Hebrew

Discovering the language

Hebrew, with around 6 million speakers, is the official language of the State of Israel. The language of the Bible and, for that reason, considered a sacred language for centuries, it is the only language in the world to have resurrected in spoken usage after an interruption of over two thousand years.

This resurrection was only made possible by its maintenance as a literary, liturgical and epistolary language in all the Jewish communities of the Diaspora.

Considered a dead language, it wasn't until 1936 that it made its entry into Langues O' where it joined other Semitic languages. The Hebrew department is thus one of the largest in the world.

Studying Hebrew at Inalco

Inalco is the only institution in Europe to offer all of these courses.
Students can choose from a range of courses, from the first year of the Licence to the Master's degree. Students with a Master's degree can enroll in a doctoral thesis in Hebrew studies.

The teaching is focused on Modern Hebrew, but basic Biblical Hebrew is offered from the undergraduate level.
The second cycle broadens its teaching scope to the history of the language and its various layers, namely the Hebrew of the Mishna, the medieval language and that of the Haskala (literary renaissance in the 19th century).

However, the emphasis is on modern Hebrew, contemporary press and literature. Courses in Hebrew linguistics are also planned. As for the teaching of civilization (history, sociology etc.), it embraces the entire history of the people of Israel, from biblical times onwards, and leads to the analysis of current problems, in Israel and worldwide. Another important subject is Jewish philosophy and thought, from medieval times to the present day.

Our Department also offers multi-level courses in "Judeo-languages", namely yiddish, Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Arabic.