Biblical and modern hebrew?

Question

I'm interested in learning Hebrew, but my university only offers courses in biblical Hebrew, is this worth doing to help me learn modern Hebrew, or will it just throw me off?

Answer 1

Personally I probably wouldn't recommend it, there would likely be too much focus on grammar (some of which wouldn't apply in Modern Hebrew) and just the lack of conversation in the language, which is really the biggest thing to being able to learn to speak a language. However, if you were going to take some modern Hebrew classes simultaneously and kind of compare and learn the two side by side it might be worth it. It also totaly depends on if you have any interest in the Biblical language. Another thing to consider is how far into the language you would get with the Biblical course. The very basics, ie. learning letters and vowels should be basically the same thing.

You may also want to see my other answer to a question about the difference between Modern and Biblical Hebrew.