Between this and things like Steven Pinker making his Harvard Psychology lectures from his course available for free (among numerous other examples) Social Media truly is what you make of it. Sure you can watch flat earthers doing (failed) experiments and somehow fall victim to it, but those of us that comprehend the scientific method enough to at least recognize when it is or isn't being applied it truly can be a golden age of information/education. I'm not sure if messages to this video still get noticed or anything but allow me to add my voice (figuratively of course 🙃) to the many here already and say with the utmost sincerity and gratitude... Thank You!
Have you seen Stanford's Behavioral Biology lecture series from Robert Sapolsky? You mentioned a psych lecture series, so I thought you might enjoy Sapolsky's series if you haven't yet seen it...
@@andrewjoslin1162 perhaps in passing only, but the idea of Stanford content in general is intriguing. Psychology is not a particular interest of mine specifically, I just enjoyed that Pinker's seemed truly ripped right from each session in his school year. I will certainly take a peak, greatly appreciate the suggestion.
I completely agree. Any video on ancient languages, done well, is a service to all, especially lovers of anthropology, linguistics and history overall.
@@PeterNjeim Education used to be for the rich, and now has turned to propaganda using the literacy campaigns with the rise of democracy such as in Salafi Islam or Juche Korea. (No value judgements, pls.) - Adûnâi
Many years ago, I met a cuneiform scholar named Cornelia Wunsch and was fascinated by her knowledge and her work - thank you for this doorway as a way to begin to understand even a little bit of what she does. I appreciate it very much!
Me: *Listening to ground rules 4:17 * "Good point, learning this language will take a lot of time, practice and patience." Also me after Lesson 1: "On this day...I alone possess the wisdom and skill to cross the dimensions and come face to face with 𒀭𒂗𒆤 himself, and single-handedly I shall avenge mankind once and for all." (Seriously though, I'm excited to learn! Thanks so much for this!)
Sumerian is structurally different from any other language we know of on Earth. Thank you so much, for teaching others how to read this amazing language.
My ancestors are Sumerian, through and through, and I am proud to be from the country of Two Rivers and the original inhabitants of this country. The Sumerian language is very beautiful. I advise you to learn it. 🤗🕊
As a fellow language teacher, I cannot tell you how highly I admire you both and how appreciative I am. My eyes are watering a little bit. Thank you with utmost sincerity!
Interesting, I love to learn new things like this. I’m in my early 70s and have this year taught myself, successfully I might add, Pittman’s Shorthand via the Internet. Now I have discovered this course, Wow! I shall certainly enjoy this, as I have always been interested in Ancient History throughout my life. What a fantastic challenge. Thank You for presenting this course.
@@افتاريتاجراسك I wish you good luck on yout journey! Is your goal to speak it fluently someday? Also are there more people learning that you can practice with?
I am proud that I am learning that the first person to invent writing and language, the Sumerians, and that I was also born in their place, the place of the Sumerians in southern Iraq. Thank you.🤍
I have a few pieces of literature on Sumerian Cuneiform Grammar, Syntax, etc., but really wasn't making much progress. Thank you for your work, truly. I'll be binge watching for a while!
well, I must be ready, because I have been just looking around at Sumerian on Wikipedia. Then, a week since I have looked at anything Sumerian, my teacher appears on TH-cam.
@@GaryMcKinnonUFO I realised that if I learned this I can writte and No one not even the Teacher will understand this. So I will used this to an advantage.
Thank you for making this information available to the masses at no cost. I'm excited to begin my journey to try and learn Sumerian. Your videos are going to be an enormous help!
Omg! Thank youuu so much!!! I'm so glad that your giving out this information for free! This is amazing!!! Thank you so much again for your hard work!!!
I remember going into a Blockbuster when DVDs were coming out and asking if they were hiring DVD rewinders. The clerk actually asked the manager. She laughed at him and said no. BTW, Love the lesson. Thank you.
Thank you so much for the effort of making this videos avaible to everyone, specially when there are so many self-claimed specialists out there making stupid claims about the language and culture. I was almost being dragged by all this BS of Ancient Astronauts, but gladly I found this content to save me. Thank you again and I'm excited to keep learning seriously. Regards from Brazil!
love the book and what seems unreachable be obtainable. I finally got over my doubt and have spent most of the day studying. thank you, you have given me an outlet that my time and effort is going to be well spent in more ways I can imagine and looking forward to discovering it for myself
This is so awesome. You're teaching style is great. Now I'm gonna spend this quarantine time learning Sumerian! Thanks so much for sharing this! It's a great service to the public
Thank you sir I didn't even think this would be available to anyone except stichin . May the universe truly bless and prosper you for doing this for us low folks who can't afford this stuff . Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge 🙏🏼 I think ancient languages should become classes at school too, so we all could connect and understand history. Best wishes from Brasil!
