• All Hebrew Words Translated to English...
• All Hebrew Words Transliterated to English...
• Hebrew Sentences pronounced in clear CD Quality native Israeli voice...
• Record your own voice & Playback your pronunciation - match it to CD voice...
• Corrects and Reviews your mistakes...
• Grades and tracks your progress...
• Computerized Hebrew English Dictionary...
• Over 1000 phrases in 60 daily life situations...
• Prints all word lists for convenient study away from the computer...

• Travelling...
• Medical...
• Shopping...
• Reservations...
• Emergency situations..

Simi K Valley (5/1/2000) wrote:
E-Z Hebrew Phrases is a program that teaches conversational Hebrew. It
is useful for brushing up on Hebrew or in preparation for a trip to Israel.
Even a complete beginner could start with the Basic section, with single
words and short phrases, but the program is probably best suited for those
having some experience with Hebrew.

I had fun trying out E-Z Hebrew Phrases. The graphics and background
music are very tasteful. The content - over 1,000 phrases - is organized
into six main sections, each of which is broken down into several
subsections. You can hear and see each sentence or phrase in English
and its simultaneous translation in vocalized Hebrew and in romanized text, while hearing the
words spoken by either a male or female native speaker. The male speaker in particular takes
pains to enunciate very clearly - much more so than any speaker in a normal conversational
situation, which is probably a help for someone with little knowledge of Hebrew.

There is a choice of three playback settings - slow, medium or fast, so that those who wish
more practice can begin with the slow settings and then work up to the medium and fast
settings. The program is quite user-friendly and intuitive. You can easily switch back and forth
between the male and female voices.

There were a few instances where I thought the Hebrew used was a bit too formal for a
conversational situation, for example, using the word hexan instead of efo (where?) in asking
directions.

The program includes quizzes on each section, lets you record and play back your own voice
and print out word lists.

I enjoyed exploring this program and would recommend it to anyone wishing to review and
improve their Hebrew.

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post (12/31/2000) wrote:
E-Z Hebrew Phrases: The Easy Road to Hebrew, a CD-ROM in English and Hebrew, by Torah Educational Software, requires PC Pentium 133 Mhz or better and Windows 95 and up, or Mac. for all ages. - Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 stars)

If you're reading this, there's a good chance that your grasp of English is better than your grasp of Hebrew. If you're an Israeli resident or a tourist whose command of the holy tongue needs a boost, this is probably the disk you have been waiting for.

There are numerous disks for teaching children basic Hebrew vocabulary word by word, but this computerized phrase dictionary is the first high-quality disk I've seen that can help English speakers speak Hebrew in sentences or in intelligent "sound bytes."

English-speaking visitors who come here frequently and immigrants who settle in "Anglo" strongholds such as Ra'anana or Jerusalem's Rehavia or Har Nof neighborhoods are surrounded by so many fluent English speakers that they often don't have the opportunity to practice Hebrew. They may be here for even a decade or more and still struggle or feel uncomfortable with speaking Hebrew at government offices, the supermarket, or the bank.

Just plop the disk into your drive, quickly install it, and you're presented with a main screen showing eight main theme areas and playing pleasant guitar music in the background. Each of these theme areas is presented with soft Jewish or Israeli music in the background and stunning photos to illustrate the theme.

You may choose among Basic, Counting, Religious, Date & Time, Services, Getting Around, Situations, and Around the World. If you want to look for a specific topic rather than a systematic study of the themes one by one, click the Index button at the top of the screen. There's also a button for immediate access to the relevant Internet site.

Modern Sephardi Hebrew is used throughout. You can choose to hear the words and translations in a female or male voice: This is an important option, as - unlike English - Hebrew verbs and adjectives are different, depending on the gender of the speaker.

You must also decide whether you want to hear the lessons at a rapid, medium, or slow speed.

All 34 sub-categories will be presented on a single screen: Just click one to go directly to the relevant lesson.

Among the sub-categories are greetings, emergencies, seasons, kashrut, prayer, Shabbat, bank, post office, taxi, bus, directions, countries, cities, tourist places, airport, shopping, restaurant and medical.

The relevant words and phrases are vertically listed in a box on the left side of the screen. When you click one, the Hebrew translation is shown in Hebrew letters and in Latin-letter transliteration on the right side; you also hear the word or phrase sounded out by the narrator.

An excellent feature is the test on each sub-section. You click the Quiz button at the top of the screen and decide whether you want to hear the tested word in Hebrew (with four possible answers given in boxes in English) or in English (with four choices in Hebrew). You may also choose to do both to reinforce your memory of the words.

After finishing the quiz, which can present as many as 50 questions, depending on the complexity of the sub-topic, an animated professor wearing a white gown and mortarboard tells you how many you answered correctly and the number of errors: The mistakes appear automatically, allowing you to review what you didn't know.

You can also print out all the word lists, record your pronunciation and compare it with the narrator's, and conduct a search for Hebrew or English words.

While Torah Educational Software aims clearly at a Jewishly observant audience (the list of Israeli towns includes haredi Bnei Brak and Kiryat Sefer, which are not exactly on the tourist map for most visitors) and has an extensive section keyed to religious practices, this should not deter secular Jews and non-Jews from studying the disk.

Using the program for something the developers probably never intended, I sat my nine-year-old, Hebrew-speaking son down in front of the screen and used the quiz as a test of his English vocabulary: He loved going through hundreds of quiz questions both from English to Hebrew and Hebrew to English - especially when the professor gave him his grade.

Teaching conversational English and vocabulary to Israeli elementary and high school kids could be a useful spinoff of this excellent disk, especially if several thousand more words were added.