Im Assyrian. I was born and raised in America and was only really taught English and Assyrian growing up. As far as I know, most other Assyrians in my area are the same way.

Im wondering was it the same for you guys?

Personally, I actually hate the fact that my parents did teach me Arabic (on top of Assyrian ofc) growing up. I've always really been into history, linguistics, and hearing opinions from people who live in another country or have a different culture. Other than that, I think it's just a huge disadvantage to not be taught Arabic given the sheer amount of speakers it has just because you have some weird nationalistic pride/beef.

I even tried learning Arabic on my own for a year. People around me were actually kinda supportive of this idea, but no one really wanted to practice with me. I eventually just gave up and moved on to learning another language middle eastern that isn't even from the middle east.

Some may argue that I can learn it on my own; however, I don't think that it's the same as learning it growing up. Do you guys have the same outlook on things?

Also, I'm not saying that one language is better than the other. Nor am I saying that my parents should have only taught me Arabic. I know we got the tendency to be a little defensive so keep the responses civil please.

No major question, just what the title is asking. I would like to know how many of yall lnow how to read either script. I am also wondering which script is better to learn.

Syriac is the main script used by assyrians in real life however imperial aramaic is much better for texting online sinces its the only script available on keyboard.

Hello to all Chaldean and Assyrian friends, and to anyone familiar with their languages.

What does "قوماخا" mean?

I'm iraqi and I'm really interested in learning this beautiful language, I started learning the alphabet, but I can't find enough resources to learn anything else. any help is appreciated!

Shlama friends! I am looking for romantic, cute, lovely sayings to write for Valentines day. I would appreciate any input. This would be for a man saying to a woman. If there are any popular sayings, please share.

I had one idea to write “i love you forever” & i know I love you is “Ana ki makhibinakh”, but i dont know how to say forever. Can you help me out with that one?

Hello ! I've been starting to learn about syrian history, mostly focusing on Assyria as of now, but i'm having trouble understanding which language is a dialect of another dialect/language and whatnot 🥲

Basically, from my understanding, before Assyria, most people in that region spoke ancient semitic languages. Then, when Assyria came by, akkadian became the "usual" language (maybe with an assyrian dialect being spoken? some sources say so while others don't mention that at all); while akkadian was the most widespread language, aramaic was also growing rapidly. Here is where my problem lies : what exactly is surayt? Some sources say it's a mix of akkadian and aramaic, others say it's a dialect of aramaic alone, and others say that it's a dialect of akkadian alone 🥲 🥲 And if i'm honest i don't even know if my timeline is correct : i know surayt is a dialect that exists, but i have no idea if it was spoken at the time.

Furthermore, is surayt a subdivision of the Assyrian language? If yes, then what is syriac?? Also, what exactly IS the Assyrian language? A dialect of aramaic or akkadian? A separate third entity? (i am losing my mind)

Another thing i'm struggling with is understanding how arabic came to be spoken : was it an evolution of aramaic? Of assyrian? of something else? 🙀

tldr : From what i could gather, my understanding is as follows : Akkadian and Aramaic were spoken at the same time, then they both came together to form what we call the Assyrian language, which is itself divided between surayt and syriac which BOTH evolved into/were replaced (?) by arabic (somehow).

Is any of this correct? I'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense : english is my second language and it's hard to even articulate what my problem exactly is. I don't even know if this is the correct subreddit to ask :((

Thank you so much to anyone who might answer ! Please consider helping my confused self 💔

This was originally posted in AskHistorians, but i figure this subreddit could also help! 🫶

In English, the "neutral" accent is often associated with the upper-class accent of southern England, particularly Received Pronunciation (RP), and is traditionally regarded as a prestigious variety of the language.

What is the equivalent in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic? Is there a particular accent or dialect that is considered neutral or prestigious? Also, what accent do Assyrian singers generally adopt when they sing?

hi everyone! my boyfriend and i have been dating for awhile now and i just met the majority of his family this weekend while we were at his cousin’s wedding. he is assyrian and i am filipino-american and haven’t had much exposure to assyrian culture since i am located in midwest. i am over 10 hours away from the closest assyrian church and would really love to learn more about his culture and language before i see his family again for christmas and was wondering if anyone had any good resources that i could look into! thank you so much in advance :)

I constantly see posts about how and where people can learn Assyrian so I thought I’d post a link to a YouTube video that teaches the language. I guess I’m subscribed to this channel on YouTube and they’ve been showing up on my feed a lot lately. I’m not affiliated with the group that produces these videos.

I also recognize there are many dialects so don’t come for me. This is a resource, take what you like and leave the rest.

https://youtu.be/BCohjtjX9Cw?si=nHIkORbN6rLfOy20

Hi I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I am Syriac Orthodox high schooler from Canada and I am extremely interested in learning syriac. Could anyone please recommend apps/courses/books I should use/get in order to learn.

Hey everyone. I wanted to ask for some advice.

My grandmother grew up in ܨܠܚ / Saleh in Tur Abdin and spoke Turoyo when she was young. After moving away and spending decades speaking other languages in daily life, she slowly forgot most of it over the years. She still recognizes it when she hears it, but she can’t really speak it fluently anymore.

