Hebrew Translation Services

Hebrew is spoken by 9 million people worldwide. Mainly in Israel, where it is an official language along with Arabic, but native speakers are also located in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, Panama, the UK and USA.

What to consider when translating into Hebrew

• Unlike in most European languages, in Hebrew words are written from right to left, so it’s important to consider how your translated document will look to the local market.

Paragraphs are right aligned and the reader’s eye will naturally look to the top right hand side of a page for the start of the text (whereas the English reader will look to the top left of the page).

• Similarly, illustrations used to demonstrate steps in a procedure will need to be re-positioned in order to appear in the correct order within a Hebrew translation when compared to the formatted English source text.
• In Hebrew, unlike English, all nouns are either masculine or feminine – the neutral form does not exist.
• There is no distinction between upper and lower case in Hebrew.
• Hebrew sentences do not have to include verbs, as the verb ‘to be’ in the present tense is omitted. For example, the sentence “I am here” (אני פה) has only two words; one for ‘I’ (אני) and one for ‘here’ (פה).
• Many words in Arabic are used by Hebrew speakers as slang words. For example, sababa (great) and mabsut (satisfied). However, this doesn’t mean that the two languages are mutually intelligible – it’s important to ensure you localise appropriately for your target audience.

Difference between Yiddish and Hebrew

Yiddish was formed in Central Europe in the 9^th century, as a distinctive Jewish culture grew and settled there, and a local version of their language was developed.

Yiddish takes linguistic features from German and Romance language, as well as Aramaic and Hebrew.

There is debate as to whether Yiddish is classed as a dialect of German, due to the heavy influence German has had on Yiddish. With language, it’s important to carry out local market research to ensure that you understand your target audience and their locales.

Fast, 24/7 translation

Our 24/7 project management team work around the clock and use the latest technologies to respond to the need for additional capacity in short-time frames, and ensure that your Hebrew translation is delivered to you on time, every time.

When it comes to Hebrew translation, accuracy is key, so only use native linguists on your projects, so you can be sure that your Hebrew translation is of the highest quality, and sounds natural to your target audience.