As for the second remark... well, part of me wants to agree. I don't know if it's because it's my first language, but I feel Hebrew differently. Something in it, in there. It's in my bones, the meaning of the words, and their origins. I can tell what's Aramic and what's from Chazal and what's from the Bible.

I totally understand this. It's why I love Hebrew - it's built in a way that retains the original meaning of words and the associations so that every word has a richness and history that I don't find so much in English. I don't really think about the etymologies of "cow" versus "beef" although I know there's a story there, but with Hebrew there's much more of a sense of how things are connected and how they've been used before.

Side note for the non-Hebrew speaking (the pedant tag REALLY never closes!) - Shir can correct me if I'm wrong, but I learned about a funny story, give me a minute to explain.

Hebrew is built on "roots" - usually three-letter foundations that are vocalized or formatted in different ways to give different meanings. So: to write, to correspond, to dictate, a writer (person), a typewriter, etc. are all based on the same three consonants. When the Hebrew language was revived (end of the 19th c.) Eliezer Ben Yehuda tried to use that root system to develop words that hadn't been needed before - and others did likewise when the state was established and the language grew. Someone tried to make a Hebrew word for archaeologist based on the root for "to reveal". Today, an archaeologist is a "archaeolog" in Hebrew and the root-word derived to fill that niche is used for "stripper". Not what old Ben Yehuda had in mind!

Likewise the root-word developed for "telephone" - "sach-rechok" had no chance against the much-easier to pronounce "telefon". Israelis are much less uptight about that sort of thing than the French.

Now I'll shut off the computer and go get ready for Shabbat. Have a good weekend, all.

Hebrew is built on "roots" - usually three-letter foundations that are vocalized or formatted in different ways to give different meanings.

This pops up very occasionally in English too, probably the result of a proto-semitic language bumping up against a proto-european language at some point in the distant past. (Google is totally failing to provide me with any actual examples, of course, and my History of Human Language lecture is on my computer at home. Blast.)

::bats eyelashes at the language geeking::

Ooh, language geeking is fun! :)

Everyone likes a cunning linguist.

Today, an archaeologist is a "archaeolog" in Hebrew and the root-word derived to fill that niche is used for "stripper".

Ha, I had no idea "hasfan" was suggested as a word for archaeologist!

Likewise the root-word developed for "telephone" - "sach-rechok" had no chance against the much-easier to pronounce "telefon". Israelis are much less uptight about that sort of thing than the French.

OMG. The ckh sound that French sometimes makes you pronounce? And to think that people are complaining about "ch" in Hebrew! I need to have a sip of water after speaking 2 sentences with that ckh sound in French, dammit.

This pops up very occasionally in English too, probably the result of a proto-semitic language bumping up against a proto-european language at some point in the distant past. (Google is totally failing to provide me with any actual examples, of course, and my History of Human Language lecture is on my computer at home. Blast.)

Go to Euskara. If the theory is right, then it should have Semitic roots (unless that happened after the Indo-and what's currently-European invasion).

One of the great stories in Hebrew and roots is about the words for choir (makhela) and orchestra (tizmoret). There was a misunderstanding about which word should be used for which term, and to this day, tizmoret, which means "a group of singers", is used for "a group of players".

Shabat Shalom, Shari!

OMG. The ckh sound that French sometimes makes you pronounce? And to think that people are complaining about "ch" in Hebrew! I need to have a sip of water after speaking 2 sentences with that ckh sound in French, dammit.

Which sound in French do you mean?

The sound that I have trouble with in Hebrew isn't the chet/chaf sound, but the resh sound. When I learned Hebrew, they taught us that resh is pronounced like the English R. Then I went to Israel and heard Israelis speaking Hebrew and realized that that's totally not what they were saying. If I really concentrate, I can say I word with a resh in the middle between two vowels, but I just cannot say a word that starts with it.

The sound that I have trouble with in Hebrew isn't the chet/chaf sound, but the resh sound. When I learned Hebrew, they taught us that resh is pronounced like the English R. Then I went to Israel and heard Israelis speaking Hebrew and realized that that's totally not what they were saying. If I really concentrate, I can say I word with a resh in the middle between two vowels, but I just cannot say a word that starts with it.

And that, in a nutshell, is why Americans can't say my name properly. But we already had this discussion.

Which sound in French do you mean?

There isn't a sound in French that will make you do it, but the combination of several sounds. Mostly, the move from an open sound to the sounds where you need to stick your tongue way up, so you just say the open sound a bit closed so you won't choke. Errr, at least that's what I do.

And that, in a nutshell, is why Americans can't say my name properly. But we already had this discussion.

My Hebrew school education would say that it's pronounced Sheer. My attempt at saying it properly ends up somewhere around Sheeirkhekh, which sounds even weirder out loud than it looks typed. (And really, the only way I was able to get it right in the middle of a word was from watching a video of Noa and Mira Awad, where Noa introduces Mira, and just playing that name over and over and trying to repeat it until I got it right. But somehow I can't get that same sound when I don't have a vowel right before and after.)

(And now I'm watching YouTube videos of Israelis singing Shir LaShalom, to try to see if I can get that sound right.)

Hey, I found Adam Lambert singing in Hebrew! [link]