Intro To Modern Assyrian - Lesson 1

[mrshappybunny1]

Wait isnt it besima or besimta? For "thank you" o_O

[multicultures]

GOD BLESS YOU :) proud to be assyrian and need to learn it :)

[MrDaleplan]

turn left and then its the 4th shop under the sign

[Pazuzu773]

Great job on the Assyrian (Aramaic) language. My friend who is Assyrian, said you were merely nail-on. Of course words could've been annunciated more accurately, but as multi-lingual people know, it's difficult for non-native speakers to speak a foreign language with keen acuity on pronunciations. All in all, great job and thanks!!

[tFighterPilot]

You make it sound like Dutch...

[Manhatten312]

I wish an Assyrian would post a video of their language lessons, because Aramaic is so difficult to learn and understand, and Assyrians are the only ones who speak the language. My Assyrian friend said Merci is not an Aramaic word. Bessima and bessimta are Aramaic for Thank You.

[ginnatl]

You sound JEWISH not assyrian...wrong accent

[Mareksgirl]

Thank you soooo much! I'm practicing with my mom, and she's sooo happy.

[giobodyforlife]

Thanks for the lessons. Much appreciated.

[MattiasAyd]

This is Ashuri (Assyrian)

closely related to Syriac

[SargonTube]

Thanks for your hard work brother

[Chameleonslove]

please write the words in Assyrian letters please :)

[Chameleonslove]

is "shlamalokh" means "shlam - alokh" ?

i mean are them 2 words ?

[astroid0]

@Chameleonslove Yes, there are two words, but it's "Shlama Lookh". There's actually no "al" type word as in Arabic or hebrew (assalam 'aleikum, shalom alechum). 

[Chameleonslove]

@astroid0

thank you so much

and by the way i really liked you lessons :)

[Gwynsek]

@astroid0 So interesting , I didn´t know that ! I think this may explain my dislike for the "al" combination ! Maybe in some past life I spoke the language !I have always admired Aramaic in all its varieties I´ve heard in songs, it´s as beautiful as Hebrew to me !

[Gwynsek]

Fantastic,thanks for this !

[xxAtrinxx]

@astroid0

i hope i misunderstood you...

shalamlokh = Shlama 3ellokh... lemme spell it out then ܫܠܡܐ ܥܠܘܟ

[astroid0]

@xxAtrinxx ܫܠܡܐ ܠܘܚ is the entry in Oraham's Dictionary of the Standardized and Enriched Assyrian Language. It is also the correct Urmian pronunciation. The spelling is based on the Syriac phrase Shlam lakh ܫܠܡ ܠܚ. Shlama 3ellokh undoubtedly exists in other dialects, but it is not used in Urmian which is the dialect used in these videos.

[xxAtrinxx]

@astroid0

hehe first of all brother... its is not spelled "ܠܚ"... and no, it is not a question of dialect. It is a question of correct grammar :) The way to spell it in modern-aramaic is this "ܫܠܡܐ ܥܠܘܟ" but in old-aramaic (leshana 3ateeqta) it is spelled this way "ܫܠܡܐ ܥܠܟ". :D

the letter "ܚ" was actually a deep H and not a KH sound like today. Back then the KH sound was written by putting a dot under the letter kap

[astroid0]

@xxAtrinxx that's not a grammatical difference, it's vocabulary usage. Some dialects prefer ܥܠ which means upon. Cognates are used in modern hebrew and arabic. ܠ has no english equivalent but it is similar to "to" or "for". This is the older form and some modern dialects still prefer it. Certain chaldean dialects also maintain it although the pronunciation is different. Cognates can be attested in ancient hebrew and aramaic sources, and even syriac texts.

[xxAtrinxx]

@astroid0

hmmm.... i've never heard of that before. I mean i know what ܠ means, but ive never heard that "peace to you" was used instead of "peace on you". :)

[astroid0]

@xxAtrinxx by ancient, I am referring to texts from 900-300 BC, not the lishana 3atiqta you are referring to, which is middle aramaic.

