I am excited to continue this semester learning Ge’ez and I hope it is just as informative as last semester. I think it would be good to start by reviewing the content from last semester until we work out the details for my language partner. In that I can also print out all my materials and organize them with the corresponding notes. Re-writing my notes is one way to help me memorize concepts and since I previously only dealt with the digital version of the content that Kesis Moges gave me, it would be good to work with the physical copies.
Unfortunately, I didn’t practice Ge’ez much over winter break but I hope to more now since I have had a new family member come from Ethiopia that speaks and reads Ge’ez! It was very exciting to meet him as he is a scholar in many ways. He is also very forthcoming about what he knows and easy to engage with.
Last semester, we left off on learning more verb conjugations, pronouns, and numbers. My plan is to start with the numbers then verb conjugations and different types of pronouns. I am thinking about working with a language partner that was once a student of Ge’ez and now teaches it. Besides that there is another proficient student of Ge’ez that I am thinking about, he is a deacon and a university student. Both of these people are in Canada and I only know them through mutual friends or working on projects together. However, they have aided my understanding in ge’ez in one way or another.
Until that is sorted out, I am also continuing on working on Ge’ez translation projects. The current one I am working on is called Melkea Si’il or ‘Portrait of the icon’. It is very beautiful and rhythmic.
In the future I am interested in doing larger preservation of documents through grants and research opportunities and also through the Orthodox Church. Next winter, I want to spend some time in Eritrea and Ethiopia continuing my language study. These are long term dreams but it is truly where my passion is and I intend to invest in it. In the past I have seen that one of the possible language partners has spoken at large in conference style on their research area. I think this is a good step forward because I can also ask him further about his past research and how he got into it. Regardless if I will have the opportunity with this particular community partner, I think he would still be open to discussing those topics with me in the future.
Overall, I am really excited about the decision I made to join this class and am hoping even more than from last semester.
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