Language Lessons

When you look at this, what do you see?

I see a whole bunch of pictures - pictures with tiny little variations. But no, they are not pictures. They are LETTERS, alphabetical letters in the Ethiopian national language of Amharic.

Last night, we jaunted to downtown St. Paul, for our first Ethiopians for Ethiopians class. I will write more about the class in general, later, but for now want to focus on the lesson at hand - Amharic. All four of us went, and all four of us hand language lessons last night. The kids were broken apart, age appropriately, and we joined the adult group. We all have homework for the week!!! Tyler's group began to learn names of farm animals and how to count in Amharic. Kenna's group began learning colors. And, the adults....we began learning the entire alphabet you see above.

Though Amharic is Ethiopia's national language, only 13 of 82 million people speak the language in Ethiopia! Within the country there are around 80 various cultures or tribes of people. Many of those speaking their own language - some with a written alphabet associated and some without. However, Amharic stands as the "national language", and thus makes sense to learn in association with Ethiopia. The alphabet has 34 main characters, with 7 variations = a total of 238 characters in their alphabet. Can I say - YIKES?!?!

I'm not going to lie - it intimidates me! But, we are excited to be there with other adoptive families to learn from a group of Ethiopians who are eager and excited to teach us pieces of their culture! Tyler, on the other hand, may walk away actually speaking the language. He is highly excited, ready to learn, and has already completed his homework.

Here we go. We think we're capable of learning at least a few general phrases. Stay tuned for the final verdict....