I'm currently putting together a teaching resource for primary school pupils about different scripts/orthographies around the world. The task has 18 translations of 'languages are amazing/incredible' in various languages which have differing scripts. I've checked the translations with multiple online translation tools, but I'm well aware that these do not always catch the nuanced points that native speakers can, hence why I wanted to post here for advice.

Would this be a suitable translation for Amharic, or is there a better alternative?

ቋንቋዎች ድንቅ ናቸው።

Thank you in advance for any help you lovely r/amharic Redditors can offer!

There are a few apps and resources for learning Amharic and Tigrinya now. One example is Weynilo, which has lessons, Fidel, vocabulary, pronunciation and speaking practice.

For people learning either language: what do you wish these learning apps had?

More everyday conversations? Slang? Better pronunciation? Grammar? Cultural explanations?

Curious what people feel is still missing.

Kindly look at the provided snippets attached, to dissuade you from the contrary belief, that is espoused, unfortunately, by the majority of educated Ethiopians. We ought to be disabused of the erroneous notion, that the Amharic language is not capable of expressing itself in the loftiest and highest realms of academic thought. Just think of the myriad of possibilities, in accelerating modern scientific and technological advancement in Ethiopia, if this effort was scaled up aggressively.

Part 12.

Since 2020, I have had the privilege of teaching Amharic to online students all over the world.

The #1 struggle my beginner students face is hitting a wall with the alphabet and sentence structures because they skip the vital foundations—the alphabet, core vocabulary, and sentence structures.

That’s why I wrote 'Learn Amharic Step-by-Step in 30 Days.'

I wanted to create a clear, structured roadmap for absolute beginners so you never have to guess what to study next.

If you are learning for family, work, travel, or simply for the love of languages, this workbook is designed to build your skills step-by-step:

1. Week 1: Master the Alphabet—Skip memorizing hundreds of characters. Learn the letters using my logical 8-pattern system to recognize, read, and write them by hand.
2. Type in Amharic—Get step-by-step setup guides to type easily on your phone and computer.
3. Numbers, Time & Calendar—Navigate transactions, tell time, and understand the unique Ethiopian calendar
4. 660+ Essential Everyday Words—Learn vocabulary organized cleanly by topic and the 8 parts of speech.
5. Sentence Construction—Transition from words to sentences using the natural Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure
6. Real-Life Dialogues—Practice ordering coffee, meeting people, and asking for directions.

Latin Transliteration—Every Amharic word is accompanied by clear phonetic spelling to guide your pronunciation from day one.

This is a practical, 170+ page workbook designed to be worked through with exercises, checklists, and self-quizzes to ensure you actually absorb what you learn.

Learning a language is a journey, and 30 days won't make you instantly fluent.

But it will give you the solid foundation you need to take meaningful steps forward.

The workbook is available now as a paperback on Amazon. You can find the direct link in the first comment section below.

I’d genuinely love to hear about your Amharic learning journey in the comments. What has been your biggest struggle so far? Let me know in the comment section. 👇

Part 14.

Part 13.

Part 11.

Part 10.

Part 9.

Part 8.

Part 7.

Part 6.

Part 5.

Part 4.

Part 3.

Part 2.

Part 1.

I started drafting an archaic for Amharic and here is how its going

1. regarding the pronouns: intensive use of “እርስዎ“ since it is the formal version of you. most languages seem to have one like ‘vous’ in french ‘sie‘ in German.
2. regarding the metaphor usage: Amharic is known to use different style of metaphors/ዘይቤ and i am also intensifying this style. this are becoming less used in current Amharic.
3. idioms and proverbs: Amharic has ton of this ፈሊጣዊ and ምሳሌያዊ አነጋግገር with current usage of almost 0% in current daily convos.
4. Double entendre: ቅኔ/ qene was lwk abused till 21st century. they hid political, social and ideological ideas they think it might get them canceled or just for fun. but this is Amharic qene. ge’ez qene is used on religious purposes and to praise god.

If I create a mini curriculum for this. Well, you might say there is already an education system. here is the problem;

1. they teach grammar rules. not the culture
2. they teach for purpose of exam and we fail.
3. you cant classify them as formal or informal. the curriculum seems to be written by an immigrant.

as a high school student who cares deeply abt culture it is my responsibility to remember forgotten culture.

Hi everyone!

As an Amharic language instructor, I talk to a lot of diaspora adults, kids, and language enthusiasts who are trying to learn Amharic.

