Why Hebrew to English is harder than it looks
Vowels are not written. Hebrew text omits most vowels, so the same letters can be several different words until context decides. This is why a copied message translates far more reliably than a guess at an unfamiliar word.
Verbs and adjectives agree with gender. Hebrew marks the gender of both the speaker and the person addressed in the verb itself. English erases all of it, so a message clearly written to a woman arrives in English indistinguishable from one written to a man.
Roots build meaning in patterns. Three consonants form a root, and a pattern around them makes a family of related words. It is elegant and it means an unfamiliar word can often be derived rather than looked up, which machine translation does not always do well.
Hebrew is compact. A short Hebrew sentence usually needs more words in English, because the prefixes carrying “the,” “and,” “in” and “to” attach directly to the noun. Expect the English to be longer than what you typed.
Written by Hardik Vegad, Co-founder, Translatify. Last updated .
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