Learn Aramaic Pdf

[Vannessa Rataj]

Iam interested in learning Aramaic on my own. I would like to be able to have just a basic working usage of the language. I am more interested in learning its pronunciation than being able to read the language.

Would anyone be able to point me in the direction as to where I could get a CD or DVD or some other media I can use for the working basics of the Aramaic language, along with basic dialogues used in everyday situations that I can listen to?

I did some searching on the Internet, and it seems that the Catholic Maronites use mainly Western Middle Syriac/Western Middle Syriac Aramaic as their liturgical language. (Even though they also seem to use Arabic (look under heading '(5) The Liturgy') and in the Diaspora sometimes even the local language - e.g. English in the US.)

So even though you are not asking about Biblical Aramaic but rather about one of its successors, this is still a 'dead language'. Obviously these are usually not taught like living languages with modern methods, and so it seems very unlikely to find a CD/DVD with "basic dialogues used in everyday situations" for you to listen to (and as a matter of fact, I didn't come upon something like that in my searches).

If my assumption is right that the Aramaic used by the Catholic Maronites is the same as/a variant of Classical Syriac (if someone knows for sure, please leave a comment!) then there are of course books teaching the latter. Some of these even come with CDs, but they seem to use mainly examples taken from the Peshitta (the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition) or from some other classical Syriac text. You also have to realize that all these books teaching Classical Syriac are in the traditional style with a strong emphasis on grammar etc. All this is obviously very far from what you have been looking for, but if your desire to learn this language is greater than your aversion to these learning methods then here are just a few links (mainly to Amazon):

1) Leshono Suryoyo: First Studies in Syriac I mentioned this book first, since it seems to come with a CD (but some of the reviewers complained of not receiving one, others mentioned it comes only with the Hardcover edition). Both the text and the audio can also be found on archive.org.

2) Introduction To Syriac This book comes without a CD, but I included it since it judging from the reviews it seems to be a much easier book to use for studying without a teacher than the first one. There is also a Key to Exercises but with very bad reviews.

3) The New Syriac Primer: An Introduction to The Syriac Language This book does have two 5 Star reviews on Goodreads, but I put it last since the publishing house's link for downloading the accompanying CD material seems to be dead.

The question remains of course if the language, and especially the pronunciation taught in these scholarly books is still the same as the liturgical Aramaic used today in Maronite Churches. Quite likely there will be some differences, similar to the differences between Classical Latin and the Ecclesiastical Latin of the Catholic Church.

So finally, a last thing for you to consider: there is an online course in Surayt (also known as Turoyo), "a Neo-Aramaic language, traditionally spoken by the Syriac Christians (also known as Arameans and Assyrians) in different countries in the Middle East, and today by approximately 250,000 people in Europe. Surayt is a continuation of the ancient Aramaic language..." For the time being this course exists only in German, but an English version is supposed to go online soon.

I know a bit of Aramaic, but I'd really like to improve my skills. Recently I have been paying more attention to the Aramaic parts of our davening and sections from the Zohar featured in the siddur (Nusach Ari) but that is not enough to learn a language. Is there anywhere online in which I can start studying Hebrew's sister language?

I found this website, although it teaches Syriac-Aramaic, which is different in some subtle ways from Jewish-Aramaic, including using an entirely different script. (Also, Syriac is primarily used by Christians in the Eastern Lands, so it has little to do with Jews and Judaism, although I am sure there are surely some Jews who speak it.)

Put simply, I want to learn the Aramaic of the Targumim and other Rabbinic literature, so I can study that literature; online sources are preferred. Also, no Christian sources either! I know of a blog or two run by Christians that teach Galilean Aramaic for obvious reasons...

When you refer to the Aramaic of the targumim and rabbinic literature, be aware that you are referring to a number of different languages! Linguists refer to the language of the Yerushalmi, for example, as Palestinian Jewish Aramaic and the language of the Bavli as Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic. Some of the targumim belong to the former group, while some have elements of the latter group in them as well. Note also that the language of the Zohar is different again, so passages that you are looking at in your siddur might deviate grammatically from what you see in, for example, Shas.

