Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hebrew

How to use the full version of Google Translate from an iPhone

greenmagnet — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:15:49 -0800

How can I use the normal web version of Google Translate from my iPhone? It's automatically redirecting me to their iPhone-optimized version, which doesn't have all the options I need. The two things that make it completely useless for me are that, as far as I can tell:

1. Not all languages are supported (Hebrew is the one I need); and
2. Translating a full page by pasting its URL isn't supported.

Which would be fine with me, if I could just use their normal non-iPhone-optimized site, but it automatically redirects me to the iPhone version, which is really annoying me.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...and apologies if this is a stupid question; I'm an iPhone newbie. :)

Lyrics to Fool's Gold song "Surprise Hotel."

feathermeat — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:56:02 -0800

Lyrics to Fool's Gold song "Surprise Hotel." Can any Hebrew speakers transcribe the lyrics to "Surprise Hotel" for me? I want to be able to sing along!

Israeli / Hebrew Music

greenmagnet — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:34:18 -0800

I'm looking for as wide a variety as possible of Israeli music (in Hebrew). I'm plodding along in my Hebrew studies, making pretty decent progress lately, and am to the point where I'm finding it helpful to listen to lots of Hebrew music and talk. I listen to Reshet Bet and Reshet Gimel online sometimes, but I'm looking more for stuff to download to my iPod or to burn CDs of for use in my car.

Stuff that's available on iTunes is a plus just for simplicity's sake, but I'm open to anything. I've found some artists I like, but finding a good variety is coming slowly and I figured I could find lots of input here.

So: thoughts? Favorite artists/songs? As many different types and styles as possible would be great.

Name me!

n'muakolo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:59:28 -0800

I am converting to Judaism and need to pick my Hebrew name. Any ideas? Kind of fun, huh?

My Rabbi suggested to choose a name that represents a trait I aspire to, or a name I just like the sound of, or a name that begins with the first letter of my name. The traits I've come up with that I seek to emboy more are "courage," "joy," "strength." I have a few options for joy, but "courage" and "strength" I can only find boys' names (and I'm a girl). I like names like Yael and Haviva and Chaya but those names are out because family members have them.

I'd like this name to be pretty and somehow feel like 'me.' This is harder than naming a baby, since I already exist and know what "I" feel like. I don't really want a well-known biblical name like Sarah or Rebecca or a name that sounds harsh/ugly. I don't want a name that is defined by the person's relationship with God (i.e. Gavriella - God is my strength) although I love the way some of those names sound.

Why did my great grandfather pray in Sephardic hebrew?

ranunculus — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:04:14 -0800

Why did my Ashkenazi great grandfather Daven in Sephardic Hebrew? My great grandfather was a fair-skinned, blue eyed Ashkenazi Jew from Odessa. Yet, he prayed using the Sephardic pronunciation of Hebrew and I'm not sure why. Any ideas?

Eyfo?

ricochet biscuit — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:45:53 -0800

Looking for a cover of "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," in Hebrew. In the early nineties, while working on a farm in Israel, I used to listen to an offshore pirate radio station on my Walkman. One day I heard a rendition of the John Denver song -- complete with a-hollerin' and a-stampin' -- in Hebrew. My various desultory efforts over the years to locate the artist responsible and to track down a copy of the song have come to naught, but surely if anyone knows who sang this, the AskMe hivemind will.

I need to learn Biblical Hebrew, stat.

flibbertigibbet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:51:54 -0800

I need to learn Biblical Hebrew, to a level of someone studying it for 4 university terms (2 years of one course/term) really really fast. If you've taken Biblical Hebrew in undergraduate or graduate studies, what textbooks did you use? I transferred into my chosen field very late, and I need Biblical Hebrew to continue on with grad school--eep!

I do have Tanakhs, and interlinear chumashim, so that's not a problem--I need good textbooks, however.

What is being said in this photograph

fingerbang — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:14:53 -0800

Hebrewfilter. What does this text say or imply?

How to learn Hebrew in the Boston area?

jackmcc — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:01:31 -0800

My daughter, a first-year college student, wants to learn Hebrew, but doesn't want to take it at college. Any thoughts on whether it's better to take an on-line course or to take an instructor-led course? And are there any good resources, preferably in the northwest area of Boston? She speaks French pretty well, so she's had some experience in learning languages. We'd appreciate any advice.

