Tech question: Greek and Hebrew fonts

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Brian Gould
Posts: 50
Joined: May 26th, 2019, 6:30 am

Tech question: Greek and Hebrew fonts

Post by Brian Gould »

My computer is still working, and working very well, on Windows 7. When I bought it, back in about 2015, several of the fonts had the full Greek and Hebrew alphabets, along with Cyrillic, Arabic, and possibly one or two others that I never used.

Now, just a few days ago, all those non-Roman alphabets suddenly disappeared. What can the explanation be? Is it Microsoft taking away something it used to give me free of charge, so that it can earn a few dollars by selling my stolen property back to me? Or if it’s not Microsoft up to dirty tricks of some kind, who can it have been?

The two non-Roman fonts I liked best were Times New Roman for Greek and David for Hebrew. Is there such a thing as a free download anywhere, for those two fonts?

Thanks for any help you can give!
Jason Hare
Posts: 951
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 5:28 pm
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Re: Tech question: Greek and Hebrew fonts

Post by Jason Hare »

Brian Gould wrote: October 24th, 2023, 5:28 pm My computer is still working, and working very well, on Windows 7. When I bought it, back in about 2015, several of the fonts had the full Greek and Hebrew alphabets, along with Cyrillic, Arabic, and possibly one or two others that I never used.

Now, just a few days ago, all those non-Roman alphabets suddenly disappeared. What can the explanation be? Is it Microsoft taking away something it used to give me free of charge, so that it can earn a few dollars by selling my stolen property back to me? Or if it’s not Microsoft up to dirty tricks of some kind, who can it have been?

The two non-Roman fonts I liked best were Times New Roman for Greek and David for Hebrew. Is there such a thing as a free download anywhere, for those two fonts?

Thanks for any help you can give!
There are always new versions of fonts available. Since your system is old, it doesn't get automatic updates (I assume) and the fonts might age out. You should just download new versions of the fonts. While you're at it, why not look at SBL BiBLit for both Greek and Hebrew?
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
Brian Gould
Posts: 50
Joined: May 26th, 2019, 6:30 am

Re: Tech question: Greek and Hebrew fonts

Post by Brian Gould »

Thank you, Jason, but I have run into a problem. I followed the instructions. I downloaded and installed all three fonts, SBL BibLit, SBL Greek, and SBL Hebrew. The trouble is that when I go to “Insert symbol” and look at the fonts on the screen, I see exactly the same font all three times … and it’s just the Roman alphabet with a single Greek letter added, a lowercase mu.

I suppose I’m doing something wrong, but I’m not very good with computers, and I’ll have to go back and think carefully to try and find out where I went wrong!
Shirley Rollinson
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Joined: June 4th, 2011, 6:19 pm
Location: New Mexico
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Re: Tech question: Greek and Hebrew fonts

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

You could try downloading (free) from https://www.hebrewfont.net/download.php?id=737360
Were your original fonts Unicode, polytonic (Greek) ?
Jason Hare
Posts: 951
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 5:28 pm
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Re: Tech question: Greek and Hebrew fonts

Post by Jason Hare »

Brian Gould wrote: October 26th, 2023, 9:04 pm Thank you, Jason, but I have run into a problem. I followed the instructions. I downloaded and installed all three fonts, SBL BibLit, SBL Greek, and SBL Hebrew. The trouble is that when I go to “Insert symbol” and look at the fonts on the screen, I see exactly the same font all three times … and it’s just the Roman alphabet with a single Greek letter added, a lowercase mu.

I suppose I’m doing something wrong, but I’m not very good with computers, and I’ll have to go back and think carefully to try and find out where I went wrong!
You should not be using “insert symbol.” You should install a keyboard on your system that allows you to type in Greek and Hebrew. Are you using Windows or Mac? I believe that if you insert a special character and then change the font, it should show it correctly. It’s better to just learn to type in the languages, though. Maybe you can search Google for how to type in Greek or Hebrew. I’m sure you can find good instructions for it.
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
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