Learn how to say many common phrases that people use every day to introduce themselves
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Shira: Hi, everyone, Shira here, and welcome to Basic Bootcamp Lesson 1, Self-Introduction—Basic Greetings in Hebrew. This is the first in a five-part series that will help you ease your way into Hebrew. |
| Amir: שלום! I'm Amir! Now, the idea of a boot camp calls to mind sweating and toil. But our boot camp is different! |
| Shira: Yes, you won't have to sweat, we promise. |
| Amir: We'll go over all the basics that will really help you understand Hebrew in a fast and easy way. |
| Shira: And we'll have fun doing it! |
| Amir: Yes, and we won't blow any whistles at you or scream at you to do two hundred push-ups…though that might work too. We'll see how it goes. |
| Shira: Okay, so in this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself and ask for someone's name! |
| Amir: Now what could be more basic than this? I promise you, you will have this conversation no fewer than two hundred times in your first month in Israel. |
| Shira: Hmm, or maybe more. |
| Amir: This conversation is between strangers. Let's listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| Shira: שלום. שמי אמיר. מה שמך? |
| Amir: שלום אמיר. שמי שירה. |
| Shira: נעים מאוד. |
| Amir: גם לי. |
| Shira: Let's hear it slowly now. |
| Amir: בואו נשמע את זה לאט יותר. |
| [Slow version] |
| Shira: שלום. שמי אמיר. מה שמך? |
| Amir: שלום אמיר. שמי שירה. |
| Shira: נעים מאוד. |
| Amir: גם לי. |
| Shira: And now with the translation. |
| Amir: עכשיו עם התרגום. |
| [With English translation] |
| Shira: שלום. שמי אמיר. מה שמך? |
| Shira: "Hello. My name is Amir. What's your name?" |
| Amir: שלום אמיר. שמי שירה.. |
| Amir: "Hello, Amir. My name is Shira." |
| Shira: נעים מאוד. |
| Shira: "Nice to meet you." |
| Amir: גם לי. |
| Amir: "Me too." |
| Post-dialogue Banter |
| Shira: So, Amir, what do people in Israel do when they first meet? Like, is there any sort of custom? |
| Amir: For the first time, it really depends on the background cultures of the two parties. Anything goes, more or less…a handshake, a nod, or a smile. |
| Shira: Yes, I really couldn't say that there is one predominant way to greet someone in Israel. Usually, a nod and a greeting are enough, and other times people shake hands. |
| Amir: There is one thing to be cautious of, though. If you are a woman, don't initiate a handshake with a man, especially if that man is religious. |
| Shira: Yes, it is considered improper for people of the opposite sex to touch one another in the Orthodox Jewish faith. It's better to let the other person initiate a handshake if you are of the opposite sex, and that way you can be sure that it is okay. |
| Amir: Yes, but once you become friendlier with Israelis, we are much warmer and many times greet each other with a kiss on each cheek. |
| Shira: You actually touch cheeks and make a kissing noise, rather than kiss each other on the cheek. |
| Amir: True. |
| Shira: But for the first meeting, better stick to handshakes and smiles. |
| Amir: And in a business situation, a handshake is your best bet. |
| Shira: Just follow the other person's lead, and you'll be fine. |
| Amir: Yes, it really is a personal thing. |
| Shira: Okay, let's take a closer look at these self-introductions. |
| Amir: We'll start with the vocabulary words for this lesson. |
| Vocab list |
| Shira: Okay, first we have… |
| Amir: שלום |
| Shira: "Hello." |
| Amir: שלום (slow, breakdown speed) |
| Amir: שלום. |
| Shira: And next? |
| Amir: אני |
| Shira: "I" or "I am." |
| Amir: אני (slow, breakdown speed) |
| Amir: אני |
| Shira: Next? |
| Amir: לי |
| Shira: "to me" |
| Amir: לי (slow, breakdown speed) |
| Amir: לי |
| Shira: And next? |
| Amir: גם |
| Shira: "also" |
| Amir: גם (slow, breakdown speed) |
| Amir: גם |
| Shira: Next we have? |
| Amir: נעים |
| Shira: "pleasant" |
| Amir: נעים (slow, breakdown speed) |
| Amir: נעים |
| Shira: And finally? |
| Amir: מאוד |
| Shira: "very" |
| Amir: מאוד (slow, breakdown speed) |
| Amir: מאוד |
