Coping With Ivrit (Hebrew)
“Doesn’t everyone speak English in Israel?” We heard this a lot when speaking with friends about our trip.
Yes and no. Many Israelis, especially those in business and technology, and of course those in the service and tourism industries, speak English comfortably. Others can speak a sort of pidgin English if they have to, but they prefer not to (who can blame them). And others just don’t speak any English.
Thus, coping in Hebrew has provided some frustrating, and comical, moments in our first two weeks here.
It is not a level playing field for Ellen and me. I lived in Israel for almost one year between high school and college and learned a decent amount of Hebrew then, although I was far from fluent. I forgot a lot over the years, but did some self study in the months leading up to our trip. Ellen, by contrast, knows almost no Hebrew. She took some beginner classes last year at the Scarsdale Y, but that’s about it.
My problem is that I can usually make myself understood when I start a conversation, but then it often escalates out of control when the other party starts speaking way too fast with too many words I don’t know. Then I have to either retreat to English or tell the person I have no idea what he or she just said.
Today I had to buy a couple of those insulated lunch boxes for the kids. I went to the Home Center store. I know how to say “lunch” and “box”, but I was pretty sure that those two words together in Hebrew would mean nothing. And I have no idea how to say “insulated.” So I approached a sales clerk and said a sentence in Hebrew that translates roughly to the following:
“I am looking for a small bag for children for lunch for school and the food is cold inside.” She looked at me like I was an idiot but directed me to the right place. These encounters can be humiliating.
But I can hardly complain about humiliation because Ellen is having a rougher time. She has to start practically every interaction with an Israeli – on the street, in a store, wherever – by trying to communicate that she speaks English, not Hebrew. Except that it often comes out sounding vaguely Spanish. You see, Ellen speaks some Spanish, and apparently her brain has one memory register for foreign languages because what little Hebrew she knows is being spiced up with Spanish words here and there. Often the other person knows English, and the conversation then proceeds smoothly. But if the other person does not speak English, then Ellen is reduced to gesticulation to make herself understood. Today Ellen was in a store trying to buy shoe laces. When she pointed to her feet, everyone thought she wanted to buy shoes. So she started crawling around looking for shoelaces to point to, but everyone was wearing sandals. I must say, Ellen is being a very good sport about the language issue.
Other news:
School starts tomorrow. The twins will be in separate classes – whoa!
We had our first sushi in Israel last night. It will be our last sushi in Israel.
We’re looking forward to our first visitors from the US next week.
Ironically, we are less on top of the Gaza news than we would be from home, partly because we were so busy this week getting ready for school and partly because of the lack of good English news. What we can tell you is that even those who strongly support the “Hitnatkut” (evacuation) are extremely anguished about people being forcibly removed from their homes.
Yes and no. Many Israelis, especially those in business and technology, and of course those in the service and tourism industries, speak English comfortably. Others can speak a sort of pidgin English if they have to, but they prefer not to (who can blame them). And others just don’t speak any English.
Thus, coping in Hebrew has provided some frustrating, and comical, moments in our first two weeks here.
It is not a level playing field for Ellen and me. I lived in Israel for almost one year between high school and college and learned a decent amount of Hebrew then, although I was far from fluent. I forgot a lot over the years, but did some self study in the months leading up to our trip. Ellen, by contrast, knows almost no Hebrew. She took some beginner classes last year at the Scarsdale Y, but that’s about it.
My problem is that I can usually make myself understood when I start a conversation, but then it often escalates out of control when the other party starts speaking way too fast with too many words I don’t know. Then I have to either retreat to English or tell the person I have no idea what he or she just said.
Today I had to buy a couple of those insulated lunch boxes for the kids. I went to the Home Center store. I know how to say “lunch” and “box”, but I was pretty sure that those two words together in Hebrew would mean nothing. And I have no idea how to say “insulated.” So I approached a sales clerk and said a sentence in Hebrew that translates roughly to the following:
“I am looking for a small bag for children for lunch for school and the food is cold inside.” She looked at me like I was an idiot but directed me to the right place. These encounters can be humiliating.
But I can hardly complain about humiliation because Ellen is having a rougher time. She has to start practically every interaction with an Israeli – on the street, in a store, wherever – by trying to communicate that she speaks English, not Hebrew. Except that it often comes out sounding vaguely Spanish. You see, Ellen speaks some Spanish, and apparently her brain has one memory register for foreign languages because what little Hebrew she knows is being spiced up with Spanish words here and there. Often the other person knows English, and the conversation then proceeds smoothly. But if the other person does not speak English, then Ellen is reduced to gesticulation to make herself understood. Today Ellen was in a store trying to buy shoe laces. When she pointed to her feet, everyone thought she wanted to buy shoes. So she started crawling around looking for shoelaces to point to, but everyone was wearing sandals. I must say, Ellen is being a very good sport about the language issue.
Other news:
School starts tomorrow. The twins will be in separate classes – whoa!
We had our first sushi in Israel last night. It will be our last sushi in Israel.
We’re looking forward to our first visitors from the US next week.
Ironically, we are less on top of the Gaza news than we would be from home, partly because we were so busy this week getting ready for school and partly because of the lack of good English news. What we can tell you is that even those who strongly support the “Hitnatkut” (evacuation) are extremely anguished about people being forcibly removed from their homes.
posted by David @ 11:52 PM
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