Thank you for preserving something so valuable to History. What a beautiful and majestic language. I'm happy to see a playlist on the side-bar out of the corner of my eye, and I'd love to learn more.
Thank you for posting this! I've been searching for a course like this for a while now! Because you were asking in the beginning: "e" is pronounced like "ay" in "day" but without the "y" at the end. This is the German pronunciation of the letter "E." If I am not mistaken, German archeologists started the research on Sumerian/Akkadian grammar and later researchers just took over the terms used rather than translating them into English. Keep this up PLEASE : )
Dude the amount of blessings you deserve!!!! Thank you so much for this you are literally helping me in my journey !!!! Bless you and your soul !!!! You are the goat!
I'm late to the party, but just started studying archaeology and got really invested in cuneiform. Love your videos and you and your wife seem to be really nice people. Thanks for putting these videos up for free :)
This is amazing. I really relate to the surreal feeling of being able to look at something very ancient, that few remember how to read, and step back in time into the shoes of the people who put it there to be read. I felt the same way after trekking through the Swedish forests to find obscure, unfrequented rune stones after learning to read Runic Swedish and Proto-Germanic, and reading words that had only been understood by a handful of people in the last millennium or so. Of course, those stones are not nearly as old as the Sumerian ones, but any forgotten language is a beautiful thing to resurrect.
@@motro1301 acording to Turkish Language Society The closest language to this language is Turkish also this Society today still accept altaic language family (korean japanes and turkish) first of all German and English linguists suggested that this language is of Altaic origin, but that wasn't certain, SO turkish Language Society collected and studied all the Sumerian tablets(today most of them at turkey) they thought this language was of altai origin, BUT This information is not available except turkey because altaic language family was debated in the 1950s, and in the 1960s it became controversial and uncertain around the world. It was accepted from the 19th century until the 1960s(i do not know what happened at 1950,s and 60,s)
I love language! I have been studying my ancestral language of Bodewadmi (Potawatomi) for several years now. My people are originally from the area around Lake Michigan, and our language is fascinating and extremely rich. I am very excited to delve in to this most ancient of written languages, and see what treasures it has for us!! I have already purchased your first and second books, and will be working through them. Thank you so much for these resources for all of us language geeks!! Blessings to you!! :)
@@AndreaMastacht-lj4in Unfortunately, it is in decline. We only have a few speakers who grew up speaking the language, and they are all getting on in years. There are some language programs in a few schools, and several of the bands have language programs with content available on the internet, in both recorded and live presentation formats. There are probably more people learning it now compared with say, 20 years ago, so hopefully interest will continue to grow.
Hello Charles, you have to push control-shift-u at once in a first step and then the additional number in a second (here any combination between 12000 and 123FF). The +sign is not necessary.
@inspire734 What doesn't Work for you? I Just tried it again and all wenn fine. It should work because it's Unicode. You have to press enter after typing in the code. That finally lets the wanted sign appear.
Great! I wanted to learn sumerian but the grammars I saw were very daunting - this has really made it so much easier to get into! I will be following this series intently.
Fantastic, I’m glad we can help! Josh has also just finished drafting a book intended to accompany this video series, which may be of interest 😁 we’ll publicize it when it’s available!
As Iraqi citizen I feel happy because you learned the language of my ancestors hope I can learn it one day. I can speak 3 languages, but I know nothing about Sumerian language.
This is incredible, amazing work. Thank you so so much! I have the other books and resources (preparing for a university course) and kept hitting the same roadblock over and over. After just Lesson 1 all of those difficulties are cleared. It is incredibly helpful to have someone actually talk through the concepts. PS I cant believe the ridiculous "criticism" on this video, I rather enjoy knowing there is an actual person behind this and not just a computer. This series is a game-changer. Thank you.
crumbcake Thank you so much!! There is a companion grammar to go along with it on Amazon that we wrote. I think the link is in the video description. If you happen to already have it, would you mind leaving your comment here as a review? That would be incredibly helpful! Please let us know if we can help!! Josh
@@DigitalHammurabi thank you for your message! I initially thought I couldn't get the book on Amazon Germany (which as it turns out was because it auto-translated the title. I should have searched by author instead), but now on second try I found it, and I'm definitely picking it up. I'd be happy to leave a review!
I appreciate that you have taken the time to make such an informative video and uploaded it at no cost to us. I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I feel I should point something out. When you talk, you tend to make all kinds of digressions away from the topic at hand, making it difficult to follow you. You may refer to topics and then stop, explaining that you'll discuss it later. Sometimes you talk around a topic without getting to the point. I would really love to see you be more direct. Please don't feel that I am ungrateful for all the work you have done to present this interesting subject. I know it takes a lot of time and effort, and I also know that I probably couldn't do any better.
