How do Hebrew speakers know what a text is saying without the NIkkud? and how long does it take to learn?

Question

It could be anything!

Answer 1

the nikkud is mostly not neccesary.

there aren't a lot of words that r spelled the same and the few that r, u understand from the context.

piece of cake really..u'll see.

u''ll be reading without the nikkud in no time :)

Answer 2

Besides for practice and context there are also extra letters that help for example if there is a Yud the sound is different.

Regarding how long it takes nobody is perfect many times the commentaries will tell you how to pronounce a certain word so even the greats have a hard time.

Answer 3

I agree mostly with the last answer that it is a matter of context, with one exception, when non-Hebrew words are transliterated into Hebrew letters it can be very hard for even the mother tongue Israeli to know how to pronounce the word properly - but they make a go of it - some times with hilarious results, but mostly it just sounds mispronounced, so the English words series and serious are often mixed up - so there is a "Gillette Serious" - shaving gel

Answer 4

It's a matter of vocabulary and context. If you know the words, the "nikud" is unnecessary. Where different words are spelled the same, "nikud" will sometimes be used. Otherwise, you get it from the context. As to how long it takes to learn, that depends on you. Keep at it and you'll get there!

Answer 5

Practice and a familiarity with tthe language.

When you read english, how do you know how to pronounde "light" or "Arkansas" since they are not pronounced the way they are spelled?  Because you are familiar with English, and see the word as a whole, not as a set of letters.  It is the same way with Hebrew.

When someone introduces a new word that people might not know how to pronounce, often they include the nikud.  When I got a Hebrew copy of a Harry Potter book, the name "Hermione" had the nikkud.

Answer 6

practice makes perfect

it doesnt take long to master it

Answer 7

after you speak hebrew for a while, you begin to see a word as a whole, and often there is only one possibility for a work anyway. all my life, whenever i write Hebrew essays of compositions, i NEVER use nikudim, its just unnecessary and redundant to anyone fluent (or almost fluent) in Hebrew