Dresden speaks … Amharic

Amharic language

The Amharic language belongs to the Semitic language family. It is related to other Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac and Tigrinya. Amharic is spoken in Ethiopia as the mother tongue of 27 million Amhars.
However, Amharic is also the official language of Ethiopia. There are 80 other languages in the country and Amharic has been designated as the official language so that people can understand each other. Amharic is then used at school and by the authorities. Amharic is also spoken abroad, making it the second most widely spoken Semitic language with 58 million speakers.

In the pronunciation of Amharic, some clicks have been added to the Semitic pronunciation. They are pronounced explosively and harshly, the sound is produced either at the back of the throat or by clicking the tongue.

There are other Semitic languages in Ethiopia, such as Tigrinya, Tigre and Harari. This is due to the ancient connection to the Arabian Peninsula, a kingdom used to connect the two areas. The language and script are closely related to Old South Arabian. The ancient language of Ethiopia, Ge’ez or Old Ethiopian, still exists today as a church language, similar to Latin in Germany.

Script

The Ethiopian script is a so-called Abugida script. This means that a consonant and a vowel always form a letter together. The vowels indicate the correct pronunciation by merging with the consonant. There are seven vowels: ä u i a é e o and 28 consonants. Together with some special characters, this results in 276 different letters. This makes the Ethiopian script unique and distinguishes it from other Semitic scripts, also because it is written from left to right.

The Ethiopian script developed from the old South Arabian script. The origins of the Ethiopian script go back to the ancient kingdom of Aksum (1st-10th century), which ruled the area that is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. During its heyday in the 4th century AD, Christianity became the largest religion and the Bible was translated into Ge’ez. Other religious texts followed and Ge’ez is still used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church today.

The Ethiopian script is used for some of the Ethiopian languages, particularly Amharic and Tigrinya. It is called ፊደል (Fidäl) in Amharic and Tigrinya.

Dresden spricht …

Workshops, tours, writing and printing workshops under the motto “Dresden speaks many languages”

Period
03-12.2024

Porject coordination
Yvonn Spauschus (Projektleitung)
Yulia Vishnichenko · Moussa Mbarek · Nadine Wölk · Rosa Brockelt · Yuliya Firsova · Martin Mannig (workshop leader)
Rosa Brockelt · Rosa Hauch · Falk Goernert · Birthe Mühlhoff (moderation, documentation)
Adina Rieckmann · Lydia Hänsel (tourguides)
Inge · Mahsa · Karin (voluntary help)

Cooperation partners
JugendKunstschule Dresden – Standort Passage, Omse e.V., Nachbarschaftshilfeverein, Stadtteilverein Johannstadt e.V., Malteser Hilfsdienste e.V., Jugendhaus LILA as well as Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum e.V., Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V., GEH8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Umweltzentrum Dresden – ABC Tische and many more

Supported by

The project is funded by the State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament within the framework of the state programme Integrative Maßnahmen.