The Foreign Service Institute Series

The Foreign Service Institute has developed a series of language-learning courses for use by the state department and other government agencies. These courses have been developed, tested by use, and improved over a period of many years. Working with the Departments of Defense, Education, other government agencies, and various universities, the FSI has created the largest body of complete courses for languages of the world available anywhere.

 

This course produced by the Foreign Service Institute as part of its Basic Course series, provides introductory through intermediate level material. The goal of Foreign Service Institute courses is to provide the English Speaking student's from any occupational background with practical knowledge and proficiency in their language of interest.

 

Basic Facts about the Amharic Language

 

Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia, and is the native language of some 6 million people. It is a member of the Southern Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages.

Amharic is the official language of the Ethiopian Empire and used in government, in business, in all instruction in government schools, and in most newspapers. It is, however, not the only language spoken in Ethiopia. Amharic belongs to the Southern Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly called Hamito-Semitic) family of languages.

 

The number of native speakers of Amharic together with the speakers of the other Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia (such as Tigriniya, Tigre, Harari, Gurage and others) is less than one half the total population of the Empire.

 

The greatest part of Ethiopia is inhabited by speakers of Cushitic languages (another branch of the Afro-Asiatic family) such as Galia, Agaw, Somali and many others.

 

But Amharic is now the language of greatest prestige and anyone who has had any education is able to speak it, even if it is not his mother tongue. Still others learn it informally as a second language. The number of speakers worldwide, including those using it as a second language is estimated to be about 21 million.

 

The FSI Basic Course

 

The underlying method of this CD ROM course is guided imitation, and the aim is automaticity. The ultimate goal of the course is to speak the target language accurately and easily.

The course provides for the assimilation of all basic forms and patterns of the language by the guided imitation, memorization, and manipulation of a large number of sentences and by practice of common everyday situations. But actual living use of the language in free conversation is necessary and essential.

 

The student is encouraged to use the language in every way possible. Constant use of the skills in this course will help the learner master the language and retain it. This course concentrates on speech and grammar. The following constituents make up a sample unit:

 

Amharic Basic Course Structure and Structure

 

1. With Basic Sentences, Structure Sentences, Useful Words, the course provides the students with sentences in the target language. The student should repeat the material introduced, repeating each item (a build-up or a sentence) twice. The student repeats the item immediately after trying to imitate the pronunciation. After the Basic Sentences have been thoroughly memorized the student can go on to the dialogues. This drill is to be continued until the student can go through the dialogue like an actor.

 

2. Substitution, Correlation and Transformation Drills are to be used in accordance with the instructions given at the beginning of each drill.

 

3. Model Transform Drills should be drilled in the same way as other Transformation Drills.

 

4. Questions and Answers are to be drilled as specified. Some questions may require informational answers, some others simply 'yes' or 'no ' answers. Questions requiring informational answers are to be drilled as follows: The dialogue asks each student a question. The student repeats the question and gives an answer.

 

The dialogue then gives the student the opportunity to answer and the student repeats it as a further drill. Questions requiring 'yes' or 'no' answers should be drilled in the same way, i.e. the student repeats the question after the recording and then gives either an affirmative or a negative answer.

 

5. With the Narrative, the student goes through sentences that illustrate new vocabulary terms. The students have thus familiarized themselves with the new words the recording goes through the whole Narrative at a natural speed. The student listens for comprehension, books closed, and then summarizes in English as much as is understood of the Narrative. This drill is continued until the students are thoroughly familiar with the material. The recording then asks questions listed at the end of each Narrative and the student answers them as completely as possible using words contained in the Narrative.

 

Dialect

 

Students must keep in mind that there is no one correct way of speaking Amharic. Due to the poor system of communications in Ethiopia Amharic has developed various local dialects. There is an especially marked difference in pronunciation, in vocabulary, and even in grammar between the northern Gojjami and the southern Showa dialects.

 

The purpose of this course is to teach the language as it is spoken in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa Amharic contains elements of a variety of dialects. The student should have this in mind and should always follow the manner of speech of the instructor even if their speech varies somewhat from what is indicated in this course.

 

Amharic Basic Course Formats

The course is available in hardy copy (i.e. book and CDs), a CD-ROM version, and a download version.