Who Needs Foreign Languages?

Some people say:

In fact, Jesus spoke Aramaic, a sister-language of Hebrew.
Don’t try to Be Bilingual, just Be Try-Lingual!

Come and meet a few typically reluctant students who have learned to be Try-lingual!
They studied with Yogi Wolf, exotic guru from the East. (he’s fictional, but then, so are they!)

Ida Noh.

Ida Noh reads & teaches Shakespeare and classical literature: especially Greek philosophy, (but only in English translation). Yogi Wolf asked her if she knew  his friend Amy Sophoteros: "Her name means  'I am smarter.' It's a quote from Socrates.'" After a few weeks of curious googling, Ida told Yogi: "my favorite Greek proverb now is Ouden Xenon to Sopho." Yogi smiles as he translates, humorously emphasizing X and S just as Ida had: 'Nothing is eXotic to the eXceptionally smart.'

Reese.

Reese Isterman complains: "studying foreign languages leaves me no time to think. But I just bought a program that will let me learn Spanish like a child, just by repeating. 'Oo-lala pako, Kay tall.' That's how to say hello in Spanish. I did learn the blessings in Hebrew school: Motzi matzah Minnie Horowitz."
Yogi asks, "But do you know what Motzi means?"
Reese: "It means 'bread,' like matzah, doesn't it?"
Yogi: "Motzi means 'bring forth,' like God bringing the People of Israel out of Egypt, and also bread from the Earth. Those are both important ideas in Judaism."
Reese: "Oh well, Egypt, Israel: what's the difference? My rabbi says we don't have to know the exact meanings as long as we say them. The important thing is that they 're meaningful to us personally."

Dr. Grammar.

Dr. Grammar says: traditional methods are just fine: if I could learn languages this way, anyone can! So just learn all the rules & master them, even if they don't let you speak very soon, or at all. Perfection, speaking like a native speaker, may be impossible. But it's a great Goal!
Yogi says: “even native speakers don’t speak perfectly. Very few adults can speak like native speakers and a fun language. Impossible goals are not usually very useful: perfectionism is often fatal in foreign language study, making you so self-conscious that you are afraid to use the language.

Larry & Key-letters.

Larry bumps into Yogi, and mentions: “I've got a cousin who just finished a deployment in Afghanistan, and he's coming back to be a policeman. I'm not so brave...or energetic.  I've taken your minicourse three times, and I still don't get what The Global Alphabet is all about.
Yogi: actually Larry, you only heard few minutes of two minicourses, but let's see what you really know: do you remember any Key-letters? Which one do you think you have the strongest impression of?
Larry: I guess you talking about the letter C.
Yogi: what words do you remember with the Key-letter Kaf in Hebrew or in English?
Larry: Well, in English, I think you mentioned Church and Chair and Congress. They hit me because they sound so different, even though they all begin with C.
Yogi: So what meeting did these three words have in common? Larry: well, they're all places. Yogi: OK that's right. Church and Congress are places where a lot of people meet together. But only one person sits in a chair usually. But what's the shape of the C? This is what's really important for the concept. Larry: well, the C looks like it’s trying to Catch something. Oh, maybe I am seeing the connection. Maybe C looks like Catching and Containing, and all these places Contain something! Is that all the Key-letters are about? That they are pictures of meanings?
Yogi: That's exactly right! The words you mentioned. And in Hebrew, Chair Church and Congress, also all begin with the Hebrew letter Kaf, which looks like a C but backward, since Hebrew is written from the right.
Reese: so I see that the letters can help me learn the meanings of Hebrew words, but I would have to think a lot!
Yogi: you can use it without thinking so much, just as a system for arranging Hebrew words as you learn them. So you would end up with the study list of words arranged by meaning.
Larry: who has time for all that? Even if I'm just praying or even leading prayers, it's a lot faster to go through it without thinking about the meaning. I guess I'll just have to buy a Hebrew Computer program, or go to Israel and take or go to Israel and take an Ulpan, if I ever get brave enough! I was going to take a synagogue course, but all they do is teach the alphabet over and over again.

Spelling.

Larry then complained about English spelling: why does English have so many silent letters like P in Pneumonia or Psychology?
Yogi: It may sound mystical, but silent letters can be just as meaningful as other letters. The P in these words reflects their Greek origin, in Pneumo- and Psyche, which means ‘breath’ and ‘soul.’ both of these words originally referred to the Pushing out of air from the mouth. P as a key-letter, actually means 'Push 'Forward.' So it's the Key- letter for ‘foot’ in Greek Podi & Latin Pede, & Latin Pater 'Father.' F & B have similar meanings, as you can see in English First and Fist, or Bread & Breast. PBF also often refer to Foods generally, like Spanish Pan ‘Bread’ & Chinese Fan ‘rice,’& Persian Panir ‘cheese. So it can be fun to be Try-Lingual, no?