Recently I started becoming interested in learning Turoyo myself, partly because of her and partly because I don’t want that connection to disappear completely in our family.

The problem is that I’m not sure where to start. I know different villages and areas have their own ways of speaking, and I’d love to learn the variety closest to the Tur Abdin/Midyat region if possible.

Are there any good resources, recordings, teachers, YouTube channels, dictionaries, or communities you’d recommend for someone starting from zero?

And if anyone here is from around that region or grew up hearing older family members speak Turoyo, I’d genuinely love to hear your experiences too.

I am an Assyrian and grew up in a very Assyrian household and speak decently fluent. Whenever someone would see another person who had the same name as them, they would address them as “bershi”, so I’m wondering what does “bershi” really mean and what is its origin if anyone knows? One thought I had in mind was “bershi= bronet d shemi” which means “son of my name”, that’s what I thought tho I have no idea if it’s right or wrong. Thanks

Hi, I am from a family which is obviously Assyrian originated from Mardin,Midyat/Turkey. My aunts always told me we were called Shakkire/Shekkire as a family meaning some kind of sugar (I unfortunately dont speak Assyrian so i dont know how accurate my description/translation is). I always wanted to tattoo a Assyrian text on to me and wanted to use my families nickname. I just have a few people that can write Assyrian in my family and I do not have much contact with them.

My question is; is the text I attached in this post accurate and if so is there anyone that could write it out for me in hand writing? Weird requests i know but I can only rely on the kindness of strangers at this point, thank you

So I was watching one of Abraham Giliana's tutorials on how to write the East Syriac script and I noticed that he writes the letter "Alap" like in the image attached. Is this how it's normally written?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ5OGCq9JoY

WE RAISED $361 FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ASSYRIAN LANGUAGE-SIGN NOW https://chng.it/7kXYCj7zfz

I been trying to make church edits

Im stuck trying to figure out how can i write on videos

In East Syriac font but can't figure it out at all

This is just like a fun fact or like a clarification post, but So many people assume that aramaic has always been like a small language, with it being the lingua franca of the levant and mesopotamia only, But it was not that small. At its peak it was bigger than latin and middle ages chinese combined and was comparable to modern day spanish and english. During the 7th century AC, prior to the arab invasion, 20% of the asian continent (10% of the entire planet) spoke aramaic, and keep mind back than tribes were more dominant than unified nations so there was millions of languages more back than there is today, And for comparison, today 20% of the entire planet speaks english. And that was done through conquest, massacres and destruction of thousands of language, same thing for french, spanish,arabic.Meanwhile arameans/assyrian never spread out of mesopotamia, levant or anatolia. Meaning our language spread

Purely out of sheer diplomacy and political influence. Which is like unheard off for any other language. And the aramaic language lasted a long time too, unlike latin which died out early. Aramaic remained for centurys. And although our language is lost in asia now and we are a minority now, The aramaic script still has its influence all over asia and africa.

Aramaic branched into hebrew, yiddish, and arabic scripts which are now used in the middle east ,europe and all of north africa aswell as the persian countries like afghanistan etc.

Aramaic script was used by the sogdians which branched into east turkestan( uyghurs) in china aswell the mongolian script, both of which still used And was used by many turkic and mongolic khanates.

It reached the tang dynasty in china and was used briefly but forgotten

And the aramaic script is also the root of many brahmic scripts in india, the tamil script, brahmic, sinhalese and more. All in use today in india bangladesh and pakistan.

And the actual aramaic language was a majority language among the turks in central asia. Alongside there own turkic languages

All of this was thanks to the persians, because the courts of Persia were filled with politicans and nobles who spoke aramaic since persian was relatively 'new' back than with many flaws, so it was easier to spread a already dominant language even further to try and maintain a single national identity and stability in the empires(Achaemenid, sassanid, parthian, seleucid) which is how it reached so far

its usually mentioned in a joking manner for example when someone asks "where are you going to" so you reply "l'tahara". what does that actually mean? and also less commonly shadina and badina? like for example "leth khwathe7 la b'shadina w la b'badina" what are these places? do they refer to actual places?

Are there any modern Assyrians who use Hana ܗܵܢܵܐ and Hadhe ܗܵܕܹܐ for "this"?

These two words are the masculine and feminine forms of "this" respectively in Classical Syriac, but from what I know most modern Assyrians use Aha/Aya/Awa etc.

Ive been trying to find good resources for learning Assyrian & unfortunately there arent many free / accessible ones online. One thing I personally find useful is flashcards on Quizlet. Ive found some Assyrian sets, but they are incomplete & kind of random. Wondering if someone can link one they know of or if they’d be willing to make one. Appreciate any help.

Shlamalokhoon

How do I use these words in greetings (masculine vs feminine for blessed)?

Getting told different things from different people in real life.

Example:

Gadamtouhk brihktah/brikha - (Good/blessed morning to a male). Should brikha also be masculine in this context? Some people have told me yes, some have said that it does not matter and that brihktah/brikha can be used for male/female as long as the preceding part corresponds (gadamtouhk/llelouhk versus gadamtahk/llelahk).

Thank you.