Amharic Language Training Manual - Live Lingua

[Pages:207]Peace Corps Ethiopia

Amharic Language Manual

PEACE CORPS ETHIOPIA

Amharic Language Training Manual

January 2015

Introduction

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Introduction

Acknowledgments

Amharic Language Manual

The first edition of this Amharic Language Training Manual was developed by Eseynesh Fantahun and Ato Mekonnen Lemma in 2009 with editing of Group1 PCVs.Then the manual was edited by Group 1 PCVs And revised in 2010,in 2013 and then in 2014 with the great input from the Language and Cultural Facilitators, and PCTs and PCVs comments and suggestions.

We thank all who have given their input for the improvement of this manual, which is a valuable contribution to the overall efforts of improving Peace Corps training resources.

This is a work in progress, and we welcome advice and comments from all sides: trainers, trainees, volunteers, PC staff and others.

Language and Cross Culture Training Unit

Peace Corps Ethiopia

November, 2014

Introduction

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Amharic Language Manual

Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 2 Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation ....................................................................................................... 4 Unit 2: Greetings and Leave Taking ............................................................................................... 9 Unit 3: Introducing Oneself .......................................................................................................... 18 Unit 4: Introducing Others ............................................................................................................ 29 Unit 5: Amharic Verbs.................................................................................................................. 41 Unit 6: Basic Shopping ................................................................................................................. 52 Unit 7: Food and Drink ................................................................................................................. 61 Unit 8: Telling Time ..................................................................................................................... 75 Unit 9: Telling a Story .................................................................................................................. 87 Unit 10: Finding Your Way Around ........................................................................................... 103 Unit 11: Shopping II ................................................................................................................... 117 Unit 12: Months Seasons and the Weather ................................................................................. 128 Unit 13: Sentence Structure ........................................................................................................ 134 Unit 14: Appointments and Invitations....................................................................................... 143 Unit 15: Dealing with Harassment.............................................................................................. 154 Unit 16: Personal Health and Wellbeing .................................................................................... 159 Unit 17: Personal Safety ............................................................................................................. 165 Unit 18: Describing the Household............................................................................................. 172 Unit 19: Job Spectific Vocabulary .............................................................................................. 179 Unit 20: Guide to Ongoing Learning .......................................................................................... 188 Appendix..................................................................................................................................... 199

Introduction

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Amharic Language Manual

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head: If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart". Nelson Mandela

Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation

Two Legged Letters

1st order

2nd order

3rd order

l? lu li

s? su si

s? su si

b? bu bi

a

u

i

k? ku ki

h? hu hi

z?

zu

zi

z? zu zi

d? du di

j? ju ji

p'? p'u p'i

s'? s'u s'i

4th order La sa sa ba a ka ha za za da ja p'a s'a

5th order le se se be e ke he ze ze de je p'e s'e

6th order l? s? s? b? ? k? h? z? z? d? j? p'? s'?

7th order lo so so bo o Ko Ho zo zo do jo po' s'o

Key to Amharic vowel sounds

a

Father, like the exclamation ah!

?

Again' bigger, like the hesitation uh

e

Gate, way

u

Moon, soon

?

Like player

I

Feet, meet, seat

O

Shore

Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation

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Amharic Language Manual

the / s is pronounced as the `sh' sound in `shoe'

the / p'? in this sound is an exploding bilabial `p'

the / z? is pronounced as the `s' sound in `leisure'

the / s'? in this sounds are exploding glottalized `s'

The three-legged characters:

h? hu hi ha he h? ho T'? t'u t'i t'a t'e t'? t'o c'? c'u c'i c'a c'e c'? co'

the / t'? in this sound is an exploding glottalized `t'

the / c'? in this sound is an exploding glottalized `ch'

The legless group:

h? hu hi ha he h? ho

r? ru ri ra re r? ro

m? mu mi ma me ?m mo

s? su si sa se s? so

w? wu wi wa we w? wo

a

u i

a e ?

o

s'? s'u

s'i

s'a

s'e

s'?

s'o

f? fu fi fa fe f? fo

the / s'? in this sounds are exploding glottalized `s'

Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation

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Amharic Language Manual

The Uni-legged characters:

k'? k'u k'i k'a k'e k'? k'o t? tu ti ta te t? to c? cu ci ca ce c? co ha hu hi ha he h? ho n? nu ni na ne n? no ? u i a e ? o y? yu yi ya ye y? yo g? gu gi ga ge g? go p? pu pi pa pe p? po

Guide to Pronunciation:

-wa sounds: -lwa -mwa - swa -rwa -swa -swa -k'wa -hwa -nwa -wa -kwa

-zwa -zwa -dwa -jwa -gwa -t'wa - c'wa - s'wa ? - fwa

Example in Amharic Words:

k'

/ ?

z

t'

c'

P'

s'

Vowel Sounds:

k'? n; k'olo; k'es (Cognac)s?o, bao (Leisure) g?zi, yazi, r?zim m?t'?t'at, t'?t'a, t'ot'a c'aka, c'?w, c'at lap'is, ityop'ya, p'ap'as s'?lot, m?n?s'r, s'?gur

?again, bigger, like the hesitation uh; very susceptible to surrounding letters

umoon, soon, tune

I feet, meet, seat

afather, like the exclamation ah!

e gate, way, but slightly less elongated

Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation

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Amharic Language Manual

? susceptible to letters around it, but typically short like player o shore, war; but often pronounced as if "wo" Symbols: He or it (for masculine i.e. `male' gender objects) She or it (for feminine i.e. `female' gender objects) Definitions: Affix: a generic term used for both prefixes and suffixes (syllables having a meaning) Direct Object: the noun (pronoun) that receives the action expressed by the verb. "She bounced the ball (ball is the object) Explosives: the popping/clicking sound made in the mouth/throat when pronouncing word such as k'olo Gerund: the form of the verb used as a noun; "Swimming is good exercise" `Swimming' is a gerund because it is a verb used as a noun Imperative: ordering someone to do something; `Open the door' `Cook the potatoes' `Sit down'. Interrogative: the form used for questioning Infinitive: the form of the verb used as a noun ? often used as a gerund. Infix: used after the root and before the suffix Passive form: the form in which object becomes subject Active: He cooked the chicken Passive: The chicken was cooked (passive) Prefix: a syllable attached at the beginning of a root word to change its meaning Root: a basic form of a word to which affixes are added Subject: the performer (doer) of an action `She went home' (the subject is she) Suffix: a syllable attached to the end of a root word to change its meaning

Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation

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Amharic Language Manual

Grammar Terms (English/Amharic):

Noun: s?m

Paragraph: ank'?s'

Sentence: ar?ft? n?g?r

Verb: g?s

Word: k'al

Punctuation Terms (English/Amharic):

(Functional equivalence)

Period/Full stop: arat n?t'?b (::)

Question mark: t'?yak'e m?l?k?t (?)

Exclamation mark: y?k'al agano m?l?k?t (!)

Comma: n?t'?la s?r?z

A Note on Verbs:

In this manual, we will present all verbs using both the infinitive and the third person masculine simple past form. Note that in Amharic dictionaries, verbs are generally listed according to the third person masculine simple past form.

Palatalization:

In the second-person feminine, the final consonant of the verb root "palatalizes,"following a pattern:

x t' x d x t x s x z x n x l

c' j c s z

y

Unit 1: Guide to Pronunciation

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