RE: Preliminary Amharic Lesson for Beginners

RE: Preliminary Amharic Lesson for Beginners:
Brought to you by Amharic Online

Selamta ina Selam, (Greetings/Welcome & Peace) to All Amharic Online Bloggers/ Temareewoch/Students & Supporting Members,

If you are a new member who has just joined, feel free to ask questions or Contribute. LOJ encourages all students to invite other family members, friends or complete strangers to join Royal Amharic LOJ, The place to get a true HEAD START on learning the AMHARIC LANGUAGE!!!

[Please Note that all messages should be connected in some way with one or more of the following topics, only, please:
1. AMHARIC LANGUAGE 2. ETHIOPIA 3. RASTAFARI 4. AMHARIC-REGGAE 5. HIS MAJESTY HAILE SELASSIE I]

Our Enlightening ROYAL AMHARIC LOJ MANSION pages cover the AlphaBet, Basic Words and Ethiopic Numbers presently. As well as a compilation of Patios/Patwa and Iyaric Rastafari words/terms as they were originally and foundationally used BUT mispronounced by the Early ELders of Ras Tafari along with the CORRECTION, EXPLANATION and HIGH REASONINGS linking the TRUE MEANING and NEW RAS TAFARI AMHARIC TERMS of the RASTAFARI_LOJ as spoken in the HOLY PLACE OF YHUDA by those who seek to KNOW H.I.M.

We will now begin our RE-PAIRING of the BREACH and RE-NEWING/RE-KNOWING of the LIVITY: ANCIENT-NEO RAS TEFFERI.... based upon the TIMHIRT (Teachings) of JAN HOY (His Majesty), H.I.M. BIBLE - THE BOOK OF THE SEVEN SEALS.

Zephaniah Chapter 3 Verse 9-10"FOR THEN WILL I TURN TO THE PEOPLE A PURE LANGUAGE,
THAT THEY MAY ALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF YAHWEYAH
(i am that i am/iNi),
TO SERVE HIM WITH ONE CONSENT.
FROM BEYOND THE RIVERS OF THE ETITI-OFIA/ETHIOPIA (ANCIENT TOBIYA) MY SUPPLIANTS, EVEN THE DAUGHTER OF MY DISPERSED, SHALL BRING MINE OFFERING."


Preliminary Amharic Lesson for Beginners:
AMHARIC = FIRST HAILE SELLASSIE "WORD, SOUND & POWER"

The future lessons are based on excellent books and curriculums that The Lion of Judah Society offers and have published as well as a book called Amharic Textbook, but Most Importantly the Book of the Holy, The First Haile Selassie Royal Amharic Bible a.k.a. The Book Of The Seven (7) Seals.

This is not Lesson One; it is only a Preliminary to Lesson One. Lesson One will come next. Each lesson will follow after we receive confirmation/responses from students and follow-up discussion seems to have ceased from this Preliminary Amharic Lesson. Also, anyone who wishes to have me check and grade answers to the exercises that will come with each lesson, may do so by sending the answers directly to TehetenaG@aol.com... (not to this group!)

To become fully literate in the Amharic language, of course it is necessary to learn to read and write the (Aleph-Bet) alphabet or "feedel" (fidel)... We do recommend that students neglect the feedel. Therefore, LOJ has provided easy to learn videos on the front page of this Mansion/Group. We also offer audios in mp3 format upon request for your I-pod and other multimedia uses.

Students will First need to Memorize the entire Feedel. One of LOJ teachers has devised a memory-aid to help you remember the vowels of the seven forms. Repeat the English sentence, "When do we stop makin' dough?" The seven vowels in that English sentence rhyme (more or less) with "le, lu, lee, la, lie, li, lo" , etc.

