Resources for Hebrew Language students

How to enable Hebrew Language input on your computer...

Choose your operating system: Windows Vista & Windows 7| Windows XP | Mac OSX

Windows Vista and Windows 7

To type Hebrew with your computer you need to activate Hebrew for
your Keyboard and as an input Language:

1. Go to Control Panel and choose Regional and Language Options.

2. If your Control Panel looks a little different choose Clock, Language, and Region first, then select Region and Language Options. The Control Panel will look a little different on a Windows 7 computer but the process is the same. Choose Clock, Language, and Region or/then Region and Language.
   
   For both Windows Vista and Windows 7, once you have opened the Region and Language Options, choose the Keyboards and Languages tab in the window that opens and click Change keyboards...
   The directions that follow from this point apply to both Windows Vista and Windows 7.
   

3. In the General tab of the Window that opens click Add.

4. Browse to Hebrew in the list of languages and open the Hebrew list.

5. Check the Hebrew option under Hebrew/ Keyboard

6. Click OK to return to General tab. Hebrew should now show as an input option in the General tab.
7. Click Apply to confirm your language options and OK.

8. You are now ready to type in Hebrew.

To activate your Hebrew Keyboard and begin typing:

1. Click on the EN icon on the Language Bar [located on the Task bar on the bottom right of your screen.]

2. Choose HE (Israel) to change your language option from English to Hebrew.
   When you click on EN a menu will appear. Choose the Language you require.

3. Choosing HE will change your Keyboard input to Hebrew and the Language Bar icon will change to HE.
   If you don't see the Language change option you may need to set up your language options
   in your Control Panel as described above.

4. You are now ready to type Hebrew using your Hebrew Keyboard. A standard Keyboard Map for Hebrew for a PC can be downloaded HERE. This keyboard maps Hebrew letters [shown in RED] to your keyboard according to the standard keyboard mapping adapted for Hebrew keyboards. This is the Hebrew character layout you will have using the instructions given above.
   
   Hebrew vowels and diacritics shown in BLUE in the chart below are only available if you have the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard installed [Find out more]. Once you have installed the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard these diacritical marks can be typed using the SHIFT key after the letter. E.g., Typing RESH then SHIFT RESH which will render
   Print, laminate, and keep beside your computer's keyboard for easy reference.

A USB keyboard with both Hebrew and English Keys
is available for purchase from Amazon.
[Click on the Keyboard at right to link to Amazon.com]

5. Vowels and other diacritics.
   You can type the Hebrew Diacritics—Vowels, punctuation marks and cantillation marks—using your keyboard—the full range of cantillation and grammatical marks is available using the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard. however,
   
   Hebrew vowels can also be easily typed using your keyboard’s LEFT ALT key and the Number Pad [with or without the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard installed.] Simply hold LEFT ALT key while you type the code with your Number Pad. [Note. You need a keyboard with a separate Number Pad on the right for this to work, you cannot use the number keys above the letters on your laptop keyboard.]

A chart with the ALT codes for Hebrew Vowels on the PC is available HERE.

A chart with multiple keyboard strips—you may wish to laminate and share them with your Hebrew class or study group—is available HERE.

The Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard

The Society of Biblical Languages has made available Hebrew keyboards which map the unicode characters of Biblical Hebrew including letters, cantillation marks, vowels and other grammatical and punctuation symbols. The keyboard is available free and can be downloaded from the Society's web site complete with instruction manual.
The society offers two options:
1. the Biblical Hebrew SIL keyboard which maps a phonetic keyboard and
2. the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard which follows the common pattern of the Modern Hebrew keyboard layout used for Israel and Hebrew enabled computers. This layout is the standard layout for Hebrew keyboards in all operating systems.
The chart above uses the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard.

The Biblical Hebrew keyboards and instructuions are available from the Society of Biblical Literature HERE. The Society also makes available a Hebrew font [SBL Hebrew]. Download the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard driver and manual and follow the instructions provided for installation.

Hebrew Fonts
Windows fonts which display diacritical marks with the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard input selected are Gisha, Times New Roman, Arial, Microsoft Sans Serif, Courier New, Tahoma and SBL Hebrew.

Windows Hebrew fonts David, Miriam, FrankRuehl and Rod will display Hebrew consonants but not the diacritical marks mapped to the Biblical Hebrew Tiro keyboard. However, all the above fontswill display Hebrew vowels added using the 'LEFT ALT key and the Number Pad' method outlined above.