I live part of the year in Israel. My Hebrew is far from fluent ( but getting better) like an early poster I am most annoyed at press 4 for English when there is no English. I'd rather listen to an all Hebrew menu, make an educated guess and keep pressing until I get a real person who will direct me to another real person. I have found that most places will eventually find someone who does speak English. I have also found that people who say they only speak alittle usually speak more than that. Many times I will speak some Hebrew--as much as I can to show I am really trying. I have also found that it pays to use simple English. ie. I've called the police and been successful--but I do not ask to speak to an Officer, I ask to speak to someone who speaks English. As a retired Elementary school teacher I try to make believe i am talking to kids in terms of the depth of my vocabulary. I think it helps. I also think we should all remember that Israel IS a Hebrew speaking nation and we should be grateful for the English we DO get. BTW I do not think English is an official language. Only Hebrew and Arabic!

The real problem is a strong and misguided belief on Anglos that a mere fact of being born in the English-speaking country entitles them to special treatment. Sorry, the state languages of Israel are Hebrew and Arabic. Not English, Russian, Amharic, or Te Reo. When in Israel, don't act like a Romanian in Rome, learn to respect local customs and locals will appreciate the effort. Worked for me anyway.

failing grade!

Been here for several years now. I do not expect everyone to speak English. However, English is an international language, and in this post-zionism world where Israelis want to play witgh the big boys in Major corporations, and travel globally, the proficiency of English should be higher- it's quite ubiquitous. None the less, aside from Emergency services English should not be as crucial. Many people who do not speak Hebrew may know English that goes for Russians, Mexicans, Germans etc

It is a most arrogant attitude to just start speaking a foreign language. If you phone in Israel and don't know Arabic or Hebrew - ask first if they speak Chinese, Spanish, Esperanto, English or whatever. This is Linguistic Imperialism, and when I am in a foreign country I start asking if we have a common language. By the way, the police reacted quite adequately - I would give them a much higher grade, 8 or 9

you right, according to #4 Avi you can passe a person on the phone, mmm that is the first time I hear such a thing, and my English is far from ok but I know that much. passe someone hahahaha.

1125 AC from the first crossade era, meaning about 1000 years old, also greek and other latin languages, in other words arabik was first spoken also 1000 years back during saladin era, weird but English and arabic r just as old, the greek on the other hand is more older.

But there are a lot of reasons why a human being might have trouble learning a language. Many elderly people, for example, may come with their families - and yet may have a much harder time learning the language than younger people might. That, and tourists are quite likely to need to call police hotlines and government offices. A shred of sympathy is generally better than a lot of arrogance. I don't think that every organization needs to have English speakers on staff - that is not the case in many countries - but when dealing with legal and monetary issues or when providing tourist info, there is a lot of value in being able to communicate with citizens and potential customers in the languages that they understand best.

I work in English. If you have any hope of making it in this world, you need English..Its as simple as that. Those Israelis who are proficient in English usually do very well. Those who couldnt care less, usually end up nowhere. As to government employees, they are the laziest and dumbest of the lot..I wouldnt hire them to clean a toilet.

Out of all my banks, cable, phone, etc companies I deal with maybe less than half even have the "Press _ for English option". Yet 100% of them have Russian as an option. Come on!!

there are many arabs who can speak hebrow becouse they are working and dealing with the israilis and it is very easy to learn hebrow as there is similarity in the voices and grammer between the two languages

Any English speaker is well aware of the lack of English in Israel, what a shame! does one learn English only from the Wall street school of English? We from India can teach you guys to speak English the way it should be spoken.

Yeh right......Kurdish and French are just so useful aren't they Ruth?

English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, etc., they are the gateway to the wide world. Israel is so provincial in culture and habits in spite of all its history and technologies! Alas!

Oleh associations may be able to help with these types of issues. Telfed, the South African Oleh Association, have recently put out a new service that assist people by making a conference call with a translator and the service rep you are speaking to. You can find more info here: http://www.telfed.org.il/content/spik4u-free-oral-translation-service

Yes, the mistake Anglo's make in Israel is that they expect a modicum of customer service. Anglos should adapt and not expect any service

No, it's not funny, it's pathetic. Israel is a developed country, a leader in hi-tech, and a failure in communications. Why?

...will give you an objective account of the situation

Every single one of those places will have a fluent Russian speaker, but not one that speaks English.

btw the book is from the 1950s the quote is: "If I speak English loudly enough and clearly enough. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND!" and all of you anglo centric I refuse to speak anything but English folks have proven this quote from this old book to be very true indeed!

you know all of those non-Jewish kids and their parents speak Hebrew and you immigrants don't? What's up with that?

almost all of the TBers here are whining and belly aching. So yeah Beatrice whoever she is does make a very good point!

Sorry, but the ulpan that I attended had one goal in mind and that was to teach as fast as they can whether you got it or not. Olim come into the country, reading strange letters, different direction, and a different mind set. And we understand that and want to learn. You go to the bank and you need lots of patience; go to the post office and the same. But go to ulpan and it is chic-chok, chic-chok, let's move on quickly. We have 5 chapters to do today.

We have the same problem in the US also everywhere we call for service it's India or the Philippines and English is a problem.

Did you actually read any of the talkbacks? We who are native english speakers keep telling you that when we go to a shop, a restaurant, on the bus, and order, ask questions, directions etc in HEBREW we are answered in ENGLISH...Once i was in a bakery and all i asked was the price of the loaf of bread...in perfect Hebrew. kama ze oleh? not difficult for even me. The very smart-aleck clerk kept saying in english "what? what? i don't understand you" in a loud voice so all the customers were staring..i said it again and then added kama kesef? and she still pretended she didn't understand. This happens over and over and i can only think it is meant to humiliate. What part of this problem don't YOU understand or ...are you doing the same thing as the clerk?..seems to me you've got the UGLY on the wrong track...."just saying" yes, americans can be very arrogant but that doesn't excuse this kind of behavior on the part of israelis in the service industry and stores....

Why are ketubot in Aramaic? Because THAT was the international language of the day. So if we can accept that for our marriage contracts, why can't we accept it today for practical reasons... or is every jew supposed to know hebrew before making aliya or planning a trip?

how do you know that's not the case? how can you accuse us of being linguistic imperialists, ??? i mean..where do you come from to make such a rude statement? i ALWAYS ask "At medaberet anglit?" or "ata medaber anglit." On the phone the answer is "lo" click. In a store.."lo" and i am dismissed.....even when there is another clerk who does, they seldom call someone over to help or point to the english speaker. You see, #65, Valaki, since your name is not hebrew i wonder if you are a sabra or also an immigrant. my experience with the rude ones is that it is NOT the sabras but immigrants who want show how superior they are by having mastered the language.