Hi Baruch! Thank you for that. Yeah, you are absolutely right. The series has gotten better as we have come along with our production. So glad you are with us!!
I am an Arab from Syria residing in Germany. I love history. I recently learned that the language of the jinn is the Sumerian language, and I have become curious to learn something about it, but after this first lesson, I feel as if I am living in Babylon, and I feel that I will quickly learn from you this wonderful language. Your style is wonderful. Please continue and give us Lessons and vocabulary, and do not hold back, your style is wonderful and it made me attracted to this language. Please continue
I some how landed on this. Just like to say thank you for putting this up and secondly thanks for you wisdom and stories. Its such a natural and calming experience of teaching and on the receiving end of learning :)
witch do you think is easier to learn akkadian or sumerian? you guys are doing an unbelievable service by sharing this info for free thank you so much keep up the great work!
brett I think, generally speaking, people have an easier time learning Akkadian. There are cognate languages to Akkadian, which has resulted in a great number of resources, and because it is a Semitic language, people who learn Hebrew can easily transition into learning Akkadian. But this is just my experience talking :-)
when you were talking about Reduplication the first thing that went through my mind was "Unga-shakka, unga-unga-unga-shakka - I-I-I-I-I-I'm hooked on a feeling! I'm high on believing- that you're in love with me!"
Jeffrey Nunes Make sure you check out the new video Josh did with the vocabulary and the answers to the exercises (the link is in the description)! He was really proud of himself for figuring out how to do it :-)
We are in the process of editing Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian, the book that will cover the material in these videos in more detail (with more exercises and explanations). It should be good :-)
This will be great if you keep it up. Several years ago, I decided I was going to learn Sumerian by studying cuneiform. All I learned was an alphabet. But I have some background here. Don't stop teaching the ones that really want to learn.....
I'm only half way through lesson one. Barely started the adjectives. I just don't want to get lesson seven & get stranded in Mesopotamia without really being able to communicate! LOL!
Great video thanks. I'm gonna probably have to watch it 2 more times and take notes. I like physical copies so i'm gonna hand write my own flash cards. Thank you for this will be following. I am gonna check out patreon account also.
The Chinese writing system has kept a similar system for thousands of years. Simple logograms represent natural items, like fire, water, wood, sun, moon. e.g. 木 is wood. Many logograms can turn into determinatives when they are placed on the side (mostly left) , top, or bottom of a more complicated character. e。材 means wood-log. Logograms can also be only syllables to help pronunciation. e.g. 沐 means bathing
Yeah i dont know why but lot of metal albums seems to be fascinated with sumerian, mainly because what was once demons of sumer and babylon influenced the demonology of the bible and modern satanists and goth people. At least its making sumerian cool.
@@motro1301 well... metal is not satanist. At least Nightwish isn't. Generally metal is fascinated by the origins of civilizations, language and socities.
@@fercam5187 yeah im aware that not all metal is necessarily satanist(and im not claiming metal is bad either). I was just refering to examples that this might possibly be the connection(or influences). It can be also neopaganism or celtic stuff. Im not that ignorant cause im also a metal fan but there were a lot of instances trying to reclaiming whats lost in modern western culture like sumerians celtics or gauls and that branch was just one of the examples that i know. And metal albums always had cool album covers.
Much appreciated. Originally I was looking for information on Ugaritic language, which led to Akkadian, which led to Sumerian. For some odd reason, the Sumerian is (so far) much easier for me to learn. Maybe the resources are just better;) Your channel is a gods-send, so thank you!
I had hoped that my ancient language would remain until the present time and we would speak it, but unfortunately it did not, and we are Sumerians and Iraqis. 💔
If many Iraqi people wanted to learn Sumerian and they started practicising it would be possible! The Livonian language was extinct and now has one native speaker born in 2020. Cornish and Manx were also revived and a few Native American languages are being revived. It is all about community effort and many people trying to do it.
I have decided on some methodology for once and intend on learning all that you will teach. Scribbling notes in one cheap notebook, writing it out properly in a more exquisite one, and making flash cards for the vocabulary. Should also grab any books you two recommend, and I have noted that learning german somehow helps with understanding the technical terms. Memorizing the cuneiform script will be a tough task though.
Thanks for this video! I don’t know if I’ll be able to give enough time to study this properly, but if I can just pick up a little understanding of ancient texts it will be worth it. One thing I’ve always been puzzled by is how do we know how these ancient symbols were pronounced, if the language hasn’t been spoken for several centuries?
