Customer Reviews

Concise Amharic Dictionary

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Leslau's dictionary has been the standard for years, and deservedly so. He not only has thousands of entries in each half of the dictionary (English-Amharic, Amharic-English), he also gives extensive notes on grammatical usage, such as whether an Amharic verb takes a direct object suffix, or an indirect object suffix. The entries cover a wide variety of topics: tools, holidays, body parts, etc. There are other dictionaries available, but they are very difficult to find in most countries: Dr. Amsalu Aklilu's excellent work published in Ethiopia and Ahmed Zekaria's published in India. Kane's 2 vol. Amharic- English dictionary is too expensive for most people, and has no English-Amharic section. If you need an Amharic-English-Amharic dictionary, this is a fine book. The University of California paperback edition is much, much cheaper than the hardback Harrassowitz edition from Germany, no difference in contents.

We've recently adopted two Ethiopian children who spoke only Amharic when they first came to us. We searched for ages to find a dictionary that would suit our needs for communicating with them and also for teaching them English. After using a tiny phrasebook with limited words and only English-Amharic (one of our children could read well in Amharic) we needed a better way. And after looking through the internet for a while, a found this book and bought it. It's explained many things that before would not have been possible, and made the necessary communication all the easier. It is also helping the kids greatly in their English and understanding of things around them. Thanks heaps!

We've recently adopted two Ethiopian children who spoke only Amharic when they first came to us. We searched for ages to find a dictionary that would suit our needs for communicating with them and also for teaching them English. After using a tiny phrasebook with limited words and only English-Amharic (one of our children could read well in Amharic) we needed a better way. And after looking through the internet for a while, I found this book and bought it. It's explained many things that before would not have been possible, and made the necessary communication all the easier. It is also helping the kids greatly in their English and understanding of things around them. Thanks heaps!

I learned some Amharic from Ethiopian friends at high school and college. I was rather fascinated by the deep rich culture. This dictionary is just plain amazing. It includes both English-Amharic and Amharic-English sections, and utilizes the actual Ethiopian alphabet and phonetic guide.

For an English speaker, I would recommend getting copy of the alphabet displayed in grid format, and run though memorization of the alphabet with an indigenous speaker. This way, you'll be able to utilize the dictionary to the fullest potential.

We got a maid from Ethiopia to help with our baby girl. The agency said that her English is fair, which meant it wasn't fluent but we could communicate.
However when she arrived we found that she only knows 5 or 10 English words. We both work and it was a big problem and risk to leave her with our 18 month old.
We ordered this dictionary to be able to communicate with her.
Perfect choice!

As far as I know, this is the only English-Amharic dictionary on earth. So, it is an invaluable help in understanding anything written in Amharic. It is very good that one not has to learn the Amharic alphabet to use the English-Amharic part; all words are written in full using the Latin alphabet, describing the sound of the words. Until now, I have found all words I have been looking for, but sometimes I miss explanations of what the difference is, or if there is no difference, between alternative Amharic words for one English word.

We just hired a nanny from Ethiopia and her English was minimal. I got this so that she could work on improving her vocabulary in her free time. I also got a monolingual picture dictionary, but she seems to use this one more than that. The book is easy to use as it goes both ways (Amharic-English/English-Amharic). Nice to know that amazon.com is carrying titles like this. Keep it up!

This dictionary is for Beginners, learning the basics of Amharic.
If you read and study a few pages every day, the memorization of words will be easy
So I will say you must be focused, and want to learn.
but at the same time relax and have some fun!


Richie

This is an indispensible resource for Amharic learners at all levels. Wolf Leslau was a pioneer in Ethiopic studies and this dictionary is one of the most enduring monuments to his amazing lifetime of work. Pluses include a very reliable system of phonetic transcription to complement (rather than replace) the Amharic writing system, a very nice and readable Amharic typeface, and portability with this paperback edition. Students coming to Amharic from other Semitic languages, beware of one thing: the 'q' used in the system of transcription is not the Arabic 'qaf' (although Amharic loanwards from Arabic with 'q' morph into the Amharic 'q', which is an ejective consonant, of which in Amharic there are several. Ejectives are not uncommon in African languages, but will be very exotic to students coming to Amharic from an Arabic or Hebrew background.

Has been a good guide for our Ethiopian children. We bought dictionaries for all of their ESL & homeorom teachers. They have greatly appreciated this!