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<\/a>Many people are (or ought to be) interested in learning the language Jesus spoke as his native tongue, and in which his words were first uttered: Aramaic. It is also the language in which a few parts of the Bible were written, as well as the Talmud, Targums<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0814654800\")
(paraphrases of the Jewish Scriptures), and other Jewish literature.<\/p>\nSyriac, the dominant language of the Eastern church for a very long time, is essentially the same language, written with any of three<\/a> different scripts<\/a>. Aramaic is written in the \u2018square letters\u2019 that most people associate with Hebrew, but in fact originally this was the Aramaic alphabet. Syriac and Aramaic are dialects, rather than distinct languages. [Aramaic and Hebrew are, on the other hand, closely related languages (like Italian and Romanian, for instance). The distinction of course is not a hard and fast one, since presumably both languages go back to a common earlier one, and were both once more closely related as \u2018dialects\u2019.]<\/p>\n When I first started learning Syriac, I used Thackston\u2019s Introduction to Syriac<\/a> So then I moved on to John F. Healey\u2019s Leshono Suryoyo: First Studies in Syriac<\/a> This isn\u2019t a bad thing \u2013 in printed editions of the Peshitta (the Bible in Syriac), as in some lexicons, one will encounter the vocalized Serto script for the main text, but Estrangelo for headings. So combining Thackston and Healey has another useful aspect to it.<\/p>\n There are other potentially useful resources for Syriac online: Eberhard Nestle\u2019s Syriac grammar with chrestomathy<\/a> (for those who have a good grasp of German), the Syriac grammar<\/a> and Elements of Syriac<\/a> by Philips, and the Syriac grammar by Uhlemann<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also useful (although the print isn\u2019t as clear as it might ideally have been) is Lexical Tools to the Syriac New Testament<\/i> by George Anton Kiraz (Gorgias Press, 2002). It works through the vocabulary of the Syriac New Testament by frequency, and students of Biblical languages will know that is the best way to get reading as quickly as possible. The book also provides verbal paradigms, a skeleton grammar, and other useful features.<\/p>\n In the end, you can skip the Nestorian script (not used much in printed Syriac texts a beginner is likely to work with), and if you stick with Syriac, you can move on to Aramaic and\/or Mandaic later. For most people interested in Aramaic\/Syriac, having better resources for learning Aramaic<\/i> would have been ideal, since those who know even a little Hebrew already know the Aramaic alphabet. But there are far fewer good resources, and surprisingly little in terms of readers with vocalized\/pointed Talmudic or Targumic texts for beginners to work with. I am starting to wonder how students of the Rabbinic literature go about learning Aramaic.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still looking for a audiobook Syriac Bible I can put on in the car\u2026and of course, a Pimsleur course in Mandaic would be nice\u2026 There is, in fact, a spoken dialect of Mandaic<\/a> But that won\u2019t be too daunting for you, I\u2019m sure, because anyone who has read this far must love languages as much as I do!<\/p>\n Many people are (or ought to be) interested in learning the language Jesus spoke as his native tongue, and in which his words were first uttered: Aramaic. It is also the language in which a few parts of the Bible were written, as well as the Talmud, Targums (paraphrases of the Jewish Scriptures), and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2125\/2166024857_1ffbfec053.jpg\")
<\/a>A smaller number of people are interested in Mandaic, the language in which the sacred texts of a Gnostic baptizing sect that still exists today in Iraq and Iran as well as a diaspora stretching from Australia to the United States. Materials<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0007IT3G2\")
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/onlinegallery\/sacredtexts\/images\/syriacbib_lg.jpg\")
<\/a>Once you\u2019ve got to grips with the basics of the language, get a copy of the Syriac New Testament<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=090018549X\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.schoyencollection.com\/aram-heb-syr_files\/ms1911_2.jpg\")
<\/a>And so there you have it. You can learn the language of Jesus and his earliest followers, of parts of Daniel and Ezra, of the Eastern Church, of the Rabbis, the Talmud and the Targums, and of the last remaining continuous Gnostic group. Basically one language, but written in a number of different alphabets. Learning a new alphabet can always seem like a hurdle \u2013 especially alphabets used for Semitic languages, which have a tendency to change forms depending on whether there are letters before or after. But we need more students of early Christianity who know Syriac\/Aramaic\/Mandaic, whether their interest is in the historical figure of Jesus, early oral tradition, the cultural setting of the earliest Christians, Gnosticism, or many other areas.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=3447028599\")
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