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2 Answers
Tzvi Perlow
Tzvi Perlow, I am an Israeli from birth, and so, Hebrew is my home language.
As my title says: I am Israeli.

So, here are the traits that giveaway an Israeli.

  1. Their 'L's (or 'Lamed's) are pronounced like a French or German 'L'
    When pronouncing an American 'L', your tongue curls up at the sides. By the French, German or Israeli, though, the tongue actually flattens - hence the different sound.

  2. Many Israelis pronounce the letter 'H' as an 'A'
    For example:"Ow are you today?" or "As anybody seen my keys?"

  3. They have a letter called 'Ches' (×—)
    The letter's sound is the same as many make when spitting deep from the throat: "chhhhhh" or the sound people make when they're chocking. The sound comes from the top of the throat, and the avg. person can't pronounce it because it isn't found in other languages.

    You probably had no idea that the following words are actually supposed to be pronounced with a Ches:
    Hummus (Chumus)
    Tahini (Techinah)
    Hebron (Chevron)

  4. They have a letter 'Tzadik' (צ)
    My name is actually pronounced using the Tzadik.
    My name is 'Tzvi', pronounced like Tsunami: 'Tsvi'
    The sound is made with the teeth together and the tip of the tongue covering from behind.

  5. There is no 'W' in Hebrew

  6. Their 'R's (or 'Resh's) are pronounced like a French or German 'R'
    When pronouncing an American 'R', your tongue shrivels up at the back of the mouth and your mouth gets smaller. By the French, German or Israeli, though, the tongue lies at the bottom of the mouth and the sound comes from the throat - hence the different sound.

  7. The vowels are very pronounced
    Very different from the English vowels where you have letters to define what sound the word will create, the Hebrew ones are actually symbols located at the top bottom or even in the middle of a letter.
    Their vowels are very defined are therefore always make the exact same sound.
    Most common of all Hebrew vowels are the 'Patach' (sound = 'Ah'), 'Chirik' (sound = 'ee') and 'Segol' (sound = 'eh').

    Since the vowels are so specific, Israelis will pronounce many English words while skipping half the vowels. They will say 'Kiss' instead of 'Keys', 'Cahrr' instead of "Car", 'Chee-cken' instead of 'Chicken' or 'Camputurr' instead of 'Computer'

  8. The Israeli 'Um' is different
    Israelis don't say 'Um', they say 'Em'


  9. The language is accompanied by excessive hand and body movements
    There is a joke we make of Israelis:
    There was this tourist who was lost in Jerusalem and was trying to find his way back to his hotel. It's late at night, he has no map or phone but he sees a local holding a bag in each of his hands coming in his direction.
    When the man got close enough, the tourist asks him:"Do you know how I can get to the King David Hotel?"
    "Can you hold my bags for a moment?"
    "Sure!"
    The man hands over the bags and while doing a big shrug he says: "I don't know!"
    He then takes his bags back and leaves.

    They also say how when an Israeli is asked over the phone for directions he just points and says:"That way!"

  10. Lisps are slightly common in Hebrew speaking folk

  11. They find it hard making the sound of the letter 'T' when it's pronounced differently
    Like in the word 'Letter', 'Later' or 'Escalator', where the 'T' sounds like a rumbling letter 'R' or like the sound people make when trying to imitate the sound of a helicopter.

  12. In fact, when it comes to the letter 'T' they just say 'screw it...'
    Israelis pretty much screw up the letter 'T', as I said above and as Ido Rabin commented below:
    All 'Th' combinations just become a 'D' or less commonly 'Z'
    For example, these lines would be very tricky for them to say:
    "Dey (- they) want da (- the) 'D'"
    "Dis (- this) is a very tin (- thin) piece of pepper (- paper)"
    "Der/Zer iz a big sret (- threat) to our country!)

    I still have no idea how Israelis say Thor.....


I can't remember any other specific Hebrew traits at the moment but when I will, I will add them. And if you guys find any I missed, please comment or suggest an edit!

NOTE: I would like to thank my mom, for speaking a flaw-full Israeli English, so that I can correctly write this post.
23.9k Views · View Upvoters
Jonathan Orr-Stav
Jonathan Orr-Stav, Just your typical Jamaican-born, New York- and Israel-raised, ex-Londoner
Answered 174w ago · Author has 1k answers and 1.9m answer views
Tzvi pretty much said it all, but there's one that he missed: native Israelis have a hard time distinguishing the flat English a (as jazz, sandwich, sax), and the short e, resulting in words such as jezz, sendwich, sex.
5.7k Views · View Upvoters

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