Hebrew-English/English-Hebrew Practical Dictionary

Hebrew, or Irit, as it is call by those who speak the language, has been found in writings 3,000 years old, making it one of the oldest languages spoken today. The ancient language of Hebrew was spoken by the Canaanites who lived in the same geographical area that is today modern Israel. Ancient Hebrew was affected by surrounding cultures and languages, such as Aramaic and Egyptian. Other languages such as Acadian, Arabic and Aramaic all originated -- along with Hebrew -- from the same Semitic language base. Later, in the first centuries AD, newer languages like Greek began to have an influence on Hebrew and contributed loan words. By about the fourth century AD, Hebrew was used only for religious purposes, in effect a dead' language, not being used in everyday speech and communications. A revival of Hebrew started in the nineteenth century and by the 20th Century it was becoming the main language of the Jews in Ottoman and British Palestine. The Hebrew language in its modern form was officially adopted as the language of Israel with the founding of the state in 1948. Today there are nearly 5 million native speakers of Hebrew worldwide. This book is ideal for business people, travellers and students, this dictionary includes over 20, 000 word-to-word dictionary entries, with Hebrew script and simplified pronunciation. Common words as well as technical, legal, business and locally-specific terms (local cities, foods and cultural terms). Phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers. Concise grammar and pronunciation sections.