elegantlion Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 We're studying the history of language this year. I'd like to add a unit-type study on alphabets. One reason is ds has decided he wants to add Russian back into the rotation next year and I want to solidify the alphabet before we start. We're already doing Japanese as our language. I'll add Greek too(we can still sing the Greek alphabet song from CAP). What are some other alphabets we could add? My goal is not perfect retention (except for Russian), but more exposure to other forms of writing. Arabic? Cuneiform? Anglo- Saxon runes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Hebrew? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 I'll second Hebrew-we were able to find a lot of great Hebrew teaching resources locally, and it's interesting to compare the similarities and differences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 If you decide on Arabic this little book is fun, easy, and well done. I used it decades ago to teach myself the alphabet. Just the thing for starting out. The Arabic alphabet is not difficult to learn. And the Farsi (Persian) alphabet is basically the same (with several extra characters). http://www.amazon.com/The-Arabic-Alphabet-Read-Write/dp/0818404302/ref=pd_sim_b_1 Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubiac Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 http://www.amazon.com/How-our-alphabet-grew-history/dp/B0006CPXVIHow our alphabet grew: The history of the alphabet by Wm. Dugan would be a great resource for this unit. Check bookfinder and ebay and half.com and betterworldbooks for better prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanM Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 The Korean alphabet is not hard to learn. Google Hangul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 I enjoy looking at the scripts on AncientScripts.com. Perhaps you might find something useful there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 It might be interesting to look at written languages which don't strictly use a phonetic alphabet, like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Mayan is another great language to take a look at, there are similarities to Chinese in how the glyphs are put together and in the use of phonetic elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 What about Korean, Hebrew, and I know you said 'alphabet' but what about something like Hieroglyphics or Chinese characters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosyne Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Arabic and Korean are both fun. Hindi has an interesting alphabet. Sanscrit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Elder Futhark :) Here is a great book for it too. You can't do the history of western languages without Elder Futhark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted October 3, 2013 Author Share Posted October 3, 2013 These are all great, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Arabic is also nice/interesting from the whole standpoint of calligraphy as art. Here's some nice pics http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/arabic-calligraphy-artworks/ For actually learning the alphabet, try http://youtu.be/E76m7J7KWuU Start around 2:00 or so. My kids also really liked this guy (wow, surprised he has over 11 million views)... Basically he's singing the alphabet with the three main vowels. But there are tons of videos out there. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Pretty, isn't it? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 I was going to suggest Georgian for the sheer beauty of it - Roadrunner beat me to it :) Sequoyah's Syllabary has an interesting history. I would add in a study of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Here a two books that are on my wish list: Writing: The Story of Alphabets and Scripts Writing Systems of the World What a great study! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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