Despite the fact that are only approximately 6 million speakers of Modern Hebrew , a disproportionate amount of interest relative to its size exists in learning Hebrew. This is largely tied to Jewish communities around the world, but is also generated by interest among many Christian communities.

A enduring resource for those looking to learn Hebrew has been the program originally developed by the Foreign Service Institute, a department within of the U.S. State Department.

While originally aimed at providing overseas diplomatic personnel with practical Hebrew language skills, these courses are now available for the general public. The challenge with the FSI Hebrew course has been the text quality. While the course text is certainly still legible, its age has started to show.

However, the quality of the audio portion remains the same. For someone with some basic study in Hebrew, the audio alone should prove to be a significant boost to their learning. The text of course is certainly beneficial

The FSI Hebrew  course is now available in a digital format  and as a download which includes audio MP3 files and a PDF version of the text. This digital format reduces the cost down significantly.

The course provides the student with the basic patterns of the Hebrew  language by imitating the speakers in the audio portion.

This is coupled with vocabulary memorization which allows the student to manipulate the basic phrases covered and create a large number of sentences.

Another course to consider is the Euro Talk, Talk Now Hebrew program. Designed for beginners who want to start learning the Hebrew language as soon as possible, the course is especially beneficial for those aiming at the basics for business, vacation, or perhaps meeting a friend.