I’m getting a number of requests these days, inspired by the movie The Passion of the Christ, for language learning resources for Aramaic.
I’ll be happy to oblige to the extent that I can, but unfortunately there aren’t a lot of good resources out there, especially for self-teaching. The problem is that there isn’t a lot of demand for knowing Aramaic in this country, and so few resources have been developed. Many of the resources that do exist can be expensive and often presuppose that you already know Hebrew, since in biblical studies one usually learns Aramaic after one already knows Hebrew.
There’s just a dearth of good, self-teaching Aramaic resources. I’m hoping to help correct this with several projects that I have in the works, but they aren’t close to being ready yet.
What I generally recommend in the meantime is that someone who wants a little exposure to Aramaic get a copy of Classical Aramaic: Book 1 by Rocco Errico and Fr. Michael J. Bazzi. This is published in workbook format, so it’s suitable for self-study, and it is very basic, so it won’t be too hard. It will teach you how to read the Eastern Aramaic script and give you about a hundred word vocabulary, with many of the terms related to the faith.
Now, let me pose a question to you, the reader: Just how interested are you in learning Aramaic? Would you be interested, for example, in a two or three tape set that taught you how to both say the Rosary in Aramaic and understand it? How interested would you be in similar sets for saying the Rosary in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew? Would you like to use it for yourself or with your homeschool kids or your study group? If you have thoughts on any of these questions, e-mail me. I’m doing a little market research. (And note: This isn’t one of the secret projects. Those are still secret.)
It’s an interesting idea on one hand to say prayers in the “language of Jesus,” but I don’t know if it would help people become more devoted or simply become antiquarians.
My own educational background included courses in Biblical Aramaic, Talmudic, and Syriac (Jewish Theological), none of which I am an expert (I simply enjoyed learning about them). At least for me, while I loved the classes I can’t say the result was a greater spirituality.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be so for someone else!
“A theologian is one who prays.” If praying in another tongue can help one to be more devoted in the Christian language of faith, sacrifice, and charity, then of course it’s a great idea.
how did you learn aramaic
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Re: learning Aramaic. One of the aspects of the Maronite Catholic liturgy that attracted me was the fact that the most important parts of the liturgy are chanted in Syriac, which is of course a variant of Aramaic. And soon I joined the choir, and we learn to sing the language. It is absolutely wonderful, and I would invite any interested Christian to visit one of our churches.
There are some Syriac Catholic and Chaldean Catholic churches around the US where you can take classes in those versions of Aramaic.
Well, I hope to learn the prayers of the rosary in Syriac. To me it sounds like a mix of Hebrew and Arabic.
im looking to learn aramaic by books, cds, mp3 formats any way that i would be able to read and speak this language is there any products that you would recommend thank you and hope to hear from you soon
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