Abstract
Students of Biblical Hebrew often complain about how difficult it is to learn the language. Of course, the first and foundational problem lies in mastering the Hebrew alphabet (or aleph-bet), particularly the pronunciation of each letter. The problem of the Masoretic reading system’s notorious difficulty is only next. Overcoming the barrier of properly pronouncing consonants is no doubt the primary matter.BR Beginners of the language have to confront unexpected obstacles when learning Biblical Hebrew consonants. Unlike most other languages, Biblical Hebrew’s original sounds are lost, and its modern pronunciations are diversified because of the complex history of the Jewish diaspora. Moreover, there is no unified method to transliterate Biblical Hebrew into the Korean writing system, which is essential for beginners to understand the pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew. Such circumstances eventually led Hebrew Bible scholars in Korea to produce introductory grammar books that render the sound of each letter differently in many cases. This eventually made learning the consonants of Biblical Hebrew, which is supposed to be the simplest and clearest subject in learning foreign languages, quite complex and unclear. As many students cannot take the first step, they cannot go any further but give up on learning Biblical Hebrew.BR Instructors’ understanding of the current situation regarding Biblical Hebrew consonant teaching is pivotal. In this paper, I endeavored to provide instructors with key features to consider in teaching Biblical Hebrew consonants. For example, I introduce a comparison of the three main traditions of Hebrew pronunciation, that is, Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Yemenite. Then I offer an analysis of seventeen different introductory grammar books that are used in Biblical Hebrew grammar classes in Korea, focusing on consonants in general; their ways of dealing with the name and pronunciation of each letter in particular. Finally, I add my evaluation on the current situation of Biblical Hebrew consonant education based on the textbooks I analyzed, hoping to foster better Biblical Hebrew education.
Published Version
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