Hebrew

Hebrew is a member of the Canaanite group of the Semitic languages, to which the ancient Phoenician and Moabite languages also belonged. It branched off as a separate language sometime after the 12th century B.C. Hebrew was the language of the Jewish people in Biblical times, but began to die out as a spoken tongue after the Jews were defeated by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Well before the time of Christ, it had been replaced by Aramaic as the Jewish vernacular, although it was preserved as the language of Jewish religion, learning and literature until modern times.. During this 2,000-year period, Hebrew had always been spoken to a limited extent. At the end of the 19th century, however, the Zionist movement brought about the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, which culminated in its designation as an official tongue of the state of Israel in 1948. There, it is spoken by most of the 4.5 million Jews of that country. Modern Hebrew is a spoken language based upon the written Hebrew from old Hebrew texts. Its vocabulary comes from biblical Hebrew, but with numerous additions from Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Yiddish, and especially Aramaic. Hebrew is written in a script adapted from Aramaic writing and is written from right to left.

Sources:

Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia of the Orient

Information on writing system:

omniglot.com

Independent Study Courses Available at UCSD:

• Conversational Hebrew, LIDS 19
  Rosetta Stone Language Library: Hebrew (CD Rom)

• Conversational Hebrew, LIDS 19
  Joesph A. Reif and Hannah Levinson, Hebrew Basic Course (Tape)

Other Courses Available at UCSD:

• Judaic Studies: Hebrew

Other Local Resources:

UCSD International Center
UCSD Extension Courses
Mingei museum of folk art
SD cultural events
International web radio
SDSU Arabic, Hebrew
The Folk Dancer
Balboa Park: House of Israel