I understand how you felt reading through the glass. I studied Old Church Slavic in grad school. When I would visit old sites in Russia and was able to read what was written on the walls of the ancient churches or, like you did, read through the glass an old manuscript it was quite the feeling.
"Be kind, rewind" Hahahaha I'm older than dirt, and this would mean 15 minutes to rewind a one hour tape back in the olden days. :) I rewound. Watching this multiple times has already helped, especially after seeing some of your other videos. Thanks! You Two are doing something very good for all who are interested!
I remember VCR tapes...we used to drive my mum crazy as kids because we'd never rewind. I'm really glad that you found it interesting, we are having so much fun doing this!
How did the Sumerian language relate to the peoples of Europe when they were in Iraq... Thank you for this job and thank you to those who are learning the language of my country, Iraq.
@AndreaMastacht-lj4in Yes but it's difficult because of the war and because Iraq is going forward and safe, it's not difficult and everyone in Iraq is trying to learn and revive this language.
Between this and things like Steven Pinker making his Harvard Psychology lectures from his course available for free (among numerous other examples) Social Media truly is what you make of it.
Sure you can watch flat earthers doing (failed) experiments and somehow fall victim to it, but those of us that comprehend the scientific method enough to at least recognize when it is or isn't being applied it truly can be a golden age of information/education.
I'm not sure if messages to this video still get noticed or anything but allow me to add my voice (figuratively of course 🙃) to the many here already and say with the utmost sincerity and gratitude... Thank You!
We definitely noticed your comment :-) Thank you so much!!
Have you seen Stanford's Behavioral Biology lecture series from Robert Sapolsky? You mentioned a psych lecture series, so I thought you might enjoy Sapolsky's series if you haven't yet seen it...
@@andrewjoslin1162 perhaps in passing only, but the idea of Stanford content in general is intriguing. Psychology is not a particular interest of mine specifically, I just enjoyed that Pinker's seemed truly ripped right from each session in his school year.
I will certainly take a peak, greatly appreciate the suggestion.
jackson crawford's old norse videos are great too
😊@@LapsedSkeptic
Videos like this are a public service.
I completely agree. Any video on ancient languages, done well, is a service to all, especially lovers of anthropology, linguistics and history overall.
Yes bro. This is a priceless treasure for me. I wanted to read sumerian and now my dream has come true
Indeed
IKR! 😢
Although education has become a business these days, you people preserved the real essence of it. Thank You so Much!
Sneha education was always a business and was meant for the very rich for most of society
@@ShidaiTaino this 100%. Don't know why the video creator pinned such an ignorant comment.
Sooo trueee! Thankyouuu
@@PeterNjeim Education used to be for the rich, and now has turned to propaganda using the literacy campaigns with the rise of democracy such as in Salafi Islam or Juche Korea. (No value judgements, pls.)
- Adûnâi
Many years ago, I met a cuneiform scholar named Cornelia Wunsch and was fascinated by her knowledge and her work - thank you for this doorway as a way to begin to understand even a little bit of what she does. I appreciate it very much!
Me:
*Listening to ground rules 4:17 *
"Good point, learning this language will take a lot of time, practice and patience."
Also me after Lesson 1:
"On this day...I alone possess the wisdom and skill to cross the dimensions and come face to face with 𒀭𒂗𒆤 himself, and single-handedly I shall avenge mankind once and for all."
(Seriously though, I'm excited to learn! Thanks so much for this!)
How did you type in cuneiform?
Sunday Butter House Hi ☺️ well you can just copy and paste it from google, or download keyboard app with unicodes.
Did you start learning?
American here, humbled and thankful to be learning this language 👣
Sumerian is structurally different from any other language we know of on Earth. Thank you so much, for teaching others how to read this amazing language.
You’re so welcome!
Try researching on Tamil, you will find many similarities between them
@@sanjana250 genetic links too... They are believed to be Dravidian
According to the history of my native tribe (Meru), my ancestors were Sumerians ❤
@@m.sparks4394 In Tanzania or Kenya?
I've always had a interest in Ancient languages. Thank you for sharing this
try looking into Tamil. Its fascinating.
@@sushmita9040 Ancient Tamil or Modern Tamil?
My ancestors are Sumerian, through and through, and I am proud to be from the country of Two Rivers and the original inhabitants of this country. The Sumerian language is very beautiful. I advise you to learn it. 🤗🕊
Are you trying to learn it? Are there any groups of people trying to learn how to speak it and practice it?
Well done DH on creating a series of videos that make Sumerian attainable for beginners!
As a fellow language teacher, I cannot tell you how highly I admire you both and how appreciative I am. My eyes are watering a little bit. Thank you with utmost sincerity!
Thank you!! I am a homeschool mom teaching ancient sumarian and cuniform to my 11 children! What a gift this is!❤
Your kids are learning Sumerian? How is it going?
