Everyday Hebrew

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating
Review: I bought this set because I thought that the cassette tapes would provide a way to study while driving in the car. This did not work out. Too much content had to be learned before even one side of one tape could be understood. The content progressed at a very rapid pace and the introduction of new material was not well organized. The biggest problem with the book was the size of the Hebrew text. A magnifying glass is an essential tool to read the text. After a while, though, reading through the magnifying glass gave me a headache.

Rating:
Summary: A very motivating textbook
Review: I have found this book most useful and motivating. It takes you step by step through the language. I started myself practically from scratch and I feel I'm making a lot of progress day by day. Some people complain that there are not translations for certain words and expressions, but I remind them that it is necessary to have a dictionary as well.

Rating:
Summary: Good grammar, but stories get tiring
Review: I really liked this book and tape set when I first began using it. It introduces many grammar points early on, and the tape sets have native speakers. However, newer methods have been developed since this book was written, and I think they are more effective. The newer series are based not on memorizing dialogues and word lists, but on seeing or hearing things are responding to them. In addition, newer multimedia series are more professionally done with children playing the parts of children, men playing the part of men, and women, of women. This isn't always the case in this tape set.

In addition, the tales of Dan the doctor, Dinah, the secretary he is wooing, and Yigal the American Doctor, and his family grow tired after a few weeks.

The book and tape set provides lots of grammatical exercises. So, it's very good in that regard. However, like another reviewer, I wish that the book included an answer key.