BootsnAll Travel Community

RE: http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/04-08/israel-nutz-and-bolts.html

Since Israel is in principle a Jewish nation, and since the overwhelming majority are Hebrew speaking Jews, and since Hebrew is the national language then why does the 'Common phrases' section report Arabic rather than Hebrew phrases? Should this be corrected?

yikes! that's my fault...i think i wasn't able to find the Hebrew? mine is very bad...please let me know those words in Hebrew and i'll definitely add them.

Hebrew Common Phrases:
Yes: Ken
No: Lo
Thank You: Todah
Hello: Shalom
How are you: Ma Ha'inyanim?
How much: Kama ze oleh?
Please: Be Vakasha
I don't understand: Ani lo meveen (If you are male)
Ani lo meveena (If you are female)

Here are a few unofficial ones in Yiddish

Oy Vey-- Oh my goodness
Meshuggah- crazy
Goyim- Christians and other religions
bubbulah- darling

You won't find much use for Yiddish in Israel.
Brooklyn, maybe...

I agree with Court on this.

quote:

Originally posted by Donovan:
I agree with Court on this.

I don't. Better to know English than Arabic. Most Israelis do not speak Arabic - though they all speak English.

Arabic is really useful for travelling in Israel because even the Israelis swear in Arabic. So when you're angry, you better have some Arabic on hand.

well, can you teach me csome of these worlds..they can become handy

HI GABBY!!! WELCOME TO BnA!! Woohoooo!

quote:

(perhaps differentiated as Arabic or Hebrew would allow the viewer the option to choose which words to use).

You think??? If you started speaking Arabic to random Israelis they'd have no clue what you were talking about. The chances of you meeting and speaking to Arab-speaking people in Israel are really slim to none.

Kudos on doing your homework Court and thanks for the info.! In case there's question, I'm being serious.

As an erstwhile Israeli, I'd like to note that you all are missing a very important point. Hebrew and English will get you all you need in Israel, yes - but only with Arabic curses will you be able to fully explain yourself to Israelis who otherwise might play dense.

If I remember correctly (and my memories are waaay faded, as I have not been to the region in ages) Israelis, or the ones I knew, use Arabic or Arab/Hebrew hybrids to curse. Hebrew was originally for the Bible, which is not heavy on the really useful street cursing. So to truly communicate, learn a few Arabic curse words. Alas, I have forgotten these most useful of all vocabulary words, otherwise I'd share.

In all seriousness though, for the record - Hebrew is the official language, but Arabic is used officially for the Arab minority. How that works out in practice is beyond me ... I'm going there in June tho, I'll let you all know.

1. i agree the arabic has only VERY limited use in israel.

2. for whoever deals with this - some arabic mistakes on the page: the word "yes" (na'am) appears as half gibberish on my browser for some reason, "how are you" - the word there might be good for arabic in some other region - but in this area it's either "kif el-hal" or "kif halak"(to a man)/"kif halik"(to a woman), "please" is not accurate - it's "min fadlak" to a man and "min fadlik" to a woman. finally the phrase "i don't understand" is correct but it's in modern standard arabic (no one uses it) - the correct phrase is "ma bafham"