I’m currently building a free starter PDF cheat sheet designed to make learning easier, more intuitive, and practical for real life.

Before I finalize it, I want to make sure it actually answers the things you are struggling with most!

If you’re learning (or trying to learn) Amharic, could you tell me:

1. What is the single hardest part for you right now? (e.g., reading Fidel, verb conjugations, everyday conversation, listening speed, or something else?)
2. What kind of quick resource would help you most? (e.g., vocabulary charts, audio notes, common conversation templates?)

Comment below with your biggest struggle! I'll be answering questions in the comments, and once the PDF is ready, I’d be happy to send a copy over to anyone who wants it.

Ameseginalehu! 🙏

Hello. I’m looking for help transcribing and translating the vocal passages from songs in the 2005 IMAX documentary soundtrack Mystery of the Nile (composed by David Giró & Steve Wood). I would really appreciate it if anyone who speaks the languages could help transcribe what is being sung and provide an English translation (or even just the general meaning/theme of the lyrics). I believe the languages involved are Ahmaric/Arabic/Sudanese Thank you so much.

I'm willing to pay a small sum as well. Here is the spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3tw3vhzmOqpMtMMohFY6K8

Hello everyone! To make learning Amharic fun, I attempted to translate this song Studio Ghibli song into Amharic. I would love some feedback on if this sounds remotely natural given the context of the film (about a small girl known as a “borrower” who lives under the floor of this guy’s house)

MY LYRICS:

I’m 14 years old, I am pretty
ሕያውና** *ትንሽዬ* Lady
**ከወለል በታች
በተዋስኩት እኖራለሁ

አንዳንዴ Happy**፣** አንዳንዴ Blue
በሕልሜ፣ በሕልሜ…

ነፋስ ፀጉሬን ሲያናውጠው
ቀና ብዬ ሰማይን ላየው
አበባ ቀጥፌ ላድርሰው
ከዚያ ማዶ ሌላ ዓለም አለ
እይ! ቢራቢሮዎቹ ይጨፍራሉ
እየጠበቅኸኝ ነው

አዎ፣ የኔ ትንሿ ዓለም
ምንም የማይለወጥ
ምንም ባልጠላውም፥ ይልቅስ አንተን ይበልጥ ይበልጥ ማወቅ እሻለሁ

ደስታና ሀዘን ሁልጊዜ
ይደባለቃሉ

ነፋስ ፀጉሬን ሲያናውጠው
ቀና ብዬ ሰማይን ላየው
አበባ ቀጥፌ ላድርሰው
ከዚያ ማዶ ሌላ ዓለም አለ
እይ! ቢራቢሮዎቹ ይጨፍራሉ
አንተን እጠብቅሃለሁ

ከፀሐይ በታች
በአበቦች ተከብቤ
ካንተ ጋር መኖር እመኛለሁ
ትዝታችንን በልቤ ይዤ
በዚህ አዲስ ዓለም
ለራሴ ታማኝ እሆናለሁ

LITERAL JAPANESE TRANSLATION:

I'm 14 years old, I’m pretty,
A spirited little lady.
I’ve been living a borrowed life beneath the floorboards.
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue—
I long to meet someone.

I want to feel the wind in my hair and gaze at the sky.
I want to bring you a flower.
Over there lies a different world;
Look, a butterfly is dancing
(You are?) waiting for me.

Yes, my little world remains unchanged.
It’s not that I dislike it, but...
I want to know you—
Know you so much better.
Joy and sorrow are always woven together.

I want to feel the wind in my hair and gaze at the sky.
I want to bring you a flower.
Over there lies a different world;
Look, a butterfly is dancing—
(I am?) waiting for you.

Beneath the sun, surrounded by flowers,
I want to spend my days with you.
With these feelings in my heart, in this new world,
I will live true to myself.

Recently I wrote this post about creating a free website to learn Amharic.

Well now I turned that website into a mobile app too. I've been working on making it available in both Apple app store and Google play store. The app should be available on apple soon, but for Google I need some help. Google requires at least 12 android users use the app in the span of 14 days before it is able to be released and I'm struggling to find 12 people thats why I decided to post it here for anyone who wants to join. Thank you!

If you are intrested in being a early user of the android app there are two simple steps.

1. Join the google group that gets whitelisted for the app: link here
2. Download the app from Google: link here