Dialects
There are different dialects of the Hebrew language. The two most common pronunciations are the Ashkenazic dialect, used by European Jewry and their descendents, and the Sephardic dialect, used by Jews from the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern areas. Modern Hebrew uses the Sephardic pronunciation, whereas the pronunciation of prayer or reading from the Torah is dependent on one's descent.Nearly every immigrant to Israel is encouraged to adopt Standard Hebrew and its nuances as their daily language. As a dialect, Standard Hebrew was originally based on Sephardic Hebrew, but has been further constrained to Ashkenazi phonology to form a unique modern dialect. For example, the "r" sound of Standard Hebrew resembles the guttural sound of German, Yiddish, and French, rather than the trilled consonant common in Semitic languages.
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