Amharic Language: Some Basic Facts

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Amharic Language: Resources and Basic Facts

Our lens is dedicated to providing some basic facts about the Amharic language and some recommended resources for learning Amharic.

Learning Amharic can be a challenge for a variety of reasons. Finding quality programs to help in your quest can be just as challenging. Take advantage of the resources we've researched and start learning the Amharic language today.

The Amharic Language

Amharic Language Basic Facts

type=textThe Amharic language is spoken by the Amhara, an ethnic group in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The Amhara comprise approximately 30 percent of the population, with about 27 million speakers.

An additional 7-15 million people speak it as a second language. It has been the working language of government institutions, the military, and of the Ethiopic Orthodox church.

In addition to Ethiopia, Amharic is also the language of some 2.7 million emigrants. The largest population of émigrés live in Egypt, Israel, and Sweden. Increasing numbers of Ethiopians and Eritreans have also emigrated to the United States. The Amharic language is also spoken in Eritrea by some Eritreans as a vestige of past years when Eritrea was part of the Ethiopia.

A Little Bit of Ethiopia

Amharic Daily Life

Seabees in Ethiopia build camp by U.S. Navy Seabee Museum
PSNP photos 255 by CARE EDU
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PSNP photos 208 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 244 by CARE EDU
automatically generated by Flickr

Amharic as a Semitic Language

Amharic Language Classification

type=textSemitic languages, of which Amharic is one, represent a family of languages spoken by more than 300 million people across the Middle East, North Africa, and the horn of Africa. After Arabic, Amharic is the second most spoken Semitic language in the world.

According to Lionel Bender & Hailu Fulass, Semitic languages can be divided into two categories. The two primary categories are Western Semitic and Eastern Semitic. Western Semitic can be further divided into Southern and Central families and it is from the Southerm Semitic branch, that Arabic and Amharic languages are derived.

A Little Bit of Amharic Grammar

Amharic Language Grammar Basics

FSI AmharicAmharic is written in the Ge'ez alphabet. As in many languages, there is no agreed upon manner of transliterating the Amharic language into Roman characters.

As in other Ethiopian Semitic languages, germination (i.e. occurs when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant). is contrastive in Amharic. Therefore, consonant length can distinguish words from one another.

Germination is not indicated in Amharic writing orthography, but with relatively few pairs of words or phrases, which differ in only one phonological element, such as these, Amharic readers seem not to find this to be a problem.

There are a limited number of materials available for learning the Amharic language. You may want to also check out Talk Now Amharic.

Ethiopia: The Land of Amharic

Seabees in Ethiopia build camp by U.S. Navy Seabee Museum
PSNP photos 255 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 207 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 268 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 273 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 221 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 248 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 216 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 247 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 236 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 208 by CARE EDU
PSNP photos 244 by CARE EDU
automatically generated by Flickr

Talk Now Beginner Amharic Software

Learn 450 Basic Amharic Words and Phrases

Talk Now Beginner Amharic SoftwareTalk Now Amharic

Talk Now! is the world's best selling language learning CD-ROM series for beginners, used by more than eight million people to date. It's ideal for travelers, holiday makers, business people, school children, students and families. Anyone beginning to learn Amharic will find the disc indispensable.

Nine topics first words, food, colors, phrases, parts of the body, numbers, time, shopping and countries.

Speech recording compare your voice with native speakers

Two quiz levels: Test what you've learned, earn points and monitor your progress.

Memory Games to improve your knowledge of key vocabulary.

Intelligent Software remembers words you get wrong and targets your weak points.

Automatic Localization lets you choose the language you learn from (more than 100 available).

Wide range of words from greetings and phrases to parts of the body, numbers and shopping.

Gold Award if you get all 1800 points when using the disc.

Printable Dictionary with color pictures.

iPod integration listen to Talk Now Amharic wherever you are!

Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher; Windows 2000/ME/XP/Vista; iTunes 6 required for MP3 function

For more information visit Talk Now Beginner Amharic Software.