@AndreaMastacht-lj4in really well! They think it is fun! I purchased some clay from Amazon and we made our own clay tablets too.
Interesting, I love to learn new things like this. I’m in my early 70s and have this year taught myself, successfully I might add, Pittman’s Shorthand via the Internet. Now I have discovered this course, Wow! I shall certainly enjoy this, as I have always been interested in Ancient History throughout my life. What a fantastic challenge. Thank You for presenting this course.
You don't know how proud I feel now because my ancestors are Sumerians and I yearn for them in my blood and came to learn their language. ❤
Are you trying to learn Sumerian?
Yes, I know all the letters, but pronunciation is very difficult @@AndreaMastacht-lj4in
@@افتاريتاجراسك I wish you good luck on yout journey! Is your goal to speak it fluently someday?
Also are there more people learning that you can practice with?
OMG - you're absolutely awesome for having this!!!! Thank you so very, very much.
These videos are proof of how beautiful and amazing the use of technology can be… technology doesn’t have to be EVIL all the time!
I am proud that I am learning that the first person to invent writing and language, the Sumerians, and that I was also born in their place, the place of the Sumerians in southern Iraq. Thank you.🤍
Are you trying to learn Sumerian? Are there more Iraqi people learning it?
Been here for five minutes and secrets of the universe have just been revealed to me !!! WOW !!! Thanks !!! I'm Kidding !
I have a few pieces of literature on Sumerian Cuneiform Grammar, Syntax, etc., but really wasn't making much progress. Thank you for your work, truly. I'll be binge watching for a while!
Sumerian lexicon from Halloran and grammar?
When the student is ready; the teacher will appear....
"Experience is a hard teacher, She gives the test first and the lesson afterward." That's a quote from a US Football player.
well, I must be ready, because I have been just looking around at Sumerian on Wikipedia. Then, a week since I have looked at anything Sumerian, my teacher appears on TH-cam.
@@GaryMcKinnonUFO I realised that if I learned this I can writte and No one not even the Teacher will understand this. So I will used this to an advantage.
@@GaryMcKinnonUFO
But it's always a hard test and most people not get the lesson from first test
@@hildasumer7065 Yes the first test is the hardest, then people become stronger and can put up with further testing ;+}
Thank you for making this information available to the masses at no cost. I'm excited to begin my journey to try and learn Sumerian. Your videos are going to be an enormous help!
You are so welcome, please let us know if you have any questions!
How is your study going?
Omg! Thank youuu so much!!! I'm so glad that your giving out this information for free! This is amazing!!! Thank you so much again for your hard work!!!
I remember going into a Blockbuster when DVDs were coming out and asking if they were hiring DVD rewinders. The clerk actually asked the manager. She laughed at him and said no. BTW, Love the lesson. Thank you.
DVD Jokes, in the 21st century? Kinda funny though :)
Thank you so much for the effort of making this videos avaible to everyone, specially when there are so many self-claimed specialists out there making stupid claims about the language and culture. I was almost being dragged by all this BS of Ancient Astronauts, but gladly I found this content to save me. Thank you again and I'm excited to keep learning seriously. Regards from Brazil!
love the book and what seems unreachable be obtainable. I finally got over my doubt and have spent most of the day studying. thank you, you have given me an outlet that my time and effort is going to be well spent in more ways I can imagine and looking forward to discovering it for myself
Omg thank you very much for teaching! I really wanted to learn but never had a chance before
Did you get to start?
Immediately subscribed. This is really an elevation for my personal improvement . Thank you so much 🙏
Victor Samuel We are so happy to have you with us!!
This is so awesome. You're teaching style is great. Now I'm gonna spend this quarantine time learning Sumerian! Thanks so much for sharing this! It's a great service to the public
Thank you sir I didn't even think this would be available to anyone except stichin .
May the universe truly bless and prosper you for doing this for us low folks who can't afford this stuff . Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge 🙏🏼 I think ancient languages should become classes at school too, so we all could connect and understand history. Best wishes from Brasil!
Dr. Josh, thanks for posting. Making knowledge accessible is such a great thing. Thank you!
I hit the Subscribe button so fast that time actually stopped!!
Herrschaftes Vorträglein, das der Herr Profesor da uns gab. Ich bedanke mich sehr bei Ihm.
Thank you so much, sir! You contribution to public science and education is enormous!
Thank you Dr. Josh. What an amazing subject.
Is anyone else finding this surprisingly easy to follow?
Thank you for preserving something so valuable to History. What a beautiful and majestic language. I'm happy to see a playlist on the side-bar out of the corner of my eye, and I'd love to learn more.
Thanks for sharing this video! I am following the course in Memrise and hope I ll make it to the end!
