Week Three General Writing Exercise (Speaking in Hebrew)

1) Write approximately 500 words about an experience using (or attempting to use) Hebrew to communicate during your time in Israel. 

I went to Jewish day school when I was 2 and right from the beginning they started integrating Hebrew words into my vocabulary. As I got older, half of my day would be in Hebrew, the other half would be in English. When I graduated from Epstein in 8^thgrade I was really good at Hebrew. I could express myself, I could read, write understand, the whole nine. Would I have considered myself fluent? No, but I could totally get by, and then some. Years went by and I didn’t really use my Hebrew except for a few brief trips to Israel. I truly forgot how much I loved this language until I got here, and started taking Ulpan. A week ago I was having dinner with a very close friend of my family who lives here in Tel Aviv. He was so impressed with my Hebrew and I was so excited to be at dinner with him and my parents and be able to show off how much progress I had made. It was when we were ordering our food that I was a little disappointed. I ordered everything in Hebrew, and the waiter responds to ask me a question, and he responded in English. I was frustrated because I made such an effort and he made none back. My family friend who is Israeli explained to me that I’m so excited to be on the streets and in different situations using my Hebrew, but Israelis hear my American accent and immediately want to use it as an opportunity to practice their English a lot of the time. 

He made an interesting point, one which I had not considered previously. However, the waiter and I were both in the same boat, trying to practice a new language. After our friend explained it to me, I made a deal with the waiter. He could speak English to the rest of them, but to me he could on speak Hebrew, so we did. I ordered dessert in Hebrew, I told them about my food allergy, asked for the check and more. It was a great feeling to be able to communicate in another language. My parents were also so proud of me and impressed of how much progress I had made and how much I had immersed myself into the culture. They didn’t believe me when I told them that I actually went to Ulpan, but I proved them wrong!