Amharic አማርኛ

księżycowy
Re: Amharic አማርኛ

Postby księżycowy » 2018-03-13, 14:25

Just in case anyone comes to this thread and hasn't seen our poll in the Hebrew forum, please check out this poll that will help us decide what to do with the Semitic languages.

Please vote!

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=52834

vijayjohn
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Re: Amharic አማርኛ

Postby vijayjohn » 2019-09-04, 5:53

semiticlearner wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:Yep, I'm still learning it! It's going pretty slowly but steadily enough IMO, especially given that I'm studying about 24 other languages at the same time. :whistle: I think there must be some reason why only the Ethiopic languages seem to have ejectives whereas all the other Semitic languages apparently have pharyngeals.


May be neighbouring language influences

This seems most likely to me.
What are you finding easy and hard in Amharic so far? Most say ejectives are hard although I don't think that's the case :lol:

It's not! The ejectives were probably one of the first things I learned in Amharic because when I was growing up, I knew a girl (now a young lady) who has one in her name, and she wouldn't quit poking me until I got it right! :P Now, I think it might be the vocabulary that I find hardest. Either that or the fidel, I haven't quite decided yet which.

Brzeczyszczykiewicz

Re: Amharic አማርኛ

Postby Brzeczyszczykiewicz » 2020-06-29, 2:10

If anyone's still around, could you please tell me how many syllables does Amharic currently use?
I started using David Appleyard's "Colloquial Amharic" and he mentions 276, only to state at some point that there are 8 labiovelars that are not really used in Amharic. But if that's the case, why bother introducing them at all???

I had a look at the English Wikipedia article on Amharic and there's this chart there that shows no less than 287 syllables! :|

Don't get me wrong, I really don't mind learning 287 or 276 syllables instead of 268 (especially when I love them all so much 8-) ) but I'd like to have a clear idea of which ones are actually used in contemporary Amharic.

Cheers

absarshah
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Re: Amharic አማርኛ

Postby absarshah » 2021-08-22, 14:00

Hi. My first interaction with Amharic was 3 weeks ago in a record store. The song “Tezeta (Slow)” by Gétatchèw Kassa was playing. It reminded me of summer. Of a time and environment I had only heard of. I could picture my home country, Pakistan, in the 60s, on a hot summer day with hot winds blowing in the streets. I could picture the empty streets, where even the children don’t play outside. I could picture people lying in the verandas while someone sprinkled cool water on the dust outside in the street.

My first instinct was “I’m gonna share this with my dad”, he would have loved this song. Unfortunately my father had passed away late last year. I ended up buying the record and listening to it on repeat. Research tells me Tezeta is a song about memory and nostalgia. Talk about coincidence eh?

Could someone please share the lyrics here in Roman script, as well as the translation? It would really mean a lot to me…

Thanks in advance!

Think in Amharic
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Re: Amharic አማርኛ

Postby Think in Amharic » 2021-10-02, 12:52

absarshah wrote:Hi. My first interaction with Amharic was 3 weeks ago in a record store. The song “Tezeta (Slow)” by Gétatchèw Kassa was playing. It reminded me of summer. Of a time and environment I had only heard of. I could picture my home country, Pakistan, in the 60s, on a hot summer day with hot winds blowing in the streets. I could picture the empty streets, where even the children don’t play outside. I could picture people lying in the verandas while someone sprinkled cool water on the dust outside in the street.

My first instinct was “I’m gonna share this with my dad”, he would have loved this song. Unfortunately my father had passed away late last year. I ended up buying the record and listening to it on repeat. Research tells me Tezeta is a song about memory and nostalgia. Talk about coincidence eh?

Could someone please share the lyrics here in Roman script, as well as the translation? It would really mean a lot to me…

Thanks in advance!
Here you go. Wrote it for you. Hope you like it! :)

TEZETA (means Memory) – by Getachew Kassa (ጌታቸው ካሳ in Amharic)
Tezetash zeweter wedeney yemet’a
Tezetash zeweter wedeney yemet’a
Efoy yemelebet hiwotey gize at’a
Enes alekefam mendenew q’ereta
Enes alekefam mendenew q’ereta
Sentu eyetesemagn alehu be tizita
Sentu eyetesemagn alehu be tizita
Req’ey ayeshalehu behasab tizita
Req’ey ayeshalehu behasab tizita
Teleyeche sehed q’enem kehone mata
Teleyeche sehed q’enem kehone mata
Ko ko ko ko..Ho ho ho ho ho ho…
Mendenew q’eretan enes alekefam
Mendenew q’eretan enes alekefam
Anchin yemayebet hulet ayney yet’fa
Kederon amelesh atelewechibign
Kederon amelesh atelewechibign
Fitesh fegeg belo endeteq’ebeyign
Ho ho ho ho…
Wa wa wa wa wa…

Think in Amharic
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Re:

Postby Think in Amharic » 2021-10-02, 13:10

Babelfish wrote:Welcome Mehitabel! I'm afraid I don't see any ሐበሻ or other Amharic-speakers here... hopefully we'll have some in the future, this will make learning the language easier :roll:
Regarding pronunciation, you're probably confused not only b/c of IPA but also b/c of Amharic having lost some sounds from Ge'ez, resulting in different letters often being pronounced identically. So:
ሀ, ሐ, ኀ - h (maybe more like German ch, Greek χ, I'm not sure)
ሠ, ሰ - s
ጸ, ፀ - ts
You might want to check out this page, it shows the sounds for Amharic, Ge'ez and many many other writing systems.


Hello, I don't know if you got your answer already cuz you posted this in 2007 but hope you get this
ሀ ሃ , ሐ ሓ, ኀ and ኃ all sound the same - ha:
ሰ and ሠ sound like - sə
ጸ ጹ ጺ ጻ ጼ ጽ ጾ , ፀ ፁ ፂ ፃ ፄ ፅ ፆ - tsʼə tsʼu tsʼi: tsʼa: tsʼé tsʼɘ tsʼo
ə u i: a: é ɘ o - are the vowel sounds that you find paired with all consonant sounds.
(ua too is another one you find with most consonant sounds but not all)
አ ኣ, ዐ and ዓ all sound the same as well - a:

Much love from Ethiopia :)

vijayjohn
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Re: Amharic አማርኛ

Postby vijayjohn » 2022-01-31, 20:26

Brzeczyszczykiewicz wrote:If anyone's still around, could you please tell me how many syllables does Amharic currently use?

I really don't know, but I'll try to remember to let you know if I ever come up with an answer.

I've been trying to go through some more lessons of Colloquial Amharic. I'm on Lesson 5 now.


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