Then students can begin to practice writing them starting with the first letter, HA, and do not move on to the second letter LE until you can write all seven forms of HA from memory, and so forth…

The standardized transliteration scheme InI will employ is a slightly modified version of LOJ’s Feedel Chart which can be found on the front page of this Royal Amharic LOJ Mansion (which students should download and print out for offline studies), is this: (I will explain pronunciation and give much more information below this)


1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Ethiopic Letter name
*ha hu hee ha hie hi ho "Hoy"
le lu lee la lie li lo "Lawee"
*ha hu hee ha hie hi ho "Hamer"
me mu mee ma mie mi mo "May"
se su see sa sie si so "Sewt"
re ru ree ra rie ri ro "Ri'is"
se su see sa sie si so "Sat"
she shu shee sha shie shi sho "Shat"/"She"
Qe Qu Qee Qa Qie Qi Qo "Qof"
be bu bee ba bie bi bo "Biet"
te tu tee ta tie ti to "Taw"
che chu chee cha chie chi cho "Chaw"/"Che"
*ha hu hee ha hie hi ho "Harm"
ne nu nee na nie ni no "Nehas"
gne gnu gnee gna gnie gni gno "Gnehas"/"Gne"
*'a 'u 'ee 'a 'ie 'i 'o “Alief"
ke ku kee ka kie ki ko "Kaf"
he hu hee ha hie hi ho "Haf"/"He"
*wo wu wee wa wie wi wo "Wawie"
*`a `u `ee `a `ie `i `o "`Ayn"
ze zu zee za zie zi zo "Zay"
zhe zhu zhee zha zhie zhi zho "Zhay"/"Zhe"
ye yu yee ya yie yi yo "Yeman"
de du dee da die di do "Dilt"
je ju jee ja jie ji jo "Jilt"/"Je"
ge gu gee ga gie gi go "Gemil"
Te Tu Tee Ta Tie Ti To "T'eyt"
CHe CHu CHee CHa CHie Chi CHo "CH'eyt"/"CH'e"
Pe Pu Pee Pa Pie Pi Po "P'eyt"/"P'e"
tse tsu tsee tsa tsie tsi tso "Tsedey"
tse tzu tzee tza tzie tzi tzo "TzePPe"
fe fu fee fa fie fi fo "Fef"
pe pu pee pa pie pi po "Pee"

[The "Ethiopic Names" are very ancient and no longer in use(except in ET Church Schools like the LOJ); modern Ethiopians will most likely not even recognize these archaic names for the letters; so if you learn these names, you will already know more about the Ethiopian alphabet than many average modern-day Ethiopian Amharic speakers!]

The headings "1st" through "7th" refer to the seven forms or orders that each of the letters is written in, depending on the vowel syllable. Each of these seven forms is described in greater detail:

First Form - "Gi`iz"
You will note that in the majority of cases, the vowel is transliterated as "e". But there are a few exceptions that I have marked with an asterisk. The very first letter starts off the whole thing with one of these exceptions, so that "Hoy" in the first form is always pronounced "ha", just as in the fourth form, and not "he"..
The vowel I am indicating by "e" here is most similar to the short e of the word "jest", and pronouncing it that way will do fine. But it also sort of resembles the short u of the word "just". Actually, it's kind of halfway in between the e of jest and the u of just. The best way to describe it is to think of someone who pronounces the English word "just" in a sort of rustic way, making it sound almost like "jest" (i.e. "jest a minute")... That is the exact vowel sound of the first form (except for the exceptions!) Linguists will instead write this sound as an a with two dots over it, but I find this is confusing for non-linguists, so I use e, since that's what it is closest to.

Second form - "Ka`ib"
This vowel is always pronounced like a long u as in "tune". Fairly simple, no exceptions!

Third form - "Sales"
This vowel is always pronounced like a long "ee" as in "bee". Of course, linguists will use i with a bar over it, but I prefer to avoid the diacritical marks.

Fourth form - "Rabi`"
This vowel is always pronounced like long "a" in "father".

Fifth form - "Hames"
This vowel is always pronounced the same, and the best way to describe it is to listen to a Jamaican say "Jamaican" and listen closely to how he or she pronounces the "ai" in "Jamaican"... kind of drawn out, like Jam-ie-kan... Well, that -ie- vowel sound is the one that I write as "ie"... but linguists use the letter e for this one.

