Resources to learn Syriac with Garshuni (Arabic characters) and Latin characters

[dzheremi]

Hi all. I thought this might be a fun little thread, after reading in a different one that user @Al Masihi can read Syriac if it is written in Arabic characters (what is called "Garshuni" or "Karshuni"), and he's not the only person I've interacted with who has said that.

I found this video on YouTube yesterday posted by "Syrian Facebook" of Fairuz singing a few Syriac hymns with Garshuni provided in the video, as well as Arabic translation. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for me, the Syriac is the Serto ('simple' or 'clear' script as used by the Western Syriacs (Syriac Orthodox, Indian Syriacs, and Maronite Catholics), which I can't read nearly as well as the Estrangelo ('classical') or even Madnhaya ('Eastern'/'Nestorian') script, so it is a lesson for me, too.

And from a different video posted by one Bilel Shediek, we get the following Latin transliteration:

shob'ho l'hau qolo dahuo goshmo u almilat romo dahuo fagro shmaoy of idne hzayoy ayne moshoy of ide uaxle fomo
_________________________________________
hau daqrole lo laozor ulalaimo bro darmalto hu neros talo drahme al garmaihon danide ho qorbono etqarab ho nafshoto metdaxron nehue be nioho lmite dahlofaihon etqarab boreshlem delal ubaetu dital arao al madeb'ho bromo nehue doxrono tobo
_________________________________________
amano morio amano morio morio amano blilio bimomo

+++

And because the Syriacs, thanks be to God, have not completely lost their language in everyday use (unlike the Copts, who mostly only use Coptic in the Church...for now!), there are also secular folk/love songs, like this one called "Im Mar" (Say Yes) by the amazing singer Jan Karat (b. 1949 Qamishli, d. 2003), presented in modern Syriac (Neo-Aramaic written in Serto), Garshuni, Arabic, and English courtesy of AolafCOM:

From what I've read about the singer, he did not speak Syriac natively, as his native tongue was the Arabic dialect common to Mardin (variously called Mardili, Mardini, etc), Tur Abdin being a mixed Syriac, Kurdish, and Arab area.

And while it's not my favorite video at all (I don't think the organ works for Syriac prayers, but I guess some like to use it in the west, because I've heard it in Syriac Orthodox videos from Canada, too), most helpful would probably be the liturgical text itself, here presented by YouTube channel MOR IGNATIUS ELIAS in Syriac (Serto), Garshuni, Arabic, Latin transliteration, and German (apparently the Syriac Orthodox Church is rather large and growing in Germany):

I will add other resources as I find them. I know I've seen videos of Fairuz songs with the Arabic lyrics written in Syriac (I think to help Maronites learn or re-learn to read Syriac), so if I can find those again I'll put them here. I hope this is helpful or at least interesting to someone.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Hi all. I thought this might be a fun little thread, after reading in a different one that user @Al Masihi can read Syriac if it is written in Arabic characters (what is called "Garshuni" or "Karshuni"), and he's not the only person I've interacted with who has said that.

I found this video on YouTube yesterday posted by "Syrian Facebook" of Fairuz singing a few Syriac hymns with Garshuni provided in the video, as well as Arabic translation. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for me, the Syriac is the Serto ('simple' or 'clear' script as used by the Western Syriacs (Syriac Orthodox, Indian Syriacs, and Maronite Catholics), which I can't read nearly as well as the Estrangelo ('classical') or even Madnhaya ('Eastern'/'Nestorian') script, so it is a lesson for me, too.

And from a different video posted by one Bilel Shediek, we get the following Latin transliteration:

shob'ho l'hau qolo dahuo goshmo u almilat romo dahuo fagro shmaoy of idne hzayoy ayne moshoy of ide uaxle fomo
_________________________________________
hau daqrole lo laozor ulalaimo bro darmalto hu neros talo drahme al garmaihon danide ho qorbono etqarab ho nafshoto metdaxron nehue be nioho lmite dahlofaihon etqarab boreshlem delal ubaetu dital arao al madeb'ho bromo nehue doxrono tobo
_________________________________________
amano morio amano morio morio amano blilio bimomo

+++

And because the Syriacs, thanks be to God, have not completely lost their language in everyday use (unlike the Copts, who mostly only use Coptic in the Church...for now!), there are also secular folk/love songs, like this one called "Im Mar" (Say Yes) by the amazing singer Jan Karat (b. 1949 Qamishli, d. 2003), presented in modern Syriac (Neo-Aramaic written in Serto), Garshuni, Arabic, and English courtesy of AolafCOM:

From what I've read about the singer, he did not speak Syriac natively, as his native tongue was the Arabic dialect common to Mardin (variously called Mardili, Mardini, etc), Tur Abdin being a mixed Syriac, Kurdish, and Arab area.

And while it's not my favorite video at all (I don't think the organ works for Syriac prayers, but I guess some like to use it in the west, because I've heard it in Syriac Orthodox videos from Canada, too), most helpful would probably be the liturgical text itself, here presented by YouTube channel MOR IGNATIUS ELIAS in Syriac (Serto), Garshuni, Arabic, Latin transliteration, and German (apparently the Syriac Orthodox Church is rather large and growing in Germany):

I will add other resources as I find them. I know I've seen videos of Fairuz songs with the Arabic lyrics written in Syriac (I think to help Maronites learn or re-learn to read Syriac), so if I can find those again I'll put them here. I hope this is helpful or at least interesting to someone.

Interesting info.; and Fairuz is truly classic.

 

[Amittai]

Fortuitously I just came across this:

Category:Assyrian - Wikiversity

It seems to be essentially about Aramaic and Syriac which is perhaps sometimes called Assyrian (or Chaldean).

 

[Barney2.0]

The Arabic dialect that I speak in is heavily borrowed from Syriac:

A Guide To Levantine Arabic - Industry Arabic

There are certain words that I can understand from the Serto Syriac due to the familiarity in words, I can’t understand the Madnhaya as well as the Western dialect of Syriac.