Live & Learn Amharic
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Amharic comes across to be quite a complicated language. We won't put you off though... if you are interested in learning it, we are sure that you have noble reasons, and we are sure that your good reasons will keep you motivated! And, your good incentive coupled with our resource guidance will make a great team... and you'll make great progress despite the difficulty level of the language. So hang in there! We think you'll find everything you could possibly hope to learn on or through this website. However if there is something you would like to know but can’t seem to find it through us, please let us know - we will be happy to do some research and do our best to dig it up, and improve the site for you. The comment box is at the bottom of this page.
Did you know: Alexander Pushkin could quite well be called Ethiopia's greatest gift to Russia, in that his mother descended from Abraham Petrovich Hannibal, widely believed to be an Ethiopian who served Peter the Great as an army general. As such, Ethiopia has a major street named in honor of Pushkin and his 200 year anniversary was marked in Addis Ababa in 1999. It is acknowledged that Pushkin honored his African heritage. Useful phrases: Hello. Tadiyass. How are you? Dehna neh? (m)/ nesh? (f)/ nachu? (pl) Fine, thank you. Dehna, amesege'nallo'. Goodbye. Ciao. Language SynopsisThere is very useful background information about the language within this free online encyclopedia. It contains a very important chart of what are called "fidels". The amharic alphabet seems to follow a chart structure where you have consonants down the side and along the top are the vowel pronunciations that are given with each consonant. Take a look too at this excellent online source of information. Amharic Audio LessonsFSI provides a Basic Amharic Course with audio cassettes. You can buy them but we have also found them available online for free, as you will notice below... Internet freebies FSI free audio units available here...Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. You will also need the text that goes along with the audio units here. These may take some time to upload but do be patient! All good things come to those who wait! On this site you need to scroll down and choose which set of vocabulary/phrases you'd like to access. It will take you to them and their audio clips. The only unfortunate thing about this website are the constant pop-ups, which even if they are blocked, slow down the process abit.
Amharic Language SoftwareInternet freebies: In order to view much of the Ethiopian writing on certain websites you may need to download a font and change your computer settings accordingly. This site kindly and helpfully explains where to find just software and how to change your Unicode settings.
English-Amharic DictionariesA Modern Dictionary of the Amharic Language Internet freebies: Here is a free online dictionary with a fair amount of words. Practical for every day use we're sure but not if you need specifically unusual vocabulary.
Amharic Exercise BooksThis Colloquial Amharic: The Complete Course for Beginners Internet freebies: The following website provides free educational information regarding the teachings of the Bible, with a page in the language and the same information on a page in English. A comparison of the texts can help contribute to your language acquisition. 
Photos kindly provided by courtesy of Monique JansenFlashcards
Video & MediaInternet freebies: Here is a jackpot of a collection of videos from youtube. All in one place and no searching needed. Great! Here is a quaint comedy with English and Amharic...
Learn Live OnlineInternet Freebies: Language ImmersionSurrounding yourself with Amharic words and sounds and music will be the very best way to learn, trust us. We are looking into courses abroad at the moment, for example in the city of Addis Ababa, and will soon be able to recommend one or two.
Until then, feel free to do your best to immerse yourself where you live, using the following suggestions… for example, use a dictionary to print words like “table”, "door", "window", "kettle", "bed", "chair", "mirror" etc and stick them onto those items around the house. Over time these words will automatically become part of your vocabulary, without even trying to memorize them! You could also in time join some verbs, like eat, open/close, wash, boil, sleep, sit, look, etc so as to associate them with the objects. Try it! Internet freebies: Immerse yourself right away by... ~Listening to the radio abit each day and tune in your ears! ~Keeping up with the news each day! ~Looking up the weather each day! ~Keeping up with Ethiopian media! ~Using www.Google.com/intl/am/ instead of Google in English… ~Listening to Habisha music and look for the lyrics to your favorite songs! For example: Here is a song sung by Gigi Shibabaw called Gud Fella. Her other songs are fantastic but we can't find any lyrics online, please let us know if you do! Habisha Culture CornerExpressions and phrases: Here is a phrase book by Lonely Planet. Use the search inside option to get some goodies for free! Lonely Planet Ethiopian Phrasebook Cultural Quirks: National Dishes and recipes: Traditional Music: The same singer mentioned above came out with this album called Gold and Wax
Please if you have a moment let us know what you think of this page or the links and if you have any suggestions or tips of your own to share. YOU, the language learning internet surfer dude, make this website! Help Others Live & Learn AmharicHave you had the experience of learning the Amharic language? If so we'd love to hear which resources you used, why they were helpful and what you'd recommend for others. Please e-mail us your suggestions using the form below. By sharing our learning experiences we can help each other to language learning success!
Photos kindly provided by courtesy of Monique Jansen
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is quite expensive but who knows, you might think it's worth it since the free online dictionaries aren't always that extensive!
has received all positive reviews on Amazon and also has a 'search inside' feature which allows you to peak inside the book and see what you're paying for! We like!
The reviews on this book are contradictorally good and bad, so you could always just see for yourself!
Our favorite song on it is Acha.
