Israel is a vibrant blend of language and culture, a melting pot consisting of more than 8 million people - Jews from all over the globe, both religious and non-observant, Arabs of varying faiths, as well as individuals from nearly every other ethnicity and walk in life.
Hebrew and Arabic are Israel's two official languages; both descending from the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic linguistic subfamily, so called because it's native speakers are descendants of Shem, one of Noah's three sons. Languages belonging to the Semitic branch still spoken today are Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew and Tigrinya, among a few other minor languages. Native speakers of Hebrew and Arabic are estimated at over 300 million.
Shem & Sons is an organization dedicated to finding the common denominators among people, specifically through language. This website intends to bring to light some of the best resources in Hebrew and Arabic, as well as helpful language study sites and tips. Learning two languages simultaneously can be both stimulating and extremely challenging. Learning two so closely related (in many aspects) can decrease overall study time and help to grasp the structure of both languages more quickly
To that end, Shem & Sons is sponsoring a new series of books intending to compare Israeli Hebrew and Levantine Arabic, the language spoken by Israeli Arabs as well as those in neighboring territories and countries. The books are intended for English speakers who would like to learn both Hebrew and Spoken Arabic, who maybe have a smattering of either one, and want to deepen their grasp of both.
