FSI Amharic Basic Course

What is the FSI Amharic Basic Course?

This FSI Amharic course consists of a total of 60 units. The first volume of 50 units comprises dialogs, drills, and exercises that teach you the fundamentals of the language in great depth as well as giving you ample opportunity to work on your fluency. In the second volume, units 51-60, you will find an introduction to the Amharic script and a series of lessons designed to help you work on your reading comprehension.

Every unit is also accompanied by audio recordings, allowing you to become familiar with the sounds of Amharic while improving your listening and pronunciation.

How was FSI Amharic Basic originally used?

FSI Amharic was originally created for US diplomatic staff who needed to gain a good working knowledge of the language before being sent to postings in Amharic-speaking regions. They attended six hours of classes each day, supplementing this with a further two hours of personal study. In class, they spoke only Amharic, and even outside of lesson time, they were encouraged to use the language among themselves. In this way, they were able to gain the necessary proficiency in Amharic in only six months.

How can you use FSI Amharic Basic?

If you need to learn the language, this free Amharic course is one of the most comprehensive resources available. However, since you can’t recreate the same environment enjoyed by US diplomats, you will need to adapt the materials to your needs.

If you have another Amharic coursebook, you can use these dialogs and drills to supplement your learning. However, if these are your primary Amharic study materials, you can still make rapid progress, especially if you supplement them with any other resources you can find.

Taking it further

Even with this rich source of language input, you won’t be able to learn Amharic without speaking it. For this reason, as soon as you can, I urge you to seek out opportunities to put your Amharic to use. Look for native speakers to practice with and make speaking Amharic a part of your daily life. In this way, you will see how you quickly move beyond the basics and become a confident and competent Amharic speaker.