My Journey to Learn Amharic: 5 Tips So You Can Start

My family and I came to the US when I was 5 years old. It is an AMAZING story that I will have to tell you about someday.

Of course, I knew Amharic as well as any 5-year-old knows any language.  But we were in the US now.   My parents wanted me to learn English, so we became an English speaking household in the attempts to get us ready for school and life in the US.

The unfortunate side effect of that was that I forgot how to speak Amharic.  I could still understand it but without the everyday practice, I lost the ability to speak it.

As we got older, my parents tried to help us learn Amharic again, but it was hard.  Life got in the way and there were no real resources.

And probably one of the other deterrents was people laughing when we did try to speak and we spoke incorrectly.  (Please don’t do that to your child, to any child).  When you are a self-conscious teenager the last thing you need is people laughing at your attempts to do anything.

Regardless, I picked up a little here and there, enough to hold a conversation with my parents, but definitely not enough to speak comfortably with others.  I just was not secure in it.

When I had children, I wanted to teach them Amharic, and I made a valiant attempt.  But it was hard.   So I gave up.  (Don’t judge.  Parenting is hard enough.)

Then my oldest really started to get interested in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian culture.  That is when I knew that I had to do something.

EthioKids TV Was Born

My kids love watching Youtube.  They can sit there for hours if I let them, watching silly toy reviews or songs.  And they had been asking me forever to produce their own channel.

So I thought what better way to get them excited about learning Amharic than creating an Ethiopian Kids YouTube Channel. They would get to learn some Amharic, they would have some fun, and maybe some other children would be able to use it also.

So EthioKids TV was born.  Now it wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.  And more importantly, my kids love thinking about ideas for the next video and what they want to learn next.

Once we started down that road, I figured that I had to learn Amharic more for myself.  And again we come to the fact that there are not a lot of resources out there.  I had brought back some Amharic books from our trip to Ethiopia.  The problem was they were all in Amharic.  And, duh, I did not know how to read Amharic that is why I needed those books.  So they were of little help.

And unfortunately, my children were not interested in those books either because they were not the quality that they were used to from their English books.  So they did not keep my children’s attention.

This is where my journey begins.  I decided that I was going to make a resource that was in both Amharic and English to use with my kids.

Where do I start, I mean I needed some help.  I needed to learn it myself right.  I started with my best resource.  My parents.  My father is an academic.  He graduated from the Haile Selassie Military Academy and he just loves to learn.  My mother is the best Ethiopian cook in the world and loves the culture.  Perfect.

I also downloaded an Amharic to English Dictionary app on my phone and found the Amharic-English Dictionary I had brought from Ethiopia.

So I sat down and first started to find words that started with each of the Amharic letters.  I researched the best way to learn languages.  Then I looked at worksheets and books for learning other languages.  I started reading books, Facebook posts, websites, and anything else that I could find in Amharic.

In doing all of this, I started learning.  It amazed me how much I learned just by first learning the alphabet.

So I wanted to share with you my top tips so you can learn Amharic.

1. Learn the Alphabet

What’s really great about Amharic is if you learn the letters, you will be able to pronounce any word that is put before you.

As I was finding words for each letter, I was learning the letters.  I was finding the patterns in the letters, the similarities and differences that I could use to differentiate the letters and the sound.  This was critical to me learning the language.

2.  Begin Reading Simple Texts

I took what I had and what I could find online and started reading.  I obviously did not start with Ethiopian Orthodox manuscripts, way too hard.  Books designed for kids used simpler language and were usually a lot shorter.

It definitely was taking me a while to sound out the words.  But that is to be completely expected.  Think about how long it took you to sound out words when you were learning English and there were only 26 letters in that alphabet.

3.  Start Listening to Amharic

One benefit, of course, was that I have been understanding and hearing the language all my life.  But surprisingly, there were things that I had heard all my life that I had been saying wrong. Now that I knew how they to spell them, I corrected myself.

If you don’t have access to a native speaker at home, utilize music and Youtube.  Order a Teddy Afro CD (I love him!) or go to a youtube channel and just start listening.  Connect with other Amharic speakers, listen, and talk.

I know that it can be challenging to understand the pronunciation of words if you are just reading them.  That is why I have created an Amharic Pronunciation Guide with sample sound files to help you better understand how each letter sounds.

4.  Spell Words Using the Amharic Alphabet

Spell Amharic words as well as English words.  The more you get comfortable with the letters and their sounds the easier it will be to learn Amharic.

I would take Ethiopian words like “chama” and practice spelling them with the Ethiopian letters. But I did not stop there.  I would also take an English word like  “door” and try and spell it with the Amharic letters.  Anything to get more practice.

5.  Have Fun and Keep Going!

I tried to make it fun.  If it isn’t fun, then I am not going to keep doing something.  So I would set little goals for myself and reward myself.  But most of all I keep practicing.

If you are able to go to an Ethiopian Restaurant or connect with Ethiopian Families, do it.  The more practice you have with reading, speaking, and writing Amharic the better you will get at it.

I am still on my journey, but I have learned so much.  And during this journey to learn for myself, I have created tools for my kids.  And with the help of many others including teachers, handwriting font developers, and native speakers of Amharic, I have taken some of the tools I have used and created a workbook to learn Amharic.

Let’s Learn the Amharic Alphabet gives you a strong foundation for learning Amharic with over 130 worksheets and over 200 vocabulary words. It includes:

• 4 Worksheets for Each Amharic Letter Family in English AND Amharic
• A Pronunciation Guide with Online Access to Sample Sound Files
• Over 200 Words to Increase Your Vocabulary
• Colorful Pictures to Engage Any Age Learner
• Unique Handwriting Instruction to Learn How to Write Each Letter

Language is the foundation of culture and if you value the Ethiopian culture, then learning the language should be important to you.  They say a journey of one thousand miles begins with one step.  Well, I say the journey to learn Amharic begins with just a few words.

I will leave you with two.  Dehna Ederu (Good Night).

What are you using to learn Amharic?  What resources would you like to see developed to learn Amharic for yourself or to teach it to your kids?