Second African language and culture 3600-7-AF3-DJKA(Z)

The course provides instruction in the Amharic language at an intermediate level, as well as selected aspects of Ethiopian culture. The classes combine the development of basic communicative competence in Amharic with an introduction to the most important aspects of everyday life and both contemporary and traditional Ethiopian culture.
Participants develop the ability to understand and produce simple statements related to everyday life (e.g., self-introduction, family, food, time, and basic social situations).
An important element of the course is its cultural context, including Ethiopian hospitality, the coffee ceremony, traditional music, basic forms of oral poetry, and elements of contemporary urban culture. Teaching materials include authentic recordings, simple texts, dialogues, and audiovisual materials.
The course has a practical and communicative orientation, and its main goal is to develop basic language competence combined with an introductory understanding of Ethiopian culture. It also introduces issues related to Ethiopia’s multilingualism, musical traditions, poetry, social practices, and cultural symbolism.
The classes are interdisciplinary in nature and make use of authentic linguistic and cultural materials such as music recordings, songs, short literary texts, photographs, and audiovisual resources. The course develops basic language skills while simultaneously providing knowledge about both contemporary and traditional Ethiopian culture.

Appleyard D. (2025) Colloquial Amharic. A Complete Language Course London
and New York: Routledge.
Leslau W. (1976) Concise Amharic dictionary. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Leslau W. (1995) Reference grammar of Amharic. Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz.
Mantel-Niećko J., Getachew Paulos Berhane (1978) Iletawi amarinynya. Praktyczna nauka języka amharskiego Warszawa: WUW.
Prischnegg T. , Sälam! ሰላም! 1. Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch Amharishch, Hamburg 2024.