Again using Spanish as a comparison (or benchmark), Hebrew is exceedingly lacking in study materials. As many as 400 million of the world's people speak Spanish as a first language, and including second language speakers, the number rises to around half a billion, and Mexico contains the largest number of Spanish speakers. This means that it's incredibly easy to find study materials on Spanish practically anywhere. This is especially the case in America. With its proximity to the US and its usefulness, most bookstores have a foreign language section, and a section dedicated entirely to Spanish. This makes finding study material very easy, quality aside. In short, it's got very high exposure in whatever media you want.
Hebrew, however, is drastically different. Less than 10 million people speak Hebrew. It's estimated that only around 5.3 million people speak it as a first language, and only around 200,000 speak it in the home in America. It's most spoken in the State of Israel, which has an estimated population of over 7 million. These are much lower figures than Spanish. There's nothing wrong with that, except that it has far lower exposure (to Westerners) than many other languages. Technology has made the world a smaller place, and websites like Omniglot, Youtube, Wikipedia and the BBC's language resources offer information to anyone with an internet connection, but relative to the omnipresence of Spanish (or French, German, Chinese, Italian) language learning material, Hebrew media is virtually nonexistent.
This does present a problem for anyone studying a more exotic (or rare) language. It takes more time, effort and diligence to find information, and it may be of poorer quality; the student will have to discern what's reliable and what isn't. It will take patience to find enough resources to support self-study. It may be difficult to find native speakers. All of these things do make acquiring this foreign language more difficult.
Thankfully, with Hebrew, we have Pimsleur, which will serve as an excellent foundation for our studies and a springboard to learning on our own. Pimsleur has produced courses in what are arguably all the major languages, and one might be surprised to see some of the far less common languages they have teaching materials in (Irish, Ojibwe, Haitian Creole, Twi, Armenian), although in speaking with the folks at Pimsleur, I learned that some of these were commissions by cultural groups in an effort to preserve that specific language.
In any case, the relative rarity of Hebrew materials will be yet another factor that will make this project arguably harder than many other language ventures.
(As a side note, for those of you who might serve a distinct purpose to learn another language and those that speak it natively: with a goal in mind, that is, responding to a need for a language, there are arguably study opportunities present. They may not be in book form, but if you live in an area where Amharic is spoken and decide to learn it, that community probably already has some infrastructure in your area. Speak with the people there. Natives are a linguistic Godsend, and they can help you, or at least point you in the right direction. Having a distinct purpose in learning a specific language makes it easier.)
I agree with most of your posting. And noticed the fact that you capitalized the G ind Godsend. :) But wonder at your choice of "less common languages". To be sure, Irish is a dying language as is Ojibwe. Possibly Armenian. But Twi and Hatian creole are going strong, I personally know people that speak each.
ReplyDeleteEn jou nou va pale la menm lang. :)
Point taken. There are certainly people that speak them, and they're not dying languages (Irish, for that matter, isn't either), but they're not languages that most Americans come across with any regularity (at least not enough to compel the average American to undertake a study of either).
ReplyDeleteTwi has over 18 million speakers (predominantly in Ghana) but it's not an official language of any nation, nor is it regulated by any organization. Point being, most people wouldn't know where Twi was spoken, and very few would have opportunity to speak it or reason to learn either.
I guess I was mostly talking about creole. Before the earthquake there were tons of immagrints and now I'm sure there will be even more. Many have learned to aid them, whether it be for medical care education and I'm sure for things like family services. :) You know I must defend Haiti and creole, it's the first language I thought about learning even though I failed.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I'm not knockin' it. I can certainly see it taking a greater role in the coming months in your part of the world.
ReplyDeleteAlso, interesting choice for a first foreign language. Why, praytell, Haitian Creole?
(Creoles and pidgins are also an interesting study because they're kind of the linguistic nebulae, blending cultures and creating what arguably become new languages.)
Well I didn't want to learn Spanish (like everyone else I knew) and Haiti was the first place I ever went outside of the states. It's easy to learn (so they say), and I was immersed. So I gave it a whirl. Unfortunately I had never learned a language before so I had no idea where to start. Almost eight years later and I'm fluent in Spanish (French too) and I can only understand Creole and mutter a few baby sentences.
ReplyDeleteWeird thing is, for me growing up, Twi was like a major language. I don't think there has ever been a time in my life where I wasn't with people who spoke Twi. On my job, in surrounding congregations...even in Italy. I've always been around Ghanians. Sadly I don't speak any, but I would def get a chance to speak it if I wanted to. Mostly cuz I don't think I've ever met a Ghanian that didn't speak English fluently.
ReplyDelete