{"id":10226,"date":"2019-08-25T09:38:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T07:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mastercaweb.u-strasbg.fr\/?p=10226"},"modified":"2019-08-25T09:38:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-25T07:38:32","slug":"connections-between-arabic-and-hebrew-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mastercaweb.unistra.fr\/en\/actualites\/un-categorized\/connections-between-arabic-and-hebrew-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Connections between Arabic and Hebrew languages"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, non-linguists thought Arabic and Hebrew were nearly the same. Especially Arabic speakers, who pronounce Hebrew (Ebry) and Arabic (Araby) with the same letters but with a different order. So what are the differences and similarities with\u00a0Arabic and Hebrew languages ?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Languages<\/p>\n

Quick look at both Arabic and Hebrew:\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Arabic\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Arabic is a Central <\/span>Semitic language<\/span><\/a>, closely related to Aramaic, Hebrew, Ugaritic and Phoenician. <\/span>Modern Standard Arabic<\/span><\/a> (MSA) is a distinct and more conservative form than all of its current spoken varieties and is the only official Arabic language (i.e. used by Arabic translators and Publishers in newspapers and magazines). It is the language of the Quran and the native language for more than 290 million people.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Hebrew<\/b><\/h3>\n

Hebrew is a West Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, although the language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the <\/span>Tanakh<\/span><\/a> (Hebrew Bible.) The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE<\/b>. Today, Hebrew is spoken by <\/span>nine million<\/span><\/a> people worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarities<\/b><\/h2>\n

Because both languages belong to the Semitic language family, they are similar. If you are an Arabic speaker\/translator, you will easily notice the strong similarities between both languages<\/strong> when you listen to a Hebrew conversation, providing you are using MSA. Another similarity is the shared vocabulary structure, <\/span>Binyanim<\/span><\/a>, which dictates how verbs are conjugated.<\/span><\/p>\n

You will also start connecting pronunciation and the sounds to figure out how similar they are and wonder “is it true that an Arabic speaker\/translator can easily learn Hebrew, and vice versa, as most people think?”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The best way to answer that is to present some examples from the two languages to show how they are connected. Before we look into that, we must mention that both languages are <\/span>Bidirectional<\/span><\/a>, written from right to left<\/b> with the same BiDi \u201cBidirectional\u201d writing code when it comes to the new translation technologies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Examples of similar words between the two languages:<\/b><\/h2>\n

\"Semitic<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
English<\/b><\/td>\nHebrew pronunciation<\/b><\/td>\nArabic pronunciation<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boy<\/span><\/td>\nYeled<\/span><\/td>\nWalad<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Girl<\/span><\/td>\nBat<\/span><\/td>\nBent<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sun<\/span><\/td>\nShemsh<\/span><\/td>\nShams<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Peace<\/span><\/td>\nShallom<\/span><\/td>\nSalam<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Listen<\/span><\/td>\nShemaa<\/span><\/td>\nEsmaa<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day<\/span><\/td>\nYom<\/span><\/td>\nYom<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Pronunciation<\/b><\/h2>\n

Arabic and Hebrew speakers with Middle Eastern backgrounds easily notice the strong pronunciation similarities<\/b> they share. Both Arabic and Hebrew pronunciation systems are flexible when it comes to pronounce several vowels and some of tricky letters which most European speakers cannot easily pronounce, e.g. \u062d (pronounced as Ha’) & \u0639 (pronounced as Ein). As for the Hebrew pronunciation, it is divided into two main forms\/dialects: Sephardic and Ashkenazi. This causes several pronunciation issues, easily noticeable when visiting Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Differences (Hebrew and Arabic alphabet system)<\/b><\/h2>\n

Hebrew and Arabic are different languages, so even though there are many similarities, there are also many differences.<\/span><\/p>\n