Since we have arrived in Jerusalem, we have been receiving Hebrew lessons from Vern and Aubrey. Many of these lessons have consisted of Vernon randomly saying something to us in Hebrew and all of us giving him confused looks. We have slowly improved though(mostly due to his ability to act stuff out. Great times.).
Today we had a particularly long session and made it through the alphabet and some transliterations. The Hebrew alphabet is a strange beast. There are characters that represent different consonants, but no characters for vowels. Vowels are represented by markings that are attached to the consonant characters. Add to this the fact that the consonant characters can change sounds if other dots and/or dashes are present around them. Difficult, but it's a lot of fun to be able to look at a word that previously was gibberish and be able to match the correct sounds to the letters and then translate the word into English.
The Bible has been translated several times for us to the get the NASV, NIV, New Living, King James or whatever version it is that you read. The New Testament started out in either Hebrew/Aramaic or Greek, depending on which scholar you ask. Evidence suggests that regardless of whether it was first recorded in Greek, it was likely written by Hebraic minds. So, from Hebrew to Greek and from there to Latin then finally into English (and a myriad of other languages) and the many translations that we enjoy today. Although it has remained mostly sound, during each step of translation there are certain phrases, concepts, and sounds that do not make the transition. I believe to truly understand the Bible, it must be studied in Hebrew. Although it is highly unlikely that I will be able to read the Bible in Hebrew in the near future, I am inspired to continue learning when I return home from this trip.
We had a "Hebrew Dinner" tonight, during which nobody was allowed to speak in English. The conversation wasn't particularly deep, but credit goes to Vern and Aubrey that we were able to converse at all. They are terrific teachers.
Adria (the aforementioned awesome roomie) has composed a short song about studying Hebrew aptly titled "My Brains Are Fried". On that note, I'm going to bed.
Alexander
2 comments:
Great and interesting thoughts. Thanks for sharing! You'll have to sing the song when you get back! Don't forget it!! ; )
I don't think we will forget it, it is pretty easy to remember. It has three lines and two of them are the same! ;)
--Katie
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