In my opinion, just as you are not looking for Christian sites, you're also not looking for Jewish sites. You want proper, academic sites that don't support claims with reference to midrash or hagiography. Your intention, if I am not misunderstanding you, is to learn Aramaic in order to improve your grasp of texts that are written in that language. Lots of universities around the world offer courses in various Aramaic dialects, and some of those universities will offer classes online. None of them will be free.

I hate to say it, but I think that your best bet is printed material, not online courses, and I think that the way you were going about it originally was very good. Start with texts that you want to be able to read, have an English translation with you while you are reading them, and consult a dictionary. English translations of all of these texts exist online, if that's your preference.

By the way: while Hebrew and Aramaic are related, their relationship is not quite that of "sister languages". It's similar in some ways to the relationship between English and French: in other words, they belong to the same language family, but to two different classes within that family. English is Germanic and French is Romance. Similarly, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group, which is distinct from the Aramaic group of Semitic languages. See here.

This video series proved to be helpful in my studies of basic Judeo-Aramaic grammar. Although the purpose of these videos is to teach the language in regards to the Talmud Yerushalmi, they were still incredibly helpful in learning the basics to learn the Bavli as well.

(Even though I've added an answer to my own question, I'm still leaving the answer by Shimon bM marked as the "correct" one. The advice he brought is still extremely helpful, and actually lead me to find what I found, because I was looking for scholarly sources like he suggested.)

It is not Lashon Hakodesh and it was written in Aramaic as that was the language spoken at the time but nowadays where English is the vernacular why should Yeshiva students be pushed to learn Gemara in an extinct language.

I don't see it as a "punishment" any more than one is punished by having to read Shakespeare in his Elizabethan English, rather than in an "updated" text. It's not because the language is sacred, it's because that's the one that it was written in. After all, every translation is a commentary; are you really satisfied with limiting yourself to those composed by other people, never once learning how to read the actual thing yourself? And since the translators working for Artscroll aren't actually infallible, you'd do well not to rely so completely on what they've written, but learn how to critique it. And what better place to do so than in a charedi yeshiva!

According to Tiferes Yisroel the gemara was redacted multiple times by Ravina and Rav Ashi. The reformatted the words to make them more contemporary. The Masechtos they didn't get around to have uncommon words. But apparently even they didn't pull off a complete switcharoo.

Many times authorities are unsure of a word's meaning, and that word has halachic ramifications. We can't just get rid of the original and replace it with our possibly flawed translation. We must study it to become experts in it.

One example comes to mind is Rabbeinu Tam in Seffer Hayashar talking about business transactions on Chol Hamoed. He points out that Chazzal disallowed Prakmatia, a word only used to connote a business transaction, not personal acquisitions. This is a subtlety that might have been lost had someone previously translated that word into a more common, respectively modern, language.

Aramaic is actually one of the biblical languages (Daniel, Ezra/Nehemia) and even has words in the Pentateuch (e.g. "ygar sahadutha" by the treaty of Lavan and Yaakov). The Maharal interprets the unique significance of Aramaic and advocates that shnayim mikra v'echad targum specifically employ Targum Onkelos for this reason. (In seeming contrast, the gemara in Bava Kamma [at the end of Hachovel(?)]) criticizes those who combine the language of the Babylonians with Hebrew [i.e. the classical version of "Yiddish"] so this likely is irrelevant since the Babylonian tongue alone is advocated there.) Nonetheless, there is certainly a solid argument to be made that if the language comes at the cost of the lomdus, the tafel has replaced the ikar.

I am rather surprised at the answers here.There is nothing wrong with learning gemoro in English. But the fact is, it was written in Aramaic. Anyone who has learned meforshim will tell you that each word is 'counted'. There are no superfluous words. Every word contains a chiddush! No one can write like that today, so the English translation is not like the original.Therefore there is no alternative but to learn it in its original language.

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