Anonymous asked: How do you pronounce the Hebrew months of the year? I just read the month of Nissan on your modern Jewish holidays post & i immediately thought of the car. thanks!
You’re not too far off – while the car is pronounced KNEE-sahn, the month is pronounced Knee-SAHN. It’s the same individual syllables, but the accent is placed differently.
While Hebrew transliteration (spelling of Hebrew words in the English alphabet) does try to get as close to the original as possible, it’s not always perfect. In addition, Hebrew has at least one sound (the one at the start of Hanukkah, which can show up as an H, a CH, a KH, or an H with a line under it) which just doesn’t exist in English.
So, in other words, it’s best if you can hear them. And the best resource I have found for pure pronunciation of the months of the year comes from Shalom Sesame (aka Sesame Street in/about Hebrew).