[astroid0]

@xxAtrinxx also, just to be clear, i'm not saying ܥܠܘܟ is wrong. it's correct, i'm just pointing out that ܠܘܟ is also attested (my bad with the khet earlier). luckily for us, aramaic is not so boring a language as to have only one way of saying things :)

[xxAtrinxx]

@astroid0

hahaha, well.... i've just never heard of ܫܠܡܐ ܠܘܟ :D.... but u might be right! sounds logical :)

back to the Khet.... actually khet was not khet... it was originally an equivilant to the arabic ح . it later on evolved into a KH sounds instead of H.... so now we have 2 letters for the KH sound.... K(with dot) and Khet xD

[Jagurd]

I am Assyrian, but I'm born in Sweden and all my friends are Swedish so my Assyrian language skills are very poor (poorer than my English). So these video clips are really needed. Thanks a lot!

[Ryguy1450]

Merci. Thanks sooo much!

[glasa25]

Why are you saying merci? Shouldn't it be Baseema, or Baseemta? Or Beseema raba or Baseemta raba?

[GoDxDeSiGNs]

What's with the accent?? You're not saying the words properly. But i'm Chaldean, and i have heaps of Assyrian friends and they don't say it the way you do. What town were u from? Or were you born in USA?

[acerfucker]

@GoDxDeSiGNs He has the Urmmi Dialect from Iran .. 

[cryozo]

This is weird, we say "how are you" like Eydar bouhat. Is this just a different dialect or a completely different language?

[astroid0]

@cryozo That's very interesting. I am only familiar with this dialect (Urmi), which is fairly specific and potentially very different from other dialects of Assyrian. I've personally never heard anything like "eydar bouhat" so I really don't know. For all I know, it could be another dialect, but my first guess is that, if it is Assyrian, it's a lone phrase. That's really interesting though.

[cryozo]

@astroid0 I found this video: /watch?v=nKUjJHzHH0g --> In the beginning you can see he/she's written "Daske wit / Aydarbo" hat as "How are you?"

[astroid0]

@cryozo That's Western Assyrian, also called Suryoyo I think (you probably know better than me). Linguists call it Turoyo. It is closely related to the language I am teaching (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic), but not the same. There are quite a few languages today that some variously call Assyrian, Neo-Syriac, etc. All are Neo-Aramaic languages and are closely related. The three biggest languages are Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, and Turoyo/Suryoyo (Western Assyrian).

[ninab09]

merci hhahahahahah aya modila merci

[val45765]

Dude its besimta .

[WestAssyrian]

Modern Assyrian contains many Akkadian words. The Assyrian empire took the Aramaic language and brought it to everyone in Mesopotamia. We call our language for Assyrian its the same language that some people call it for Aramaic or Syriac or Chaldean. Same language different names

[THEKINGS001]

Merci is not assyrian!!!!

[Danger2060]

seli yemog= i fuck your mother (tell to a men).

seli yemag = i fuck your mother ( tell to a women).

selena yemogen= i will fuck your mothers (tell to a group)

[begoosa1]

@Danger2060 fucking funny i love it

[xeckfield]

"Merci" ? Isn't that French?

[Blutroth]

Is this similar to akkadian lenguage?

[astroid0]

It is somewhat similar yes. Aramaic (including Modern Assyrian) is a West Semetic language, Akkadian was an East Semetic language. Because Aramaic was once a co-official language with Akkadian, Akkadian had a lot of influence on it at one time. To this day, modern Assyrians still use some Akkadian loan words when they speak.

[Blutroth]

Is just ask, because i study soon Assyriology on university, and theres lenguage called akkadian. So i'am wondering what AKKADIAN lenguage is. I searched, and found assyrian is a dialect of akkadian, but i think the "old" assyrian is otherwise. is that true?

[astroid0]

Akkadian is an ancient language from Mesopotamia. It was the official language of the Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires. Ancient Assyrian is a dialect of Akkadian. Modern Assyrian is not, it is an Aramaic language. Akkadian died out thousands of years ago and was replaced by Aramaic as the primary language of the Assyrians.

[DarthVadent2]

Akkadian hasn't been completed absolved by Aramaic. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic contains Akkadian words.@astroid0

[chuchianglebabe]

umm its not merci its bestima or besitma ///

[Blutroth]

I see, thanks

[onecubanpie]

THANK, THANK SO MUCH!!! My husband of 11yrs is Assyrian & I'm not. Since we're not around his family that much it difficult for me to learn. And he just wouldnt take the time to teach me. So I am forever thankful to you for putting these videos together. There awesome!!! I sure hope you read this comment! May God Bless You Always!!!