Thanks you did an excellent job.
this made me so happy i love to learn for the sake of knowledge and growth !!! bless u
Thank you for posting this! I've been searching for a course like this for a while now!
Because you were asking in the beginning: "e" is pronounced like "ay" in "day" but without the "y" at the end. This is the German pronunciation of the letter "E."
If I am not mistaken, German archeologists started the research on Sumerian/Akkadian grammar and later researchers just took over the terms used rather than translating them into English.
Keep this up PLEASE : )
Dude the amount of blessings you deserve!!!! Thank you so much for this you are literally helping me in my journey !!!! Bless you and your soul !!!! You are the goat!
As an iraqi myself i am dedicated to learn my old language, my heritage!
We're so glad to have you with us!
❤
Aren t sumerians kurds? I don t think they were arabic
@@ALBULENA953 no, they where probably from Bahrain, while the Kurds are indo-european.
@@lfwj arent they also indo European
I'm late to the party, but just started studying archaeology and got really invested in cuneiform. Love your videos and you and your wife seem to be really nice people. Thanks for putting these videos up for free :)
This is amazing. I really relate to the surreal feeling of being able to look at something very ancient, that few remember how to read, and step back in time into the shoes of the people who put it there to be read. I felt the same way after trekking through the Swedish forests to find obscure, unfrequented rune stones after learning to read Runic Swedish and Proto-Germanic, and reading words that had only been understood by a handful of people in the last millennium or so. Of course, those stones are not nearly as old as the Sumerian ones, but any forgotten language is a beautiful thing to resurrect.
It is absolutely a wonderful feeling :)
So glad I found this channel!
Their language look like east-Asian languages. Your lecture are great. I cant find word to thanks u both.
As a east asian myself it looks nothing like my language.
@@motro1301 i guess you are not a korean or japanes.
@@senseypires8817 no, im korean
@@motro1301 acording to Turkish Language Society The closest language to this language is Turkish also this Society today still accept altaic language family (korean japanes and turkish) first of all German and English linguists suggested that this language is of Altaic origin, but that wasn't certain, SO turkish Language Society collected and studied all the Sumerian tablets(today most of them at turkey) they thought this language was of altai origin, BUT This information is not available except turkey because altaic language family was debated in the 1950s, and in the 1960s it became controversial and uncertain around the world. It was accepted from the 19th century until the 1960s(i do not know what happened at 1950,s and 60,s)
I was so surprised to find this. I thought I'd have to go through thousands of websites or try buying books. Thank you so much for making this
I genuinely appreciate your videos and lecture, a huge thank you!
This is such a gift. Thank you!
Hi Thank you for the work you given out for free.
My main problem is reading the text.
I love language! I have been studying my ancestral language of Bodewadmi (Potawatomi) for several years now. My people are originally from the area around Lake Michigan, and our language is fascinating and extremely rich. I am very excited to delve in to this most ancient of written languages, and see what treasures it has for us!! I have already purchased your first and second books, and will be working through them. Thank you so much for these resources for all of us language geeks!! Blessings to you!! :)
Are there many people learning Bodewadmi? What is the current state of it?
@@AndreaMastacht-lj4in Unfortunately, it is in decline. We only have a few speakers who grew up speaking the language, and they are all getting on in years. There are some language programs in a few schools, and several of the bands have language programs with content available on the internet, in both recorded and live presentation formats. There are probably more people learning it now compared with say, 20 years ago, so hopefully interest will continue to grow.
Very much appreciate these lessons, Thanks !
The sumero-akkadian cuneiform-signs are also available via unicode within the range of 12000-123FF. So Control-Shift-U + 12000 gives 𒀀 for example.
Andreas H:
I tried the control-shift-u and got a error buzz before I could hit the plus sign. Could you give more information, please?
Hello Charles, you have to push control-shift-u at once in a first step and then the additional number in a second (here any combination between 12000 and 123FF). The +sign is not necessary.
O.K. I'll try that next time, thank you.
@@andreash.2336 Doesn't work for me at all.
@inspire734 What doesn't Work for you? I Just tried it again and all wenn fine. It should work because it's Unicode. You have to press enter after typing in the code. That finally lets the wanted sign appear.
So excited to get this video. Thank you DH
Great! I wanted to learn sumerian but the grammars I saw were very daunting - this has really made it so much easier to get into! I will be following this series intently.
Fantastic, I’m glad we can help! Josh has also just finished drafting a book intended to accompany this video series, which may be of interest 😁 we’ll publicize it when it’s available!
@@DigitalHammurabi very nice! I will look out for it
Did you get to learn?
I'm assyrian and my gf is about to start her masters learning cuneiform at University of Chicago. She's really excited and I'm excited for her.
