Hebrew Challenge

Shalom y’all.

When I was in middle school, I used to hide away in the mahogany lined study of my grandfather, reading blogs, forums, and books about learning languages. A particular influence was Benny Lewis of fluentin3months.com. He used to go to a new country for three months (the usual length of a tourist visa), fully immerse himself in the language (no English), and aim for fluency in the short time he had. He used language “hacks” such as mnemonics, memory palaces, and spaced repetition, as well as a relentless drive to use the language whenever he could.

Even when he fell short (like when he narrowly failed the German C1 exam), the level of achievement was mind-boggling for my 12 year old self. It inspired me to start learning Spanish outside of school, speaking to Spanish speakers every chance I got, and Skype-ing with people from other countries. I dreamed of all the languages I would learn and the dimly lit, smoky café back room I would visit on escapes from the gray, cold, western New York winters.

But just like everything else, I kind of got lazy and haven’t pursued that dream since.

I’m currently in Tel Aviv until early August. Though I really don’t have any connection to Hebrew, or Israel (I’m here because of a program I was lucky enough to be accepted into), I am challenging myself to learn Hebrew to a tourist level by the time my family arrives for an Israeli vacation in 6 weeks.

By tourist level, I mean to closely approximate the A2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), commonly used to measure language proficiency in European countries. Ideally, I want to achieve B1 level, but I’m unsure that’s feasible with my time constraints.

More specifically, by August 10th, I want to:

  • be able to give directions to a taxi driver and understand his responses, inquire about the destination of a bus or form of public transportation, be able to understand commands regarding navigation (go here, turn there), and read station signs.
  • be able to barter and inquire about prices (how much, could you do 2 for x, that’s too expensive, is it good quality, what material is this) and know numbers 1 to 100.
  • be able to order food, read the menu in Hebrew, and inquire about food allergens/what’s in the food (can I have x, what is x, does it have peanuts/chick peas)
  • be able to ask basic information about individuals (where are you from, what do you study, where do you work, what do you like to do) and answer in kind
  • be able to communicate about issues regarding the gym (can I work in with you, how many sets do you have left, can you spot me, how much weight are you using), just because I go to an Israeli gym (yeah I lift).

The above is the base level I’m shooting for, but it would additionally be nice to do the following:

  • be able to describe my ambitions, hopes, dreams, and my opinion on matters regarding those, as well as asking and understanding the same from others.
  • be able to communicate on areas of interest to me, regarding tech, travel, politics, urban development, and skiing (though I don’t imagine Israel as the center of the ski world).

The time I can dedicate to this challenge is 2-3 hours per day. I have a 50 minutes bus ride each way to work, and then an hour lunch break. Most of my learning will have to utilize flashcards to take advantage of 5 to 10 minute gaps in the day.

I look at this challenge as a pilot program, to fine tune my learning ability and find out what works (as well as what topics are most useful for me). I hope to use these techniques in the future to learn not only additional languages, but other skills and information. I will be using Anki, a spaced repetition software, as well as two of my friends who speak Hebrew fluently as a second language.

Finally, I am posting about this publicly as a form of pressure on myself. It’s a lot harder to quit when your friends know about what you’re doing, and a lot more satisfying when you achieve something. I will try to write about things that worked for me, interesting articles and resources I discover, and other peculiarities of being in Israel in the hopes that others can learn from my experience.

I will be updating this post below about my short term goals and progress:

  • In Progress:
    • General Language Difficulties (how do you say, tell me, speak slowly)
      • Lonely Planet Language Difficulties + Directions (pg. 72, 73/74)
  • Completed
    • Hebrew numbers 1 to 25 by 5pm 28/6
  • On Deck
    • Directions