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Saturday, July 16, 2005

Advanced Hebrew

I've been meaning to post about this but keep forgetting to, so I will do it now while I remember.

The other day I received an email from one of the higher ups at school (think he is vice president of the school or something like that). He said that they are kicking around the idea of having an advanced Hebrew class this next year. It has been offered in the past, however, the professor that usually does it is going on sabaticle for a year and will not be there to teach it. They have hired a new professor to take over (though I don't know if he was only hired for the year, or if he will stay on after the other professor gets back), and he is willing to teach the advanced Hebrew class. Apparently, he has as much education in Hebrew as the prof that is taking the year off and is on par with him in "smartness" I guess. Dr. D (the prof leaving) is extremely intelligent and knows five different languages (including Hebrew) fluently. I don't think Dr. B (the new prof) has that many languages, but he is as fluent in Hebrew as Dr. D.

To make a long story short, the email stated that they are polling some students to see if they would like to take an advanced Hebrew class (I assume it would be for both semesters like the beginner language classes are), and they are wondering if I would be interested in it. I was told (in this email) that I am one of the students that Dr. D recommended as being one who should take the course. That made my day!

In my first semester of beginning Hebrew (it's actually Biblical Hebrew) I received an A, and in my second semester I got B+. My mark dropped because I was very stressed out and suffered some depression. However, Dr. D would definately not recommend someone he did not think could handle the course or do well in it. I admire and respect Dr. D a great deal and it makes me feel good that he consideres me smart enough for the course.

I'm looking forward to taking this, though I might kick myself once I get into it. I will have to get my books out and refresh myself with vocabulary and such that we learned so that I wont forget everything by September. I'll have to get my Hebrew Bible (only the OT) out and work at translations as well. I want to do well in this course and not have them think Dr. D was nuts for recommending me...

3 comments:

Darlene Schacht said...

That is sooo cool! I taught myself basic biblical greek through books and I was loving it. Then a fellow Christian got me onto Hebrew, and that was even more interesting. I had only just begun learning for a few weeks when morning sickness took over my body and I lost interest in virtually everything. Maybe one day I'll try again.

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Darelene, I highly recommend it. It's a beautiful sounding language as well. I hope you will try again at some point.

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Jacky, sorry I don't know portuguese, though there is a fellow at my church who is from Portugal and he still (obviously) speaks the language and has taught his kids some of it as well (not sure if his wife knows the language or not).

Thanks for your words of encouragement to learn what I can :o)