Love the caution at the beginning.
As Iraqi citizen I feel happy because you learned the language of my ancestors hope I can learn it one day.
I can speak 3 languages, but I know nothing about Sumerian language.
I may be a bit late but I dont feel so left behind anymore great video thank you for taking the time to share
This is incredible, amazing work. Thank you so so much! I have the other books and resources (preparing for a university course) and kept hitting the same roadblock over and over. After just Lesson 1 all of those difficulties are cleared. It is incredibly helpful to have someone actually talk through the concepts. PS I cant believe the ridiculous "criticism" on this video, I rather enjoy knowing there is an actual person behind this and not just a computer. This series is a game-changer. Thank you.
crumbcake Thank you so much!! There is a companion grammar to go along with it on Amazon that we wrote. I think the link is in the video description. If you happen to already have it, would you mind leaving your comment here as a review? That would be incredibly helpful! Please let us know if we can help!! Josh
@@DigitalHammurabi thank you for your message! I initially thought I couldn't get the book on Amazon Germany (which as it turns out was because it auto-translated the title. I should have searched by author instead), but now on second try I found it, and I'm definitely picking it up. I'd be happy to leave a review!
Hey, amazing work. You can explain much better than my university professers! Thanks!
Can you do a Series for Akkadian too? Thanks!!
great to learn this language of people you live on their lands now, thanks
I appreciate that you have taken the time to make such an informative video and uploaded it at no cost to us. I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I feel I should point something out.
When you talk, you tend to make all kinds of digressions away from the topic at hand, making it difficult to follow you. You may refer to topics and then stop, explaining that you'll discuss it later. Sometimes you talk around a topic without getting to the point. I would really love to see you be more direct.
Please don't feel that I am ungrateful for all the work you have done to present this interesting subject. I know it takes a lot of time and effort, and I also know that I probably couldn't do any better.
Hi Baruch! Thank you for that. Yeah, you are absolutely right. The series has gotten better as we have come along with our production.
So glad you are with us!!
I am an Arab from Syria residing in Germany. I love history. I recently learned that the language of the jinn is the Sumerian language, and I have become curious to learn something about it, but after this first lesson, I feel as if I am living in Babylon, and I feel that I will quickly learn from you this wonderful language. Your style is wonderful. Please continue and give us Lessons and vocabulary, and do not hold back, your style is wonderful and it made me attracted to this language. Please continue
هذه اللغة هي للغة العراق
@@عبداللهصادق-ه1مبابل العراق
I some how landed on this. Just like to say thank you for putting this up and secondly thanks for you wisdom and stories. Its such a natural and calming experience of teaching and on the receiving end of learning :)
Thank you so much for joining us!! Please let me know I we can help in any way! :-)
Well...kinda did have a question to pick your brain on. Can i email you?
Please do!!
Finally! A way to learn this language! Thanks so much for this! Now I can finally know more other than the opening verses of the epic of Gilgamesh
witch do you think is easier to learn akkadian or sumerian? you guys are doing an unbelievable service by sharing this info for free thank you so much keep up the great work!
brett I think, generally speaking, people have an easier time learning Akkadian. There are cognate languages to Akkadian, which has resulted in a great number of resources, and because it is a Semitic language, people who learn Hebrew can easily transition into learning Akkadian. But this is just my experience talking :-)
when you were talking about Reduplication the first thing that went through my mind was "Unga-shakka, unga-unga-unga-shakka - I-I-I-I-I-I'm hooked on a feeling! I'm high on believing- that you're in love with me!"
You can think aloud. TH-cam is an entertainment platform and people's lives,
believe it or not, are interesting!
thank you so much for this!!!
Only vids like this online. Thanks for taking the time to make these!!!😀
You are so welcome!
Jeffrey Nunes Make sure you check out the new video Josh did with the vocabulary and the answers to the exercises (the link is in the description)! He was really proud of himself for figuring out how to do it :-)
@@DigitalHammurabi Will do!
I want to start the language of my grandfathers🇮🇶 and i found this playlist...thank you
How are your studies going? Are you learning it?
Wonderful! I got your book as well. I think these videos complement the book well.
This is awesome, thank you for taking the time.
We are in the process of editing Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian, the book that will cover the material in these videos in more detail (with more exercises and explanations). It should be good :-)
Glad to finally have found a channel that is actually about Sumerian and not aliens.
The beauty of technology is that you can edit out the frivolous information. Lol. I look forward to seeing and learning a lot more.
This is so real. I appreciate what’s been said here.
Absolutely amazing. Thank you!
Thank you.
شيء جميل حقا اتعلم لغتي الام
شنو اتعلمت لحد هسة
شلون دراستك ماشية؟ عدكم هواية ناس يتعلمونها؟
Thank you so much for this Excellent video!!
