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Amharic Readers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| berabero89 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4423 days ago 101 posts - 137 votes  Speaks: English, Amharic* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 1 of 3 25 March 2013 at 5:51am | IP Logged |
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During the past year and a half or so, I've gone from minimal interest to full-time
studying of languages and although I don't have a lot of time at the moment, I plan on learning many languages. One fact that has been bothering me, however, is that my skills in Amharic, my native language, are sub-par. I've decided to remedy this with a few healthy doses of books which my grandmother will bring back from her trip to Ethiopia. Recently, I discovered the existence (and availability) of several Amharic readers and parallel text books. The problem is that the only one which I can guarantee getting in good condition (from Amazon, An Amharic Reader by J.I. Eadie) dates from the early 1900's--most likely using vocabulary I do not want to mix in my everyday speech. Does anyone know of any other good readers or basic to intermediate books in Amharic? If not, could anyone tell me if the newer publication of the book is edited for modern usage and/or if the language in the original is not too outdated? Thank you! I do realize that not many forum members here speak or have much interest in Amharic, but any help would be appreciated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| akkadboy Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5189 days ago 264 posts - 497 votes Speaks: French*, English, Yiddish Studies: Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Welsh | Message 2 of 3 25 March 2013 at 2:25pm | IP Logged |
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You may want to check Leslau W. & Kane T. L. (eds.), Amharic Cultural Reader, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2001.
It consists of around 40 Amharic texts covering aspects of life in Ethiopia (Naming, Wedding, Food and drink, Beauty, Artisans, Clerical education, Landholding disputes among th Amhara...). The Amharic text is printed alongside with an English translation on the facing page (some grammatical footnotes are added). An Amharic-English dictionary is added at the end of the book. Here are some extracts of the introduction : "(...) My purpose in commissioning these essays whose twofold. First, to give the advanced students of Amharic a sample of the Amharic writing style of the average educated Ethiopian and at the same time to provide information on Ethiopia's cumtural background. It should be pointed out that the authors of the articles were students writing from their own knowledge and, therefore, the articles are not always consistant with each other. Nor should these be regarded as scholarly writings. (...) As stated above, the articles were collected in the late 50's and the early 60's and, therefore, they do not show any of the sweeping changes that resulted from the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974." 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ElBrujo Newbie United States Joined 4489 days ago 29 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 3 25 March 2013 at 7:29pm | IP Logged |
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Since resources appear to be limited, just stick to what's readily available:
Ethiopian Reporter VOA Amharic Ethiopian News Daily in Amharic These are just the first three results by searching "Amharic newspaper" on Google, so there are plenty more resources out there. Looks like a fine amount of input to me. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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