Kurdish learning resources

[księżycowy]

I'm not so sure I'll start learning it right now, but I do want to study Kurdish eventually. I already have a copy of the Kurdish Basic Course and one of the Readers (by Abdulla & McCarus), so Sorani is the dialect that makes the most sense for me to study. Plus I like how Arabic script looks, so that's an added bonus.

I've been interested in Kurdish for a while now, I just haven't been able to get around to studying it yet.

[Set]

Hmm, the Kurdish Newspaper Reader? What's it like? To be honest I'm fairly new to Sorani - I'd been studying Kurmanji before but it looks like I'll be going to Iraqi Kurdistan next year - so at the moment I'm only using Thackston's grammar, readings and vocab list. 'Only' isn't really fair though since this resource is amazing.

[księżycowy]

Hmm, the Kurdish Newspaper Reader? What's it like? To be honest I'm fairly new to Sorani - I'd been studying Kurmanji before but it looks like I'll be going to Iraqi Kurdistan next year - so at the moment I'm only using Thackston's grammar, readings and vocab list. 'Only' isn't really fair though since this resource is amazing.

It's not the Reader from Dunwoody,it's part of the set for the Basic Course from the U of Michigan. It's pretty good. The one I have has a bunch of newspaper clipping in it. Though if you don't have the Basic Course I'd recomend you get either the dictionary from the set (which is the second one you posted above when I asked about a dictionary), or some other dictionary, as it has no glossary in the back. At least I don't remember one, I should double check.

The only thing I will say is,these readers, and the basic course are a bit dated (1960's). Though I still think they are excellent resources to get started with.

EDIT: I double checked, and it does not have a glossary at the back of the book.

[Set]

I'm so happy, I just found a couple of great links for Anarchist texts in Sorani!!! One of them is a translation of the Anarchist Faq and the other has some translations of important texts (Malatesta, Rocker) and some Anarchist general publications. More interesting than trying to read about one of the Barzanis opening something on the KRG website

http://afaqkurdish.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/a-%D8%A6%D9%87%E2%80%8C%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1%DA%A9%DB%8C%D8%B2%D9%85-%DA%86%DB%8C%DB%8C%D9%87%E2%80%8C%D8%9F/
http://issuu.com/sakurdistan

[Aryaqk]

You can download Sorani books from these websites:

http://www.pertwk.com/ktebxane/
http://www.mukiryani.com/

I think the best website is Sorani Wikipedia!

http://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%DB ... B%8E%DA%A9
http://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destp%C3%AAk
http://diq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pela_Seri
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/ ... B%8E%DA%A9
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/kiu/Pela_Seri

[księżycowy]

So, I got the English - Kurdish dictionary and are just waiting for the other one. I could post my impressions for the one now, but I'd like to wait untilI have both. I should have it but the weekend.

[Set]

Any updates on the dictionaries?

[księżycowy]

Yeah, sorry. I've been focusing so much on Hebrew right now, I completely forgot about my review I promised.

The Sharezoor is an excellent dictionary. If you can find a copy for a good price, buy it! Not only does it give the entries in the Perso-Arabic script, but it gives a transcription of the entry (which, needless to say, can be helpful in finding the short /i/ sound). It also give grammatical information on the entry, and it gives other words and phrases related to the head word.
Just like Thackston, I highly recommend this dictionary.


As for the Raman dictionary, I like it, but I'm glad I have the Sharezoor to help with the entries. The dictionary is pretty simplistic in it's entries. It just gives an English headword, and then gives the Kurdish equivalent(s) (only in the Perso-Arabic script). Thus, it can be helpful in finding the word, but not much else. It's a good dictionary, but it certainly can be better.

[Set]

Great, thanks for the review. I just had a look for it online, but it seems quite difficult to get here, and expensive. I'm moving to Kurdistan in August (either Hewler or Slemani), so I assume I can just get it there, and hopefully cheaper.

[księżycowy]

Yeah, I should think so. I think it's still in print in Kurdistan.

[Set]

As part of my aim to improve my Kurdish listening comprehension now that I've left Kurdistan, I am trying to transcribe short videos and so that someone else may benefit from it I'm putting them online. The first one is up, any feedback is welcome: http://kurdishlistening.blogspot.co.uk/

[peterlin]

I have recently learnt that a good Sorani grammar (+exercises, sample texts and audio recordings) had been published in Poland while I was away. Bought it this morning.

The title is "Gramatyka kurdyjska Sorani. Wariant używany w Erbilu" [Sorani Kurdish grammar. Variant used in Erbil] and it's a joint effort of Andrzej Pisowicz (one of my heroes!), Andrzej Bartczak and Farhang Muthafar Mohammad. Here it is on the publisher's website.

I'm not sure how useful it is (the book's written in Polish...) but decided to mention it anyway. And if by any chance Polish does not frighten you, two universities in Poland run classes in Kurdish language and social history. I think (not sure) you may even get a degree in Kurdish Studies.

[Set]

I've seen this book a few times, I seem to know a couple of people who know the authors. It looks good, and it is based on Hewleri dialect thus used Hewleri pronunciation. Unfortunately I can't read Kurdish

[eskandar]

Kurdish lessons for beginners, taught in Kurdish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXr8vX40VZk

[Set]

Did you happen to come across this from Timothy Doner?

[aaakknu]

http://www.academia.edu/27750105/Kurman ... inners_PDF

http://learnkurmanji.com/lessons/

[daristani]

Some Sorani Kurdish resources:

Kurdish Phrase-Book, by Nasih Othman. (A pretty complete Sorani-English phrasebook, all in Latin script, with a great deal of useful grammatical information as well.):

https://ia800307.us.archive.org/5/items ... sebook.pdf

The Sharezoor Kurdish-English Dictionary, by Shafiq Qazzaz:

https://zimannas.files.wordpress.com/20 ... arezor.pdf

The Azadi English-Kurdish Dictionary, by Rashid Karadaghi:

http://www.kurdipedia.org/files/books/2 ... 3993383747

The old Kurdish-English Dictionary by Wahby and Edmonds is available here:

https://freedocs.xyz/pdf-468031750

A Basic Guide to Sorani Grammar, by Danielle H. Kim:

http://kurdishcentral.org/en/mlsp-dl/190/6407/26751?r=0

A Sorani grammar in German is scheduled to be published soon (although it's been delayed several times already):

http://www.ifkurds.de/de/component/k2/i ... orani.html

Finally, the audio to the old University of Michigan Sorani course "Kurdish Basic Course: Dialect of Sulaimania, Iraq" is available for download here:

"Kurdish Basic Course: Dialect of Sulaimania, Iraq"

https://umich.app.box.com/v/flacs-kurdish

(Note that the individual files are on two separate pages; you can also click the box "download" to get the entire set at once.)

[daristani]

A Kurmanji resource:

I don't think I've seen it listed here (sorry if I missed it), but I think the most systematic and comprehensive textbook for Kurmanji in English is Baran Rizgar's "Dersen Kurdi/Learn Kurdish".

Long out of print, it's almost impossible to find hard copies of it these days, but PDFs are available online:

single-page version: http://libgen.io/book/index.php?md5=C2E ... 34D9364922

double-page version: http://libgen.io/book/index.php?md5=083 ... CF6C3717CB

"Ferkera Kurdi", another "textbook" for Kurmanji, all in Kurmanji but with the vocabulary lists in Turkish, quite colorful and with lots of practice materials, can be downloaded here:

https://yadi.sk/i/nBGdMF0xyEQ7C