Thank you sir . I appreciate you
Thank you so much for this introductory lesson.
I’m also an Iraqi and I’m 9 and I already know sumeirian
Are you learning Sumerian?
This will be great if you keep it up. Several years ago, I decided I was going to learn Sumerian by studying cuneiform. All I learned was an alphabet. But I have some background here. Don't stop teaching the ones that really want to learn.....
hotmale5221 Thank you!! Have you seen the other lessons? We just finished lesson five :-)
I'm only half way through lesson one. Barely started the adjectives. I just don't want to get lesson seven & get stranded in Mesopotamia without really being able to communicate! LOL!
just started. thank you for making it simple and interesting.
what a great video, thank a lot.... I am currently doing the homework you assigned
Im bookmarking this page. So interesting thank you!
Glad you like it!
Amazing, starting all your lessons today. Always wanted to study Cuneiform. Thanks.
I'm so glad :D
Great video thanks. I'm gonna probably have to watch it 2 more times and take notes. I like physical copies so i'm gonna hand write my own flash cards. Thank you for this will be following. I am gonna check out patreon account also.
The Chinese writing system has kept a similar system for thousands of years. Simple logograms represent natural items, like fire, water, wood, sun, moon. e.g. 木 is wood. Many logograms can turn into determinatives when they are placed on the side (mostly left) , top, or bottom of a more complicated character. e。材 means wood-log. Logograms can also be only syllables to help pronunciation. e.g. 沐 means bathing
This is amazing! Got here after searching about the symbols on the album cover of the new Nightwish album "Human :ll: Nature".
We're glad you found us!
Yeah i dont know why but lot of metal albums seems to be fascinated with sumerian, mainly because what was once demons of sumer and babylon influenced the demonology of the bible and modern satanists and goth people. At least its making sumerian cool.
@@motro1301 well... metal is not satanist. At least Nightwish isn't. Generally metal is fascinated by the origins of civilizations, language and socities.
@@fercam5187 yeah im aware that not all metal is necessarily satanist(and im not claiming metal is bad either). I was just refering to examples that this might possibly be the connection(or influences). It can be also neopaganism or celtic stuff. Im not that ignorant cause im also a metal fan but there were a lot of instances trying to reclaiming whats lost in modern western culture like sumerians celtics or gauls and that branch was just one of the examples that i know. And metal albums always had cool album covers.
Much appreciated. Originally I was looking for information on Ugaritic language, which led to Akkadian, which led to Sumerian. For some odd reason, the Sumerian is (so far) much easier for me to learn. Maybe the resources are just better;) Your channel is a gods-send, so thank you!
How do you learn ugaritic?
I had hoped that my ancient language would remain until the present time and we would speak it, but unfortunately it did not, and we are Sumerians and Iraqis. 💔
If many Iraqi people wanted to learn Sumerian and they started practicising it would be possible! The Livonian language was extinct and now has one native speaker born in 2020. Cornish and Manx were also revived and a few Native American languages are being revived. It is all about community effort and many people trying to do it.
I have decided on some methodology for once and intend on learning all that you will teach.
Scribbling notes in one cheap notebook, writing it out properly in a more exquisite one, and making flash cards for the vocabulary.
Should also grab any books you two recommend, and I have noted that learning german somehow helps with understanding the technical terms.
Memorizing the cuneiform script will be a tough task though.
Thanks for this video! I don’t know if I’ll be able to give enough time to study this properly, but if I can just pick up a little understanding of ancient texts it will be worth it.
One thing I’ve always been puzzled by is how do we know how these ancient symbols were pronounced, if the language hasn’t been spoken for several centuries?
Did you get to learn?
I understand how you felt reading through the glass. I studied Old Church Slavic in grad school. When I would visit old sites in Russia and was able to read what was written on the walls of the ancient churches or, like you did, read through the glass an old manuscript it was quite the feeling.
"Be kind, rewind" Hahahaha
I'm older than dirt, and this would mean 15 minutes to rewind a one hour tape back in the olden days. :)
I rewound. Watching this multiple times has already helped, especially after seeing some of your other videos. Thanks! You Two are doing something very good for all who are interested!
I remember VCR tapes...we used to drive my mum crazy as kids because we'd never rewind.
I'm really glad that you found it interesting, we are having so much fun doing this!
How did the Sumerian language relate to the peoples of Europe when they were in Iraq... Thank you for this job and thank you to those who are learning the language of my country, Iraq.
Are there people in Iraq trying to revive the language?
@AndreaMastacht-lj4in Yes but it's difficult because of the war and because Iraq is going forward and safe, it's not difficult and everyone in Iraq is trying to learn and revive this language.