Lyrics for my father

Lyrics for the  song in Hebrew. Google translate works pretty decent between Hebrew and English (much much better than between Korean and English). . . so I was able to get a quick translation to start working with as I memorize the song.

לאבא שלי יש סולם
מגיע כמעט עד שמיים
ואבא שלי כה רעב
אוכל ארוחה פעמיים
ואבא שלי הוא הטוב מכולם
ואבא שלי הוא הכי בעולם
ורק בגללי הוא האבא שלי
כי הבטיח הוא לי
שהוא רק שלי

ואבא הביא מתנה
קטר על פסים של רכבת
ואבא הביא לי בובה
יודעת לשיר ולשבת
ואבא שלי הוא חכם מכולם
ואבא שלי הוא הכי בעולם
ורק בגללי הוא האבא שלי
כי הבטיח הוא לי
שהוא רק שלי

לאבא’לה יש מכונית
כמו אווירון בשמיים
לאבא שלי יש שעון
אינו מתקלקל גם במים
ואבא שלי, הוא יודע המון
אנגלית, צרפתית, ואפילו חשבון
ורק בגללי הוא האבא שלי
כי הבטיח הוא לי
שהוא רק שלי

ואבא שלי משחק
איתי בכדור ובג’ולים
ואבא שלי לי הביא
אלבום וגם יופי של בולים
אז למה כששרתי לו שיר שאהב
נרדם הוא פתאום ועצם את עיניו
אז למה כששרתי לו שיר שאהב
נרדם הוא פתאום ועצם – את – עיניו

אבא, למה?

My father. . .

I found this cool youtube song — about fathers. The tune is simple — there’s lots of fun words, some that I know but also some that I don’t, so I’m going to try to learn it today.

Another thing I want today is make a video of me speaking some Hebrew (not singing the song though, I’m afraid.^^)

Lexicarry

Yesterday I had some great conversations for two and half hours in Hebrew, mostly with a Lexicarry book but also on books and movies- I spoke barely a word of English but my friend sometimes did and sometimes I asked what a word in Hebrew was by referring to the English translation. Part of me feels rather good I discussed books and movies we had been watching in Hebrew, another part of me feels frustrated that I could understand and say so little. I guess practice makes perfect, as they say.

I’ve planned another couple hours of conversation practice tomorrow, but finding people today to talk with will be harder. It’s Shabbat, and almost all buses, stores or cafes are close.

Tongue twisters

I found some fun tongue twisters in Hebrew over here. And while I’m on the bus as well as working on Anki, I’ll try to get these time words down. I ran into some trouble a few days ago trying to explain where I was before I came here.

Busy day

I had a great official lesson today with Street Hebrew, getting rock clear on the superlatives used in Hebrew.  (I’ll write a detailed review of the lessons later on after I’ve taken a few more, but so far I’ve learned a lot through them).

I was able to schedule one appointment today, so I’ll head off to the university today to meet him there. This will be the second person I’ve met just scheduling the appointment totally in Hebrew. Now I also want to speak completely in Hebrew when we meet.

The bus trip to the university is about an hour long but I have a bunch of Anki to catch up on and several podcasts to listen to, so I’ll be keeping busy.

Anno said: 

The first goal is to find a way to chat with people online in Hebrew. There are several ways I’m going to go about this. One of them is find people on skype to chat with. Another way is joining a couple language exchange sites.

I started using both italki and my language exchange and sent a lot of different messages, but so far haven’t been able to chat with anyone yet.  One thing I’ve tried to do is find Israelis who are interested in studying Korean. That way I can exchange Korean for Hebrew and get to practice both languages, having my cake and eating it too.

Cool day

One very important part of language study is continual evaluation. But evaluation is not just an assessment of present shortcomings and goals for the future but also an evaluation of how far along the trail one has actually trod.

Today was pretty cool, language-wise. I was mostly inside but in the afternoon I went to the laundry to pick up my clothes and made sure (in Hebrew) that she didn’t need the receipt. In the evening I ordered shwerma, and was able to answer all of their questions (What kind of shwerma did I want? (laffa) Was I eating it here? (yes, i was) What toppings did I want? (Everything) and when paying, “Had I ordered any drinks (no)). Afterwards I went to the store, bought a few things, and discussed with the clerk the price of humus — was 850 grams for 13.50 or 1kg for 18.90 cheaper?

This is a marked change from just a short while ago. Two weeks ago I would have broken down and I would have tried to and felt the need to speak in English in all of these situations. But today I spoke not a word of English and I was able to communicate well. I am speaking Hebrew now.

The more I speak with people. . . .

Disappointingly I wasn’t able to go to meet the person I was planning on talking with in Hebrew this evening.However, I was able to do a lot of work with Anki — putting in new sentences and reviewing them. I now have 614 facts (mostly sentences) compared to four hundred a few days ago. This week’s goal is to increases the anki facts to 1000. For most sentences I have three fields, the Hebrew (with audio if possible), and then on the backside the English translation and the transliteration if there was no audio.

The more I speak with people the more I realize how many things I still need to learn, when I find myself needing a word or idea and having to explain around it or having to use a prop or hand motion to express myself.

One of my language helpers introduced me to the movie Sweet Mud. I’ve downloaded the move with English subtitles, so I’ll watch it tomorrow in my down time.

I have two specifically speaking goals for tomorrow. The first goal is to find a way to chat with people online in Hebrew. There are several ways I’m going to go about this. One of them is find people on skype to chat with. Another way is joining a couple language exchange sites.

The second goal is to meet two Hebrew people in person tomorrow and talk with them in Hebrew. I haven’t even set up appointments yet, so I’ll need to send some e-mails off tonight!

Hebrew online radio

I’ve been incredibly sleepy the last few days. Perhaps its because it’s so hot, perhaps its because I haven’t been able to get on a good schedule but I’ve been spending most of the time sleeping. If I take a siesta in the afternoon I tend to sleep to much and then can’t fall asleep in the evening, so I think I’ll have to cut out any daytime naps for now.

Adam from Street Hebrew sent me a very useful link however, an online radio station where I can listen to Hebrew talk radio. It’s way above my level but I find that the more I keep it on the more words I recognize. The last few days I’ve been listening to it whenever I can.

Language appointments

I didn’t complete my goal yesterday of setting up times with all 13 of the people that contacted me back saying they wanted to meet. But I did contact the majority of them, and I already set up a time to meet one person for today at 12 pm, and another person for Monday.

You definitely do learn by doing. I had no idea how to write emails to set up appointment times in Hebrew but with the help of Google translate, I now know much better how to do it. Now even if I didn’t have Google translate to help me I know how to write that sort of thing.

Even though using Hebrew to set up appointment times has increased my confidence by leaps and bounds, I am still rather apprehensive about today. We set a time and a place to meet (using google translate to understand his emails and send replies), and now I have to meet him. And I want to speak only in Hebrew and not revert at all to English. How in the world should I go about that? What should I talk about?

Today I was very tired so I barely got out at all until the evening. Then I went to cafe, ordered coffee in Hebrew, clarified that I wanted a large cup of Cappuccino , and asked for the bill completely in Hebrew. I think it’s the first time I’ve gone to a cafe I’ve never gone before and been able to speak completely in Hebrew with them.

Even though I was tired and slept most of today, I did have an introductory lesson with Addam Corree of Street Hebrew. I had learned of him through another fabulous site that sells a very useful vocabulary book — English Hebrew.

The lesson was very fun and incredibly useful, so useful that I decided to take lessons with him two times a week. After I’ve done a few more lessons I’ll write a review here as well.