I first began to learn Hebrew in 1994 before the internet was really popular. Even then Borders and Barnes and Noble stores were just starting, so it was hard to find good tutorials. Most courses simply jumped into Hebrew sentences, without taking the time to properly learn the alphabet first.
After many months of searching, I finally found a Hebrew "primer" or reading book that taught the basic Hebrew reading skills at more reasonable pace. These books are even simpler than the old "See Spot Run" books. They teach one or two letters per chapter, and then each chapter adds one or two additional letters.
Using this methodology, I finally got to where I could read Hebrew words "on site". Then I could make out words in the course book, the Sidur, or the Hebrew Bible and finally be able to pronounce them, even if I didn't know what they meant. As a beginner though, I didn't always know if my pronunciation was correct or not.
So even these "readers" were lacking. If I only had my own personal Hebrew tutor working with me, then I could have learned even faster. Since I was a computer software developer, I knew that the computer could take the place of the tutor, and pronounce the words for me.
A friend of mine helped me with the Hebrew fonts, and suggested a multimedia book-oriented tutorial program called "Toolbook". I purchased and learned Toolbook, and slowly began to write my own Hebrew tutorial program. It was a big challenge and very time consuming. It probably took over two full years to get the product in the format that it is today.
Part of creating the program was to choose the hundreds of exercises. Another challenging part was finding a good quality microphone, and creating and editing over 2700 voice files. My fingers were almost raw from looking up so many words in a Hebrew dictionary.
Finally, the art work came together, and the progam changed from three diskettes (you don't see those much any more) to a CD/ROM. I learned Microsoft Frontpage and began selling the program online, back when the world wide web was just in its infancy. After 10 years, I have literrally sold 100s of the program.
When I first started "At Home with Hebrew" in 1994, the concept of selling on the internet was still new; some people even questioned if it was legal. I learned Microsoft FrontPage and created the first version of my website, and over the years the site had grown to sell many other Hebrew tutorials. Our recent products include "Hebrew Kindergarten" and "Songs of the Shabbat". - 16928
After many months of searching, I finally found a Hebrew "primer" or reading book that taught the basic Hebrew reading skills at more reasonable pace. These books are even simpler than the old "See Spot Run" books. They teach one or two letters per chapter, and then each chapter adds one or two additional letters.
Using this methodology, I finally got to where I could read Hebrew words "on site". Then I could make out words in the course book, the Sidur, or the Hebrew Bible and finally be able to pronounce them, even if I didn't know what they meant. As a beginner though, I didn't always know if my pronunciation was correct or not.
So even these "readers" were lacking. If I only had my own personal Hebrew tutor working with me, then I could have learned even faster. Since I was a computer software developer, I knew that the computer could take the place of the tutor, and pronounce the words for me.
A friend of mine helped me with the Hebrew fonts, and suggested a multimedia book-oriented tutorial program called "Toolbook". I purchased and learned Toolbook, and slowly began to write my own Hebrew tutorial program. It was a big challenge and very time consuming. It probably took over two full years to get the product in the format that it is today.
Part of creating the program was to choose the hundreds of exercises. Another challenging part was finding a good quality microphone, and creating and editing over 2700 voice files. My fingers were almost raw from looking up so many words in a Hebrew dictionary.
Finally, the art work came together, and the progam changed from three diskettes (you don't see those much any more) to a CD/ROM. I learned Microsoft Frontpage and began selling the program online, back when the world wide web was just in its infancy. After 10 years, I have literrally sold 100s of the program.
When I first started "At Home with Hebrew" in 1994, the concept of selling on the internet was still new; some people even questioned if it was legal. I learned Microsoft FrontPage and created the first version of my website, and over the years the site had grown to sell many other Hebrew tutorials. Our recent products include "Hebrew Kindergarten" and "Songs of the Shabbat". - 16928
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