VocabuLearn

Hebrew, Level 1

De: Penton Overseas Inc.

VocabuLearn is the only audio language learning system designed to teach the way you learn best...concentrating on vocabulary and helpful expressions. This three-hour program contains over 1,500 commonly-used words and expressions, the building blocks of language. This audio flash-card system will have you communicating effectively in the shortest time possible. Recommended by educators world-wide, VocabuLearn is prepared by professional instructors and recorded by dialect-free native speakers, giving you the authentic pronunciation of each word. VocabuLearn is ideal for those studying foreign languages. It can also help you prepare for more enjoyable trips to foreign countries...and can even improve your job and business opportunities. Best of all, you can listen to VocabuLearn anywhere: in your car, at home, or on a portable digital audio player, wherever you are. No textbook is required!

(P) and ©Penton Overseas, Inc.

very bad

they do not leave s short space and a long space between English and Hebrew words, this there is no distinction, after 15 minutes you do not know if the word you are hearing is the translation for the next or last word.

Definitely NOT

I can already speak a little Hebrew. I bought this audio book thinking it would be similar in nature to Pimsleur's approach or one of the "On the Move" or "Learn in your car" type programs. Instead, right from the start, there is very inappropriate and annoying Western classical music playing in the background, which has absolutely NOTHING whatsoever to do with Israeli culture or with creating a setting conducive to remembering anything specifically about Hebrew. On top of this muzak-garbage is a completely useless, random spouting of vocabulary words that have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, create no theme, are not presented in any way which might encourage memorization or incorporation into practical conversation, and have no provision for repetition or use in context. This is the most useless "beginner's" language learning tool I have ever come across and if it had been more expensive, I would have complained and demanded a full refund. I imagine that maybe a year from now after my ability to carry on basic conversations is more solid, I might be able to use this audiobook by hitting the pause button after every single word and repeating it, using it in a sentence, doing ANYTHING besides what VocabuLearn provides to help me "remember" these words. We will see if this thing ever proves useful.

Vocabulearn? Good luck following random words!

This audio book is really not worth much at all. There is no structure to it whatsoever, random words are blurted out once in English and then once in Hebrew. eg. "the green pees... Tuesday... the airport... the boy... the gasoline..." no joke, it really is all over the place! Luckily my limitted Hebrew vacubulary helped my figure out that at some point the program switched to Hebrew first then Enlgish second (there's no intruduction between chapters, it's all guesswork). It's so rediculous and so useless that I found it almost comical and almost amusing but what I really found was that it is a complete waste of money and time. My only other experience with Vocabulear ("Italian Word Booster") was worth the moneny because it had structure and was easy to follow. I don't think I'll be spending any more credits on Vacubulearn any time soon :(

useless

The authors of this tape forgot to learn anything about learning or memory when they made it. The words are not presented in any organized way; they appear to be totally random. There is not enough time between words for the learner to make any meaningful connections. What a waste!

Don't waste your money or credits

The VocabuLearn system is useless. It just spouts random nouns, no adjectives or verbs. So, if you plan on speaking Hebrew without using any verbs, then go ahead and buy it. However, if you learn enough to have an actual conversation, then get something else.

Are they kidding?

Wow! This promised to teach me the language "the way you learn best." Somebody spits out random words while classical music plays in the back (ever so annoying). That has never been the way I learned best, but maybe I need to get out more. It
is almost hilarious, since it is impossible to figure out how they chose the order in which these words are given.

Completely Worthless

They are playing background music that is so loud you can’t even hear the Hebrew word. It is massively distracting and annoying. The girl mouthing the words does not pronounce them clearly and distinctly. There is also no PDF so that you can at least see the word you THINK they might be saying. Audible apparently does not vet for quality anymore. More terrible recordings are out there, poor descriptions and now you have to justify your returns. My Premium subscription is up in February. I won’t be renewing.

Excellent

I found VocabuLearn an excellent aid for extending my Hebrew vocabulary. I enjoy the pleasant music played in the background as the words are pronounced in Hebrew first and then English and then switching to English first and then Hebrew. The adjectives are presented in both the masculine and feminine singular forms. The nouns, adjectives and adverbs which are in abundance, are spoken by a native Hebrew speaker. I found this a very relaxing and natural way to learn. In fact I liked it so much that I bought Level 2 also.

Well done!

The previous review is outright misleading, to say the least. There are four sections, noons, adjectives/adverbs, expressions, verbs. So no, it's not like you will have to speak with no verbs... far from it.

BTW, verbs are given in present singular masculine tense, which is not the best way to memorize them, in my opinion. Adjectives are given in both masculine and feminine (singular only), which is good. Noons are always proceeded by the definite article - not sure why this was necessary. Expressions are only given in one form.

Each section is split into two roughly equal subsections: first Hebrew words follow English, and then the other way around.

Overall, I think this is a very good way to refresh Hebrew words you know and perhaps learn a few new words. This cannot be your only source of learning Hebrew, or even the main source, and I am pretty sure it was not intended to be one.

So, take this for what it is, and you'll like it.

I like it a lot

Would you consider the audio edition of VocabuLearn to be better than the print version?

Not applicable

Would you ever listen to anything by Penton Overseas, Inc. again?

Yes, definitely

What about the narrator’s performance did you like?

Good native speakers

Any additional comments?

I am attempting to learn Hebrew with the Pimsleur tapes, which I have found to be very good, but very intense. Listening to to the vocabulary words is an excellent way to supplement Pimsleur. After many, many repetitions of the vocabulary words, I expect they will eventually sink into my think skull. They can ditch the music though.