[astroid0]

Thank you very much for your feedback. I am glad that they are helpful to you. Alaha Aveh Amakh (May God Be With You)!

[fsroor]

shalom big ups to assyrian Languge :)

[JohnBethAfrem]

hello doesn´t mean shlama´lokh

shlama´lokh means peace with (or on) you

[astroid0]

Yes, I know. At this point, some of the translations are meant to be usage equivalents rather than literal. The closest English phrase to Shlama Lookh in common usage is "hello," even though they aren't the same in a literal sense. So they may not have the same meaning, but they are generally used in the same situations. I'm hoping to make it easy for people unfamiliar with Near Eastern languages to pick up. "Peace to you," at least in my experience, is rare in non-Eastern languages.

[dawarda]

Baseema, Basemta mean thank you not Merci

[AssyrischerHengzt]

thats right!!

[hetikhetikhetik]

@dawarda lol ur talking about tasty ;) :P

[assyriagrl]

Merci is NOT an Assyrian word. I'm Assyrian.

[qimotho]

Shlomo,

This is not my dialect, in aramaic (syriac/assyrian), but that is interesting to listen it, the diference is essentialy in the vowels system treatment.

[daveram19]

does aramaic have a separate spoken form from the written like Arabic? Or is the spoken language the same like the written language like Modern Hebrew? I'm curious to know. I'm currently studying Hebrew, but might be interested in studying another semitic language in the future.

[astroid0]

For Assyrian, at least, the written language is fairly close to the spoken language. About 80% of words are spelled like they sound, and the grammar is about the same. The rest of them are like English words in that they're spelled based on their history, so there are silent letters. But a knowledge of the spoken language will generally allow you to comprehend writing with only minor difficulties. So it is probably more like Hebrew than Arabic, but definitely has aspects unlike either one.

[daveram19]

Hey, thanks for the info. I was thinking with so many dialects it would be similar with Arabic's situation.

[BravaEncore]

First I have to congratulate and thank you for this idea - putting actual lessons online. Well done and hope you'll won't leave your jobs halfway.

One thing, though is like a little scratch to my ear."Merci' , which is used mainly by Lebanese and Iranian Assyrians. Other Assyrians, who went from Atra to different countries, like Russia, and were not subjected to Western influence, don't use it. It is French, Please say "Basima raba (basimta instead?

Thanks again and good luck!

[Eviieeboo]

I've heard merci more often then baseema. Just saying

[geeksaim]

Hello,

I have an assyrian teacher and she taught me everything how you said it. I fell in love with the assyrian language at first hearing of it. i want to become a fluent speaker and i was hoping you can help me with that.

[shoomshoon]

Great idea! But...

PUSH UM SHENA? Are you kidding me, guys?

Please educate yourselves before teaching others with the proper Assyrian grammar!!! :/

Work on your accent too!

[astroid0]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean about "push um shena" unless you're more familiar with "push b'sheina". Where I'm from "push um shena" is more common, but I know some dialects use "b'sheina" more often. If its the spelling that seems bad, in Assyrian it's ܦܘܼܫ ܥܲܡ ܫܲܝܢܵܐ. And, yes, my accent needs some work but some of that is on purpose so its easier for non-Assyrian speakers to hear. Anyways, thanks for the feedback, I'll try to work on it more.

[assyrian2NV]

Your correct astroid it is Push B'shena. Nice attempt on Modern Assyrian however we don't say "Thanks" as "Merci" usually the Assyrians from Iran would say that. We say "Baseema" for "Thanks".

[astroid0]

Yes, I knew that also. I hear (and use) merci more often, though, even though its Farsi (technically French but its pronounced different). I tend to translate "merci" as "thanks" and "baseema" as "thank you," which is why i preferred it here. I know theres not a lot of difference, but there seems to be a little bit depending on context (same way thanks and thank you is slightly different in English depending on the setting).

[assyrian2NV]

Fair enough, I've never heard Assyrians say "Merci" thats all. I've only ever heard Persians (and ofcourse French) say it because it isn't technically in the Assyrian vocabulary.

[alannose209]

wiliamwest. Your a clown, this is Assyrian...modern assyrian! i'm 100% assyrian, full blood... VERY WELL DONE by astroid0

finally someone put something like this up.

[WiliamWest]

That is not Assyrian, that's Aramaic, It's funny how some Arameans call's themself ''Assyrian''.