Sixth form - "Sades"
This form can either represent a very short vowel, or the absence of a vowel, i.e. just the consonant by itself. I use "i" to represent the very short vowel, because it is basically the short i of "hit"... The linguists use the "schwa" or upside-down e. Sometimes the vowel is so short you can hardly be sure if you heard it.

Seventh form - "Sabi`"
This vowel is always pronounced pretty close to a long o, as in "close", and that will do fine if you pronounce it that way. To get it exact, however, it is a little bit rounder in the beginning; you can almost hear a "w" in it... Again, listen to a Jamaican say a word like "soldier" pronouncing it "suoja" and that is also the Ethiopian "o" sound.

*REMEMBER to use the memory-aid to help you remember the vowels of the seven forms. Repeat the English sentence, "When do we stop makin' dough?" The seven vowels in that English sentence rhyme (more or less) with "le, lu, lee, la, lie, li, lo", etc.

Those are the seven forms. (There is also an unofficial "eighth form" for most letters, that represents the consonant plus "wa"... In other words, hwa, lwa, mwa, swa, rwa, etc.)

Now, on to pronunciation of consonants... There are a few consonant sounds that are not found in English. But first, the ones that are always the same in English are h, l, m, s, sh, b, t, ch, n, k, w, z, y, d, j, f, and p. Hopefully these sounds will be familiar and not give English speakers any difficulty. The letter 'r' is the same sound, but slightly more trilled; the tongue-tip contacts the palate. Note, that there are four separate feedel letters for 'h'. These were originally different sounds in Semitic, but they have all coalesced in Amharic and are not differentiated; they all sound like English 'h'. Same with the two letters for 's'. In print, these letters with the same sounds are considered interchangeable, though there is usually a 'traditional' spelling that favors one sound-alike letter or the other. For instance, the letter "Sewt" is called the "royal s", because it is used in the word nigus (king); and it is also the first s in Silassie (Trinity).

Now, on to the other consonants:
q - is hard to describe, unless you know Hebrew or Arabic. It sounds like "k", only further back in the throat, and with a sharper burst of air.
ny - like in "Kenya", but note, some words can start with NY- or end in -NY, maybe a little trickier for English speakers. Think of the Spanish word "Man~ana" with the cedilla over the first n. Some represent this sound with the letters "gn" but that is the Italian way, and I don't personally see the advantage in it.
'a and `a are pronounced the same in modern Amharic: no consonant at all! These two letters are interchangeable, and represent the simple vowel sound. But it is good to be aware that in the not-so-distant past, the sounds were different; 'A was a glottal stop, and `A was the "smoothe breathing" as they call it in Greek, or the absence of any consonant. Nowadays, you are just as liable to hear people try to effect a 'glottal stop' with either letter, or not.
zh is the sound in English "pleasure" or "vision" (as most people pronounce it!)
g is always used for hard G of go, never the soft G of gee, where I would use J instead.
T or T' - is a sound not found in English, it sounds like t, only with the tongue further down the front teeth, and with a sharper burst of air.
CH is another sound not in English, sounds like ch, only with a sharper burst of air.
ts is heard in English "gets", but note some words can start with ts-. Note there are two letters for this same sound, and they too are interchangeable.
P or P' - is a sound not in English, it sounds like p, only with a sharper burst of air.

A final piece of advice for pronouncing (and speaking) Amharic:

Put the tip of your tongue right at the point on your gum that is nearest to where your two upper front teeth meet. That is the normal resting place for the tongue of an Amharic speaker. The tongue does not wander lazily all over the mouth while speaking, the way some English speakers do, so that may be a habit to try to break.
(Remember to practice daily using our videos and or audios along with the feedel chart)

That's it, there are no exercises to e-mail me with this preliminary lesson; it's only a preliminary lesson! In Lesson One, we will start to delve into basic grammar and vocabulary to form the simplest of sentences.

more to come...
stay tuned, in tone...


Astemaree “Sister Mimi” Tehetena Girma Asfaw
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