Translate a line of Hebrew pertaining to a pomegranate?

Tufa — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:19:57 -0800

Would someone translate the text around this pomegranate, please? I'd appreciate if you could provide the names of the individual letters as well.

Resources for professional Hebrew-English translators?

callmejay — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:35:36 -0800

What are the best resources for professional Hebrew-English translators? Dictionaries, word lists, machine translation programs, etc. Online, offline, dead-tree all fine. Thanks!

How do I pronounce gutturals in Hebrew & Arabic?

huskerdont — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:51:36 -0800

How do I pronounce the gutturals in Hebrew and Arabic? American new to Hebrew and Arabic here.

I'm currently learning both Hebrew and Arabic concurrently and struggling with pronunciation of Chet in Hebrew and the two guttural ch sounds in Arabic. That back of the throat guttural ch is just not coming to me.

Google is no help either.

Are there any throat exercises or tricks to teach an Anglophone not used to making these sounds how to pronounce them?

I typed this in the wrong language. help!תעזור לי

Izzmeister — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:14:33 -0800

How do i fix typing in the wrong language (forgetting to Alt+Shift before typing) without retyping the whole thing? Sometimes, I type a sentence or paragraph, only to find that I have used the wrong keyboard (i Am using XP with Hebrew as well as English)

is there any macro/plugin/software or easy way to fix this without retyping all the words?

i'd think many people come across this problem...

If you have this problem as well, even if you don't have a solution, please post and perhaps it's worth paying a freelance programmer to produce...

Learning Language Through Osmosis!

andoatnp — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:31:09 -0800

Does anyone have any tips or strategies to help in learning a new language when living in a foreign country but not doing a formal study program? While this is a general question that I imagine could apply to people in a variety of different countries attempting to learn different languages, I'll use my specific information in case that can help people give advice.

I am in Israel for the year trying to get much better at speaking Hebrew. I came here with zero Hebrew knowledge and did a 5 week immersion program, and now I am here for the rest of the year.

What should I be doing over the course of the next year to improve my Hebrew? I try to talk to people as much as possible, but I don't really know past or future tense yet and my vocabulary is weak so people usually try to switch to English?

I have the textbook from the course I took that I can continue to work through on my own, but I want to get as much benefit as possible from actually being in Israel. What should someone do when in a foreign country (where most people speak English) to aid in learning the local language?

Is my kid an ancient hebrew good luck charm?

Gucky — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:41:34 -0800

A few years back, an older Israeli man told me that my daughter's name, Kameya, meant "good luck charm" in ancient Hebrew. Was he just pulling my leg? We made up the name based on her godfather's name (Kamehameha) which supposedly means "very very powerful" in Hawaiian. We've since learned from random people who comment on it that it's a town in Japan and similar to the equivalent of "manually" or "with hands" in Tagalog.

But only this one gentleman commented about the Hebrew, saying it was three letters. But I have yet to find a way to Google for ancient hebrew.

Obviously, it's a great story. And easier as an explanation than "Her godfather's parents honeymooned in Hawaii so they named their kids after Hawaiian royalty and then we named our daughter after him."

Anyone able to confirm or deny? Be able to point me to the letters which would comprise her name? Or even know that it also means, oh, foot fungus in German or something?

We stress the second syllable (Kuh-MAY-Yuh, since we have the flat short a of midwesterners and we're going for equivalent to Kamehameha). And yes, she has a normal middle name in case she hates it as a grownup.

Cryptic jewish kids on parade...

Wavelet — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:12:01 -0800

I ran into a parade of children from our local Hebrew school today...what were they chanting? While out and about on errands today, I ran into a strange parade. At first I thought the Amish had made a break for it, given the long beards, sideburns, and bowler hats on the adult men in the parade, but it quickly became apparent that it was the kids from a local Hebrew school (plus teachers), carrying signs that read things like "Proud to be a Jew!" and chanting.

A bit of googling indicates that this was probably apropos of the holiday Lag BaOmer, which is apparently celebrated with children's activities and even parades. So, that mystery is solved. But, what I can't figure out is what the kids were chanting. They were saying "We don't want to wait for *some word that starts with M that I can't remember*! We want *that aforementioned word* now!" Whatever the word was, it was something that I had not heard before, about three or four syllables, and I think it began with "M." Help me askmefi! What didn't the Hebrew school kids want to wait for?!?!

