Hebrew Vowel Sounds

[Guest]

I hate bothering you, but I have not been able to find an explanation in ZITH or your website. I’m studying the vowels and confused by the ‘class’ designations of ‘long;’ ‘short,; and ‘reduced.’ I seem to recall learning in grade school years ago that we have long and short vowels in English. English vowels do have different sounds based upon that designation, yet it appears that the Hebrew vowels are pronounced the same irrespective of that designation. I’m confused.

[admin]

I hate bothering you, but I have not been able to find an explanation in ZITH or your website. I’m studying the vowels and confused by the ‘class’ designations of ‘long;’ ‘short,; and ‘reduced.’ I seem to recall learning in grade school years ago that we have long and short vowels in English. English vowels do have different sounds based upon that designation, yet it appears that the Hebrew vowels are pronounced the same irrespective of that designation. I’m confused.

Yes, some of the phonetic distinctions between ‘long;’ ‘short,; and ‘reduced’ vowels have been blurred in modern Hebrew, though grammatically they still have a funtion, esp. regarding the placement of accents. My advice is to plow ahead, and let it "come together" in its own time, after more inductive experience with various Hebrew spellings, etc. Shalom