Realising the other day that I don’t even know what Amharic or Tigrinya sound like when spoken I’ve now found a few learn Amharic videos on YouTube… the one below gives some basic phrases to use whilst shopping or eating out:
Though not sure I’ll ever be able to pronounce ‘… ligezaw ifeligalehugn’ (meaning ‘I would like to buy…’)!
Unfortunately I’ve not found any videos for learning Tigrinya, though I did find out that Tigrinya and Amharic do use the same script/alphabet (Ge’ez) – but unsure yet if that actually makes things any easier or not!
If anyone has any pointers to videos of how to learn Tigrinya, then please pass them on.
Turns out that my Amharic phrasebook may be of less use than I first thought – I’ve now found out that in the Tigray province (Mekelle is the capital city of Tigray) it’s actually Tigrinya that’s spoken! The script looks quite similar to Amharic, but I’m not sure if that’s where the similarity ends… guess I’ll find out soon enough!
This weekend I’ve met 3 more people who have visited Ethiopia, mainly on tours of the ‘historical circuit’ (the towns and churches around northern Ethiopia), so has been great to hear that they all had an excellent time.
I’ve also been finding out more about the IT infrastructure in Ethiopia, emails from other volunteers currently working there have explained that generally the PCs being used are relatively recent and have Windows (XP or Vista) installed – although they may not always be genuine copies, which then causes problems with essential security updates not getting installed – perpetuating virus issues. However, the networking might be lacking (esp. compared to what I’m used to a the OU), i.e. few servers and no firewalls.
I’m also already thinking about what I need to take with me, what I’ve got left to buy , whether it’ll all fit in my rucsac and whether I’ll still be able to lift the rucsac once packed!
E-learning training workshop with Mekelle University tutors 12 Mar 2010 - Jaime Oyarzo Two weeks of intensive training and tutorials with Mekelle University professors have been organized in March. During these sessions the tutors presented their course progress, and instructors expre. […]
Dakar (Baby) 3 Mar 2010 - andrewhaynes For most of my time in The Gambia, I’ve been trying to get to visit Dakar in Senegal. Everyone that’s been says it’s a great place to visit and is the closest thing to a European city in this pa. […]
Christmas and New Year 28 Jan 2010 - andrewhaynes Just a quick one – (even quicker because a virus just ate the half oage I’d written and was about to copy from my flash drive). Christmas and New Year good fun – not as good as being at home wit. […]
MoodleBites Online Education training courses 24 Jan 2010 - Jaime Oyarzo With the experience from the workshop in November 2009, we started a reflection that result in some changes in the courses development that are congruent with our objectives. In order to better accomm. […]
A visit from the Ethiopian Ministry of Education 17 Jan 2010 - admin This morning, representatives from the Ethiopian Ministry of Education visited the new Digital-Campus elearning computer labs. Although it was only a very brief visit, all went very well, despite a po. […]
MU new student computer labs up and running 15 Dec 2009 - admin These two 100 terminals student computer pilot e-learning labs implements open-source solutions (Linux, Moodle, MySQL) in a distributed, server-centric, thin client environment which uses both new des. […]
Andy’s Big Slide 12 Dec 2009 - andrewhaynes People have been telling me for years that motorcycling is a dangerous pastime. Whilst having to agree with them, I’ve always felt that the pleasure derived is worth the risk. I’ve never considere. […]
MU Moodle site available off campus 1 Dec 2009 - admin A MU elearning server, using Moodle (http://www.mu.edu.et/elearning/) is currently available off campus extending the possibilities of online and blended learning to more professors and students at MU. […]
Approval of the MU Institutional e-learning Strategy 1 Dec 2009 - admin MU has recently approved its Institutional e-learning strategy under the digital-campus program deployment. The new UM e-learning strategy aims to embed e-Learning as a key element of the teaching and. […]
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