Why learn Hebrew?
The language of the Old Testament is rich in meaning. It is the language in which Jesus and His disciples studied the Scriptures. Words with the same root give unexpected shades of overlap which enrich our understanding of the text.
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Is Hebrew difficult to learn?
You will have to learn a new alphabet, but reading Hebrew is perfectly regular, not like English at all. For example, read these words: steal, bread, steak. How do we pronounce "ea" in English? Well, it depends on the word, doesn't it? In Hebrew, each letter and vowel is pronounced the same consistently. In fact, you can learn to read well in 6 to 8 weeks if you will spend a little time each day practicing.
Also, words with the same root consonants are always related to each other. In English, you can see that pan, pen, pin and pun are totally unrelated. However, in Hebrew all words with the same root are related, so it's easy to build vocabulary quickly.
And the Old Testament has a very limited vocabulary. The average English speaker uses 20,000 - 30,000 words on a regular basis. The Merriam-Webster pocket dictionary has 57,000 entries. But go check your Strong's Concordance! There are less than 9,000 Hebrew words listed.
Even the smallest ability can yield great rewards!