Time is Running Out!

rglass — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:55:07 -0800

Help me find this hebrew phrase fast! My friend wants to get this phrase: "Love that won't quit" tattooed on her neck in Hebrew. She needs to be able to print it out to bring to the artist. Help me find this online! Script is preferable but block will work too.

What's the Sabbath Song in Beaufort?

Jahaza — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:59:07 -0800

I recently saw the movie Beaufort (homepage)(IMDB). Does anyone know the name (or have music for, or best a recording of, or link to where I can purchase a recording of) the Sabbath song sung in the film? This reignited a longerstanding desire to find a good recording of such songs... I'd prefer something rougher like in the movie or ethnographic rather than cantorial. Any suggestions?

Aloha?

Acari — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:12:11 -0800

Help an Anglo guy get by in Hebrew and Arabic Assuming I can find a way to New York, I'll be getting on a plane to Jordan at the end of February for one month.

Hurray!

Once I get there, I assume that my particular blend of bad english, worse french, and abysmal spanish won't put me in the good graces of the man in charge of the local falafel cart, nor will it help me hitch a ride to the red sea.

I plan on spending the bulk of my time in Israel, but Jordan and Egypt are so close, and the internet says that hitchhiking will be easy, so I imagine I will find myself unable to speak Arabic as well as Hebrew.

If you had about 1.5 months to learn enough of these two languages to get by, how would you proceed?

Handicaps:
1- no money [going into debt for travel is a pastime of mine]
2- linux

Foreign language classes in NYC?

huskerdont — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:46:25 -0800

Hebrew and Arabic lessons in New York? Recommendations/best bang for buck? I'm planning to visit Israel and Egypt in late 2008. Before I leave, I'd like to learn at least some basic Hebrew and Arabic to make travel easier. Nothing crazy, just want to be able to understand basic words/read the respective alphabets.

Me = Anglophone American with no experience in either language.

Any recommendations for classes or teachers in New York? Midtown or downtown setting is a big plus.

םךסחמ

hadjiboy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:43:47 -0800

What's the correct way to write Machsom in Hebrew?

Translate song from Tigrinya to English (or Hebrew)

alona — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:58:07 -0800

I'd like to find a translation for an Israeli song sung in Tigrinya called Siyaishaya Ingoma. It's a song on the Idan Raichel album MiMa'amakim (From the Depths) on which there is a nice mix of songs in Hebrew, Amharic, Arabic, and Tigrinya. This specific song, Siyaishaya Ingoma, is sung in Tigrinya. The only information I could find for it on the web is that it translates into "Sing Out for Love". I'm also almost positive there's a little bit of English in the song.
You can hear samples of the song
here and
here.
It's a really beautiful song and I'd love to know the full meaning of it!

Help me spell "Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li" with nikud

AnyGuelmann — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:28:03 -0800

Help me spell "Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li", in hebrew, with vowel punctuation (nikud) I've already got the correct non-punctuated spelling (see here), but I'd like to have it written with the vowel dots (nikud), much like Victoria Beckham's tattoo. I can't quite make out all the dots from this picture and I'm not sure they're all correct. Can any of you help?

Middle East in Hebrew?

londongeezer — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:24:33 -0800

Where can I find good online maps of the Middle East with the country and place names in Hebrew? Something like this one here. I can't read or write Hebrew, so I'm (apparently) hampered in tracking something down. Making an English language search and then trawling through 20 pages of google images at google.co.il turned up nothing. Alternatively, where can I buy such a map in London?

Modern Hebrew word frequency list?

greenmagnet — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:48:52 -0800

Does anyone know of a good word frequency list for learning modern Hebrew? I'm learning modern Hebrew on my own, and I'm looking for a good up-to-date word frequency list. There are plenty of resources available for Biblical Hebrew, but obviously that leaves out a lot of modern vocabulary.

The best I could find online was this, but it's over 20 years old. Also, it doesn't have definitions/glosses with it, so I'd have to look up each word individually as I learn; not too efficient.

I could make do with that if need be, but I was hoping someone knew of something more helpful. At the moment I'm kind of just culling my own frequent words from my textbooks and the Hebrew children's books I'm working my way through. I also have 501 Hebrew Verbs, which helps somewhat.