For the total beginners: podcasts and the alephbet

There are a lot of online resources to learn Hebrew for free but, where can we start?

Some practical stuff

Let's start practical instead of theoretical so we boost our confidence and get the most basic knowledge: how to say hello, how are you, I am (insert your name here), etcetera.
This is the most easily reachable information as many courses offer for free the first podcasts, videos and lessons to get a try. Here are some useful resources:

• First lesson in Learn Hebrew Pod: https://www.learnhebrewpod.com/lessons/1/A. 
• I recommend this as the first tool for its very well constructed webpage that makes very easy to navigate through the contents. The dialogs are translated into English and both in the Hebrew alphabet and a transcription readable for English speakers. This first lesson is very basic: say hello and introduce yourself. But it also explains that verbs in Hebrew have feminine and masculine form.

• Without registering you can access also leson 1B and lesson 1C.
• Signing up for free you will have 1 month access for free to a limited but pretty extended amount of lessons.
• Two first lessons in hebrewpodcasts.com, "Video Lesson 1A - EASY - Prelude to Lesson 1" and "Video Lesson 1 - Introduction". The videos contain the transcription in Hebrew, the translation in English and an interpretation to be able to read the Hebrew words, which comes very handy at this point. Also the first lesson starts with how to say hello but goes a bit beyond with more vocabulary than the previous one and definitely for a faster learning path.
• hebrewpod101.com. Very handy webpage for vocabulary. There are lists with groups of words and sentences, like this one for different ways of saying hello.

The alefbet

The Hebrew alphabet (the alefbet) might be a good second contact with the language. The alefbet is composed by 22 letters that are written more or less differently in printed version or handwriting, including some letters that change when they appear at the end of a word.

Here it is the complete list of all symbols brought from the Wikipedia in their printed version (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet):

The list is pretty shorter than in English, and there is a reason for that: in Hebrew vowels aren't written. The symbols in the list are mostly for consonant sounds (bet for /b/, dalet for /d/, etcetera). And yes, I know what you are thinking..

Worry not! There is a dot system called Niqqud to help children and Hebrew learners like ourselves that represents the vowels. And think if a 3 year old can learn Hebrew, you can also do it! Also sometimes weak consonants represent vowels.

In the vídeo "Learn ALL Hebrew Alphabet in 40 Minutes". Although the title praises itself by saying "all", this video contains how to write the first 12 out of 22 letters and 7 Niqqud. It is anyway a good start that will let you see how the letters are written (which is usually from top to bottom BTW).

In PollyLingual you can through the alefbet playing the name for each letter.

Practice, practice, practice

At this point some repetition is needed to get soaked in the Hebrew language. Once you know the alphabet you can start using Duolingo (for Android or IOS).

Write in Hebrew without a Hebrew keyboard

I am a Hebrew learner and one of the first problems I have came across was the inability to write in Hebrew in my laptop. Let's say we want to write a short essay, how do we do it?

The fastest way (works in all computers, all operative systems)

If you want a quick solution that works in any computer, use an online keyboard. For example, https://www.branah.com/hebrew works wonderfully. You can write there using your keyboard (you don't need to use the mouse but you can use it if you want) and then copy the text somewhere else.

The permanent solution (for Ubuntu)

For a permanent solution in Ubuntu, we are going to install Hebrew as a system language. This way we can use our physical keyboard with a different distribution to write Hebrew.

The first step is to open Language Support and click on "Install or remove languages...". Look for Hebrew, check and apply changes. Next, we also need to install its keyboard layout: open System Settings, go to keyboard Layout, click on the "+" symbol -> "Hebrew" -> Add.

 

If Hebrew is not there, this will be solved by installing this package. Open a terminal and type this command:

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-keyboard-hebrew

Now we can change to Hebrew using the shortcut: super + space. Or using the language icon on the top Ubuntu bar.

In this same icon you can open a window with the keyboard distribution that might help you get use to the location of the keys:

On-screen keyboard

If you find too difficult to write on you keyboard you can use the on-screen keyboard that comes with ubuntu: Onboard (https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/onboard/). This is how Onboard looks when Hebrew is chosen:

Although there is a language selector, Hebrew is not going to be listed there, you need to change the language system to Hebrew so the onboard keyboard is displayed with the alefbet.
If you don't see the keyboard it might be hidden. Click on its icon on the menu panel and select "Show Onboard". The icon options also allow you to hide/show the on-screen keyboard when needed.

And we are finally ready to write in Hebrew, hooray!

I hope you find this post useful. For any issue, typo, judgemental or thankful thought, use the comments section. It's nice to have some feedback.