| Vocabulary Usage |
| Shira: Okay, so our first word here is "hello." |
| Amir: שלום. |
| Shira: You have probably heard this word many times before. It means "peace." Listeners, listen and repeat this phrase. |
| Amir: שלום (ten-second pause). שלום. |
| Shira: Great. In the conversation, we also heard נעים מאוד. |
| Amir: Yes, נעים מאוד means something along the lines of "Very delighted." |
| Shira: Of course, in this situation, the speaker is "very delighted" to meet the other person. And so here it has the sense of the English expression "Nice to meet you." But let's break down this phrase a bit. |
| Amir: נעים means "delighted." |
| Shira: And the second word... |
| Amir: מאוד |
| Shira: Means "very." And so all together it is... |
| Amir: נעים מאוד. |
| Shira: Listeners, listen and repeat… |
| Amir: נעים מאוד (ten seconds) נעים מאוד. |
| Shira: Now that you said that, naturally, I can't help but want to respond גם לי, which means "to me too." Can we break that down? Which one is "also" or "too?" |
| Amir: גם |
| Shira: So that means that "to me" is… |
| Amir: לי |
| Shira: And all together? |
| Amir: גם לי |
| Shira: Listeners, listen and repeat. |
| Amir: גם לי (ten seconds) גם לי. |
| Shira: Now that wasn't so difficult, was it? Hope everyone isn't getting too overheated in the boot camp. Maybe it's time for some push-ups. |
| Amir: I think I could use some; I'm getting a little out of shape. But for now, let's move on to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Amir: Now, let's take a look at this lesson's grammar point. |
| Shira: What if your companion is, for some reason, hesitant to introduce himself or herself? |
| Amir: Well, it's okay to become a little aggressive in your desire to get to know this person. |
| Shira: Yes, just go ahead and ask his or her name yourself! |
| Amir: מה שמך?; This is how your question should sound. |
| Shira: It means "What is your name?" |
| Amir: מה |
| Shira: Means "what." Let's hear it one time again slowly. |
| Amir: מה |
| Shira: And one time again fast. Listeners, repeat after Amir. |
| Amir: מה |
| Shira: Next… |
| Amir: שמך |
| Shira: Means "your name." Let's hear it slowly, please. |
| Amir: שמך |
| Shira: And fast again. Listeners, repeat after Amir. |
| Amir: שמך |
| Shira: We have to break that one down for you. |
| Amir: Yes, in English this would be two words, but in Hebrew we combine them to become one word with a suffix. |
| Shira: This is one of the ways that we create possession of a noun. |
| Amir: So שם means "name" and the ending –ך means "your." This is the masculine, singular form, so you could only use this if you are asking a man his name. |
| Shira: To ask a woman her name, you would say מה שמך?. It is spelled the same, but the vowel pattern is a little different. |
| Amir: So all together, the question is ?מה שמך to ask a man. |
| Shira: and מה שמך? to ask a woman. |
| Shira: Listeners, listen to the phrase and repeat it out loud. |
| מה שמך? {pause} מה שמך? (masculine); |
| מה שמך? {pause} מה שמך? (feminine) |
| Shira: Not too hard for our first boot camp lesson, huh? |
| Amir: No, it isn't. And if you just use this little bit of Hebrew, you will already have gone a long way to impress someone you might meet in Israel. |
| Shira: That's right. There's no better way to signal your interest and respect for the culture than to try to speak a little bit of the language, even if you only know the basics. |
| Amir: That's right. To recap, let's try a short dialogue. Imagine your name is Shira. Try to answer the question out loud with the phrase we learned in this lesson. |
| Amir: מה שמך?. {pause} שמי שירה.. |
| Shira: Great! Now what if someone says to you… |
| Amir: נעים מאוד |
| Shira: What do you say? |
| Amir: {pause} גם לי |
| Shira: Great! Now what do you say if you want to learn someone's name? |
| Amir: {pause} מה שמך? |
| Shira: Here! You've taken the first step! |
| Amir: Well done! |
Outro |
| Shira: That's it for this lesson. |
| Amir: Thanks for listening. שלום |
| Shira: See you! |
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