First ever B2B contest (win some Hebrew magnets!)

UPDATE: We have a winner, Ken Brown. Congratulations!

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).

Aleph_Bet magnets


Here’s how it will work. I want to gather a list of as many Biblical Hebrew vocabulary resources as possible. So, to enter, you need to list ONE vocabulary resource (like a specific flashcard program) in the comments of this post. Be specific, give a URL or detailed information where the resource can be found. You should also give a brief description (and maybe whether or not you have used the resource yourself). You can enter more than once, but each time has to have a different Hebrew vocabulary resource. AND YOU CANNOT USE A RESOURCE THAT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY POSTED FOR THIS CONTEST, so be sure to read the comments first. I am particularly interested in finding computer apps, online programs, and iPhone type apps. Basically, I want to find anything that will help students learn vocabulary (besides the obvious task of reading the Hebrew Bible!). I will randomly choose a winner from all valid entries. Be sure to include your email address (it won’t be posted) so that I can contact you if you win.

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

28 thoughts on “First ever B2B contest (win some Hebrew magnets!)”

  1. Joseph Kelly

    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.

    As an additional, off topic recommendation: My wife uses the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for teaching her Kindergartners the alphabet. They have Hebrew handwriting material that can be purchased from here: http://shopping.hwtears.com/category/hebrew

  2. danielandtonya

    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.

  5. Karyn Post author

    Andrew,

    I’m actually looking more for resources specific to vocabulary learning. I agree that reading is the best way to truly increase vocabulary and vocabulary retention, so I’ll count your suggestion. But, I don’t want a list of different books to read in Hebrew!

    Thanks for your suggestion!

  6. Karyn Post author

    Joseph,

    That’s a nice online resource. I started to check it out and found one error in spelling (verb, “to remember” is spelled in the program as dalet-kaf-resh and it should be zayin-kaf-resh). I tried to email the correction to the address on the webpage, but it got returned. Does anyone know who developed this? Does anyone have a current email address for them? Thanks!

  11. Ken Brown

    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

  12. Ze'ev Clementson

    Hi Karen,

    I’ve always felt that the hardest stage in learning a language is after you’ve learned the basic fundamentals but before you’ve acquired a strong working vocabulary. It’s very discouraging when you want to read “meatier” works but are limited by the vocabulary that you’ve memorized. Flashcard programs and word lists are hardly exciting ways to learn a language. Trying to read a text with a dictionary beside you is also not much fun. Therefore, I was impressed by John Dyer’s efforts to create a “reader’s version” of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. His 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

    By the way, I don’t need Hebrew fridge magnets, so please don’t consider my post as a candidate for the prize.

    – Ze’ev Clementson

  13. Ze'ev Clementson

    Hi Karen,

    Along the same lines as that emphasized in my previous post (e.g. – learning Hebrew vocabulary by reading), 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.

    – Ze’ev Clementson

  14. Karyn Post author

    Thanks, Ze’ev! Those are terrific suggestions. I had not seen John Dyer’s work before.

    Thanks for entering, Ken, Taty (how are you??), Andrew, & Richard!

  15. Karyn Post author

    Oh, and Daniel, you need to post a link to a resource so that you can be entered in the contest! I hope you come back and tell us about a vocab resource.

  16. Steve B

    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/

  17. Ze'ev Post author

    Hi Karyn,

    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

    – Ze’ev

  18. Ze'ev Clementson Post author

    Hi Karyn,

    Sorry to keep posting comments; however, I keep thinking of useful
    Hebrew vocab utilities! 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

    – Ze’ev

  22. Rick

    I’m actually quite upset to learn that Intelex has been discontinued. I had hoped that they would continue to release new add-ons for it, but never checked since the grammar I used in seminary wasn’t supported (but in college we used Pratico / Van Pelt).

    BTW, I’ll take some magnets! 🙂

  24. Pingback: And the winner is…

  25. Pingback: Vocabulary Resources: Part 1

  26. Pingback: Hebrew Vocabulary Resources « Biblical Paths

  27. Pingback: Vocabulary Resources: Part 2

  28. Pingback: Another vocabulary resource: Davar

Comments are closed.