Reactions to Global Alphabet

"The wonderful website LanguageBazaar.com is an incredibly compact introduction to a deeper understanding of many languages, using Key-letter Theory  and the Global Alphabet.  We tend to be unaware of how our speech relates to the meanings of the words we are using, but the  Global Alphabet reawakens primal perceptions of speech, allowing us to return to the ultimate linguistic roots. This website allows us to tap into  an understanding of language "beyond understanding," to develop deeper intuitions about foreign languages.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning this system, and it has helped me immensely with various languages that I have been studying." (Tom)

"The Global Alphabet is sometimes too abstract for me. I prefer to just learn words by rote, although i did surprise the rabbi in Talmud class by guessing the meanings of words I didn't know, by using Key-letters." (Sheryl)

"I was an expert Torah reader since my bar-mitzvah, but I never knew the meanings of the words I was reading. The Global Alphabet has been a big revolution for me: I can now understand (with just a little effort and thought) every word I read...by using the Global Alphabet." (Nate)

"As a convert, I was lucky to begin Hebrew with the Global Alphabet. While I was learning to pronounce I also learned the meanings of words. I saw how the meanings actually jumped up from the page... because the Key-letters are really little pictures of word meanings." (Karl)

"I am amazed how much help the global alphabet offers for Greek, since it was originally designed for Hebrew.  I majored in Greek, and I would have given my aristero podi, (my left leg) to have known the Global Alphabet back then." (Ida) 

“Why” is for Wiseguys!
A very good way to become wise is to ask “Why?”
“Why?”  Helps you restructure your knowledge with new perspectives. Think outside the box, Break apart the box, but also learn to think within different boxes, new and old! Try it: you may like it!
	Yogi Wolf, modern wise-guy, Also called Dr. Y. or Dr. “Why,” Reporters ask “who? What? When? Where?” but Dr. Y just asks “Why?” The only thing funnier than a wolf on two legs will be when he explains, in his strange lupine accent, Einstein's T.O.E., (“Theory of Everything”).
leading us on a tour throughout not only   but even beyond, into the TUOT (best pronounced "toot"!) with all its five dimensions. Just wait till he does his famous ekapadasana, the "One-Foot-Stance" of Yoga: it's hard enough for him to stand on two feet!		The more deeply funny original ekapadasana of “Hillel the Elder,” the ancient rabbi!		Rabbi Hillel. the even more famous (and more deeply funny) ancient wise-guy!
Rabbi Hillel’s Ekapadasana. Merkavah Rabbi     It looks like a wheelchair, But in fact it’s a one person vehicle for time travel, called the Merkavah.  Sit in it, If only in your imagination, And travel back to thousand years ago.  A skeptic asks rabbi Hillel to explain the whole Torah while standing on one foot, that is well doing the ekapadasana.      So Rabbi Hillel lifts a leg and quickly says: “what is hateful to you do not do too your neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary.” Now go study [the commentary].   L means ‘Lift’ even in Hebrew “Lekh L’mad” which means ‘Go & Learn.’       You don’t have to go an uLpan to Learn. You  can go to a library instead. (An  is a learning studio, often used for teaching Hebrew in slightly nontraditional ways.
For the Elderly!				For Children!
Trills & Thrills instead of Pills? (Sing your way to Wise Words!)				Learning words & the concepts behind them  is a grest way to grow mentally.
Forgetting words is a sign of mental decline. Raising your language awareness to new heights is the best therapy.
Do you see the L’s in Rabbi hiLLlel’s picture—and his name? His most famous words in Hebrew) are Lekh L’mad ‘Go Study!’ (Or ‘Lift yourself by Learning!).
One place to Learn is an uLpan, a ‘Learning studio.’ The Language Bazaar is an uLpan for many languages—even English!
Einstein’s T.O.E. occupies Four Dimensions.			But hiLLel’s Multiverse covers all Five Dimensions: it’s the T.U.O.T. (“toot”: The Universe and Other Things!

A Tiny Taste of the Glbal Alphabet*

“Meaningful (alphabetic) Letters”: So New It’s Heretical!

Lofty L.

Description: The Global Alphabet is an innovative or "heretical" theory of  "Meaningful Letters" as the basis of all word meanings across languages. Example: L means 'Lift' in: Lofty, eLevator, aLps, [note the capital letters:] Ladle, OLympus, aLto; Span. Levantarse 'stand up';  Hebrew haLLeluyah 'praise God' (= 'Raise, Lift up'), & (the Israeli airline) eL-aL 'up-to above'; (& the Polish airline:) Lot 'flight'. 

L is a tall letter (an arrow pointing up). It means Lift.
Background Assumptions.

Foreign Language Study is uniquely helpful for mental calisthenics & intellectual insight. (Lateral L: Low, exceptions ** : Low, Long, Lie-down, Leave

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