Hebräisch-Deutsches Konversationsbuch

I found this German-Hebrew phrasebook printed in Palestine in 1933.

WP_20180225_21_03_02_Rich

I think the title is interesting.

שיחון עברי–גרמנית

Sichon 3ivri-Germanith. "Sichon" == phrasebook strikes me as being one of Ben Yehuda's invented words based on שיחה "sicha" == complaint, conversation. (This is analogous to Ben Yehuda's מילון "milon" == dictionary based on מילה "mila" == word.)

A useful site to confirm words is biblehub.net with its complete Strong's concordance.

http://biblehub.net/searchhebrew.php?q=שיחה

http://biblehub.net/searchhebrew.php?q=שיחון

(Is the infinitive לשוחח "lesocheach" == to talk new? I cannot find it in Strong's.)

The booklet really does contain page after page of useful phrases which I find most interesting because it shows how things were said almost 100 years ago and only a few decades since Ben Yehuda re-introduced Hebrew as an everyday language.

The book has a pronunciation chart. Note that Taw is, at that time and for German-speakers still listed as having two pronunciations like Bet, Kaf and Pe. Alef and Ayin are also explained correctly.

PhraseAlephBet


PhraseAlephBet2

Ashkanazi (German) and Sephardi (Spanish and Israeli) dialects are mentioned and explained:

Dialects

As for the content, I have here a few representative pages.

Getting things cheaper, bargaining:

Billiger

How are you?

MaShlomkha

How to travel:

NachPalaestina



 © Andrew Brehm 2016