Amharic

Well... I used to think that I learned languages easily. Then I went to Ukraine and struggled to learn passable Russian. Now, I am baffled. Rob just brought home a book to learn colloquial Amharic and I've had to force myself to begin copying the syllabary. (Amharic doesn't have an alphabet, but a syllabary. This means that there are different symbols for, for example: kä, ku, ki, ka, ke, kï, and ko.) That's all that I can do right now: copy. There is a system, for sure, but... yikes! How complex. I'm just amazed at language. In desperation, I have written to a person that works with international students at our church, asking him to keep an eye out for any Ethiopian students with whom I could become language partners. Until then, I'll be busy copying!