Re: Biblical Hebrew or Modern Hebrew?

On Oct 3, 2004, at 12:47 AM, David H wrote:
> But memorizing words with the correct vowel points gets confusing (and
> takes more effort)! But I suppose I should learn them...Do most native
> Israeli speakers even know which words use which vowel points (without
> consulting a dictionary)?
> Thanks
Unfortunately no.  Since Modern Israeli Hebrew collapses a number of
distinctions encoded in the orthography, both the really old consonant
system as well as the c.8th century CE Tiberian vowel system, Israelis
are known to make a lot of mistakes when trying to deal with vowels.
After all, most Israelis probably hardly ever see vowel marks after
they get old enough to read straight text without them.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "involve yourself with the world.
   reach out.  touch.  taste.  live.
   trust me on this one, if on nothing else."
      ~ walter slovotsky, _guardians of the flame_