Before visiting a foreign country, especially when it’s your first time there, most people prefer to be prepared. This means buying maps, reading articles about places to visit, and buying a dictionary or phrasebook. Phrasebooks usually have the same phrases, regardless of the country you’re visiting.
There’s the “Where is the library?” classic, of course, and popular handy sentences such as “Where is the train station?” and “How much does this cost?”. When visiting a country like Israel, these phrases are great, but there are a few more you may not find in a standard phrasebook that will be very useful, especially in Tel Aviv.
Where is the beach? – Efo hayam? – איפה הים?
Where can I get good falafel? – Efo yesh falafel tov? – איפה יש פלאפל טוב?
How much does it cost? – Kama ze oleh? – כמה זה עולה?
Can you turn on the AC please? – Efshar lehadlik mazgan bevakasha? – אפשר להדליק מזגן בבקשה?
How do I get to the Carmel market? – Ech ani magiya (female: magee-a) leshuk hacarmel? – איך אני מגיע (מגיעה) לשוק הכרמל?
Which bus goes to Jerusalem? – Eze otobus magiya leyerushalayim? – איזה אוטובוס מגיע לירושלים?
For now, simply learning these phrases by heart will greatly help you when visiting Tel Aviv. It gets very hot during the summer, and even the winter sometimes, and there are markets galore for the shopping enthusiast. You’ll find a plethora of great restaurants on every street and coffee shops in every corner. And when the sun sets you have an amazing choice of bars and pubs waiting to entertain you.
While a lot of people in Israel understand English, it is still quite difficult to communicate without having a basic understanding of Hebrew and learning is not as hard as you may think.
eTeacherHebrew teaches modern Hebrew to students all over the world using the method that is used by the Israeli government to teach immigrants. The teachers are all professional, certified Hebrew teachers from Israel and everything is done via live video classes online so you can learn from your home computer before your trip to Israel in a virtual classroom environment.
