kicker? Totally free!

I like this resource and will continue to use it. It has a very easy user interface, well organized word lists (for beginner through advanced based on word category and frequency), and a variety of tools (drill, flashcards, quiz).

I did notice at least one spelling error and could not find a way to email the developer to submit a correction.

Daniel&Tonya submitted the following.

Learning Mill’s Intelex (now discontinued, but I can hook someone up with an old version) http://www.learningmill.org/ We used this program to do vocab during our undergrad years. Its a flashcard quiz program. You’re shown the Hebrew word, it is vocalized, then you have to type in an acceptable English gloss. It was invaluable to us in years past. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated, so you have to run it in Windows or Tiger. Won’t work with Leopard.

I too was disappointed that Intelex is no longer supported (current users can still log in). The website describes what I think would be a useful tool. However, you can only “look” and not “taste” at the link. Too bad! If you are using Windows or Tiger and want to give it a try, send me an email.

Andrew Vogel likes Og.

I wonder if I could use Og the Terrible comic series? I think you mentioned him in a prior post. Definitely my favorite for learning Hebrew vocabulary though. http://www.ekspublishing.com/childrens-books/og-the-terrible-comic-book-introduction-to-prayerbook

Yes, I have mentioned these comics in a previous post.

    

Richard draws our attention over the pond:

My entry is: http://www.freechurchseminary.org/Vocabulary%20Videos.html

This resource from the Free Church Seminary (Inverness, Scotland) has video clips for 415 Hebrew vocabulary words. For each set of vocabulary words, you can watch a video and listen to the speaker pronounce the Hebrew word (2x), say an English gloss (2x), then say a mnemonic to help remember the word (and then repeat the whole thing). I am sure all of us have used mnemonics as part of our studies, however, I do think that sometimes our mnemonics reinforce incorrect semantic domains (where we connote a particular meaning in our English mnemonic that is not viable in the semantic domain of the Hebrew).

These videos are from Scotland, so the speaker has a Scottish accent (which sometimes makes the mnemonic not quite work in American English). The audio track often includes some humorous sound effects. There are flashcards (with the same photos and mnemonics as the videos) for each vocabulary word. The videos are probably most helpful in learning the vocabulary and not for practicing the vocabulary, since it takes so long to listen to each word. In addition to the vocabulary resources, there are reading notes for assigned texts and grammar lecture videos.
  

Taty Gaona and Andrew Vogel both submitted the following resource (Come on everyone, read the rules carefully next time. You were supposed to check to make sure no one had already submitted your idea!):

I will submit this webpage: http://www.hebrew-verbs.co.il/ I’ve found it useful, although not recently unfortunately.

This website allows you to choose an English gloss, and the Hebrew parsing (as general or restricted as you like) and then the program will generate a list of the conjugations for that Hebrew verb.

Ken Brown gives us a suggestion that we can carry around.

There’s the iVocab program, which includes the 1000 or so most common lexemes on audio-visual flashcards readable for your iPod. It also includes pre-made playlists for each of the vocab lists accompanying in several intro Hebrew Grammars. I have both the Greek and Hebrew versions and found them useful, though installing them was a bit cumbersome. http://store.kregel.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1809

I have used this in the past (probably the first version), but I felt the program was inconvenient to load, slow, memory intensive and not as helpful as others out there, so I took it off my iPod. Still, it may be something that others find useful. The graphics for the vocabulary are very nice and the word lists are keyed to 8 common beginning grammars. Adam Couturier wrote a helpful review of the current version of this program on his blog this past July.

Ze’ev Clementson draws our attention to great reading resource.

John Dyer’s program allows you to select a portion of the Bible text to read, highlights parts of speech, provides translation of words (with online popups), and allows you to print off the text with a list of translations for words that appear x times or less in the Bible (useful for when you want to read the text without a computer and need definitions for only words that you’re not likely to have encountered before). The program is still a “work in progress” (it sometimes doesn’t provide correct translations, morphology still isn’t implemented, there are bugs, etc); however, it is usable as is and should be a nice resource for someone learning Biblical Hebrew or Greek. It’s also a nice example of how a computer can be used to help take the tedious aspect of acquiring a vocabulary and make it actually fun and interesting.The program is here: http://bible.johndyer.name/
John’s blog post that describes it is here: http://donteatthefruit.com/2009/04/read-the-bible-greek-and-hebrew-reading-experiment/#more-26 John Dyer wrote a different variation on this theme (I prefer the original, but I think he plans to further enhance only this latest one) here: http://biblewebapp.com/study/#ref=Genesis%201:1|ver=he_wlc,en_net

I like the idea of this online reader. It allows the user to decide how much help they need, and then generates a text with tools based on user input. So, for example, you can ask for all the verbs to be shown in green and the nouns in red (or when a student feels more confident they can leave the colors “off”), and you can have glosses provided for words below a certain frequency. However, for a beginning student, I think the number of translation errors (i.e., glosses provided) would be confusing or frustrating.

I’ll post the second half of the vocabulary resources soon!

Ken Brown!

Thank you to everyone who entered the first ever B2B contest. Ken was randomly selected from all the submissions and will be receiving his very own set of Hebrew Aleph-Bet magnets.

Ken’s suggestion was:

There’s the iVocab program, which includes the 1000 or so most common lexemes on audio-visual flashcards readable for your iPod. It also includes pre-made playlists for each of the vocab lists accompanying in several intro Hebrew Grammars. I have both the Greek and Hebrew versions and found them useful, though installing them was a bit cumbersome.

http://store.kregel.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1809

If you didn’t win this time, don’t worry! This may have been the first, but it won’t be the last contest. Or should I say this may have been the Aleph, but it won’t be the Tav (see here for context).

I’ve been looking over everyone’s suggestions and will post a review of the submitted vocabulary resources soon.

I’m inspired by some fellow bloggers to get a contest going on this blog (and no, Ros, I haven’t forgotten that you won the prize for posting the first comment on the “new” blog. I’ve got your surprise ready for SBL). I’ve had several people comment or contact me about the Hebrew letter magnets for the ‘fridge. So, I’ve decided that I will offer one set of these magnets as a prize. Since this is the first time I’ve done this, I’ll run the contest for 2 weeks (ending October 10th).

I’ll put all the resources together into a master list and post it on my Hebrew Resources page for future reference.