Amharic language

J.C.   Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:18 pm GMT
Today I met a guy from Ethiopia and started to ask questions about his language just to be surprised that there were words in Amharic similar to Hebrew (Not a surprise since Amharic is also a semitic language).
I came up with the following similarities:

Water: ma(Amharic), Maim (Hebrew)
Heaven: Shamaim (Amharic), Shamaim (Hebrew)
Peace :Salaam (Amharic), Shalom (Hebrew)

And because of that I really got interested in learning the language but don't know any good materials. I wonder if someone could give me some hints!!

תודה!
K. T.   Sun Jun 15, 2008 6:29 pm GMT
Google "FSI" and the first hit should be the site listing all the free FSI courses. Amharic is the first one.

I don't know if it is "good" or not, but it's free and I imagine that it's serious and comprehensive.
J.C.   Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:07 pm GMT
K.T.さん:Thanks again for your kindness.
Do you refer to this website? http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Amharic.aspx
I tried to access it but couldn't read the Amharic materials.
Is this because I'm a mac user?
Sometimes stuff doesn't work because I use the Safari browser!!
Shame on BG!!! :)

ありがとう!
K. T.   Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:30 pm GMT
Yes, that's the site. The site is working. I tested it today. I'm not sure if it's because you are a mac user (hey cool!).

www.audioforum.com has Amharic courses (parts one and two) and a Eurotalk CD possibly. Audioforum is not inexpensive, but I have used them once or twice.
K. T.   Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:35 pm GMT
"EuroTalk Interactive - Talk Now! Learn Amharic" on Amazon is about 20 US dollars. I don't know about its quality.