Learning Amharic Recommended Resources

Amharic Language Courses and More!

The products below are highly recommended products for learning Amharic.
Talk Now Beginner Amharic Software
Designed for beginners who want to start learning a new language as soon as possible. Talk Now! is the course to get you started.
Foreign Service Institute Amharic Course
The most comprehensive course for learning Amharic available.
Amharic Language
This just released website will provide the ultimate collection of articles, free resources, product reviews for Amharic and 100 other languages.
Amharic Language Resources
The Language Chronicle is the ultimate resource for all things related to foreign languages, including product reviews, history of languages, trends, and more.
The Language Review
The Language Review is an encyclopedia of writing systems and languages in the making.

Addis Ababa

IMG_0233 by WitStop
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IMG_0235 by WitStop
automatically generated by Flickr

Amharic Language News and BlogPosts

BOOK REVIEW: LANGUAGE GAMES
You can conduct meetings with engineers who speak Mandarin, German and Czech, read poetry in Italian, watch telenovelas in Spanish, respond to your taxi driver in Amharic. Click on the left bar of Wikipedia and have fun translating the entries into ...
Upcoming music events around Boston
Here and there - MEKLIT HADERO - Born in Ethiopia but raised in America after her parents fled the violence of their native land, Hadero now spans continents with her music, singing in English and Amharic and bringing in jazz, soul, flashes of hip-hop, ...
Lucky story of diversity and precious beauty
Then comes Vietnamese (29), the Tagalog language of the Philippines (18) and the Amharic language of Ethiopia and South Sudan (14). Put another way, 75 per cent of them come from homes in which English is either not spoken or not the first language.
Ethiopian immigrants graduate journalism course
But I have a hard time since I don't speak Amharic well," Deseta says. "My place is in the Israeli, Hebrew language media." Despite her desire to move over to the Israeli mainstream, high-rating media, Deseta describes significant differences in ...

Amharic Learning Resources

Best Amharic Learning Courses

Talk Now Amharic
Designed for beginners who want to start learning Amharic as soon as possible. Whether on business, vacation, or perhaps meeting a foreign visitor, Talk Now! is the disc to get you started.
Learning Amharic
The most extensive text and audio course available for learning Amharic.

Amharic Language Related Videos

Check out these two Amharic Language music videos and another commenting on the distribution of Semitic languages throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Ethiopa 0 points

amharic music 0 points

The Expansion of Semitic languages 0 points

Amharic Music Videos

Amharic Modern and Traditional Music

Teddy Yo - New Amharic Music Video Teddy - Ethiopian Music
by LS834 | video info

44 ratings | 114,005 views
automatically generated by YouTube

Learning Amharic on Amazon

Amharic Resources for Learning

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Amharic Language Resources

The Language Chronicle

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Amharic Music on iTunes

Amharic Classics

Track Artist Album  
His Majesty's Gold The Amharic Raw Truth - the One Riddim Showcase
Amharic National Song Men and Women of the Amhara Tribe Folk Music and Ceremonies of Ethiopia
I.D. Drop: In Amharic Teodross Avery Bridging the Gap: Hop-Hop Jazz

Amazon Amharic MP3s

Check out my favorite songs! I've handpicked these MP3s from Amazon. Take a listen. If you like, you can click to buy them on Amazon.

eBay Items for Ethiopian

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The Language Review

Foreign Language Learning Resources

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Various Informational Websites

We like highlighting a variety of simple informational sites. The may not be connected to Amharic, but quality sites still deserve attention!
Electronic Air Purifier
This website gives you valuable information on Electronic Air Purifiers including reviews of the top manufacturers available.
Cheap Electric Guitar Shop
This website provides best information on cheap electric guitars and gives you advice on saving money in your musical quest.
Martiall Arts Belts
This website gives you the best information on martial arts resources, supplies, books, and training equipment.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Information
This website is dedicated to providing bankruptcy information on the various bankruptcy filing options available.

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Colloquial Amharic (Colloquial Series)

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Dictionary Amharic-English English-Amharic

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