whats a good way to learn hebrew quickly and cheaply?

Has anyone tried this?

to read it, understand it, or speak it?

probly the best way to learn a language is by being in an enviorment were people exclusivly speak that language and forcing yourself to converse.

No, but I'm about to.

speak it grammatically correct more or less.

and build a bigge vocabulary

is there a local conversation group you can join (or create)? or a non-judgemental fluent speaker you can have scheduled hebrew-only talk time with?


use a good dictionary to read, word by word, a daily periodical (or as much of it as you can in, say, a half-hour or 45 minutes) in the language. get a memo pad (preferably with the ring binding across the top), and write down all the words you have to look up - one word per page, with the translation and perhaps a representative usage on the back. whenever you have downtime - on the bus or subway, while waiting in line at the post office, etc. - flip through the pad to review or quiz yourself on your ability to think of proper conversational uses for the words.

No easy way. Read a daily paper twice, listen to the hourly news, carry a dictionary around, be obnoxious, and learn from mistakes.

I agree with this.
Get a job in a Hebrew speaking environment where you are required to speak in Hebrew.

When I moved to Israel, I got a job answering the phone at a company. I HAD to speak in Hebrew, on the phone, no less.
At the end of the year, my spoken Hebrew was basically proficient.

In addition, I would recommend speaking Hebrew whenever you can (whether in Israel or find Israelis in the diaspora to speak with).
Don't be embarrassed about making mistakes. You will make mistakes, but the important thing is to understand and to be understood.

People tend to be charitable about mistakes in Hebrew, and find it charming and "chamood" that you are trying.

You have to be able to read (understand the aleph-bet).
Once you can do that, get a book on the way verbs are conjugated.
Once you have this basic structure, read, read, read. Every word you dont understand gets written down. You want to get to a point where you are translating words with simpler Hebrew words. Once you can do that, you expand your vocabulary just like you do with English.
It is also crucial to hear the language and speak it. Assuming you're not in Israel, take a course with other people. Otherwise you'll never learn to hear the language.
If you're in Israel, hang with Hebrew speakers, and listen. When someone asks you a question, answer in Hebrew. Explain to every Hebrew speaker you meet that when they talk to you, they are a teacher in Ulpan. It works well.

I learned in college and came. After 5 semesters I felt like an idiot. The way I got to know Hebrew well was to stay away from Anglos (not hard we think differently). I also read children's books from very simple. Read as much as possible and speak as much as possible. If you have any type of class use it for grammer. I sat with a Russian woman once and she walked around her house, ma zeh? Ma zeh? That was the only phrase I taught directly.