Green Israel
Below are some must-know Hebrew terms on the topic of sustainability, based on the following conversation:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /]
אישה – ישראל היא מדינה ירוקה ביותר.
גבר – ירוקה? מה פתאום?
יש בה כל מיני צבעים! כחול,
לבן, אפור, חום…
אישה – נכון, אבל כשאני אומרת
מדינה ירוקה, אני מתכוונת לכל מיני
מיזמים ישראלים כמו “נתיב פלוס“,
שימור מים, השקייה בטפטוף,
גינות קהילתיות…
גבר – אולי הגינות ירוקות,
אבל בנתיב ובמים
יש רק אפור וכחול.
Woman – Israel is a very, very green country.
Man – Green? What are you talking about? It has all kinds of colors! Blue, white, gray, brown…
Woman – Right, but when I say ‘green country’, I’m referring to all kinds of Israeli initiatives like the carpool lane, water conservation, drip irrigation, community gardens…
Man – Maybe the gardens are green, but in the carpool lane and the water there’s only gray and blue.
מיזם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – initiative
Hebrew’s word for an (official) initiative – מיזם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /], comes from the word יוזמה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /], which refers to the initiative one takes to get something done. A related word is יזם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – entrepreneur.
Israel’s carpool lane is called נתיב פלוס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – literally, plus lane. The idea is that in this lane, only cars with more than one person in them may ride.
“נתיב פלוס”[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – carpool lane
שימור מים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – water conservation
The Hebrew word for conservation is שימור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /], whose root is ש.מ.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] meaning keeping or guarding. שימור – also appearing in the phrase קופסת שימורים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – can of preserves (such as pickles, olives, etc.) comes from the verb לשמר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – to conserve or to preserve.
להשקות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] is to water, as in להשקות את הגינה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – to water the garden. Its noun form is השקייה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – watering or irrigation.
טפטוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – dripping, comes from the word טיפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] meaning a drop (that which has dripped).
So drip irrigation is השקייה בטפטוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – literally, irrigation by dripping.
השקייה בטפטוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – drip irrigation
גינות קהילתיות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – community gardens
גינה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] is a garden. קהילה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] is a community. Put them together and you get גינה קהילתית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – a community garden. More than one of these become גינות קהילתיות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/green-israel-#.m4a” /] – community gardens.