The Syriac language is one of the classical tongues of early Christian thought, and, as such, garners a lot of interest particularly from theologians, historians, and culturologists. As an Aramaic dialect, it is also of considerable interest to scholars of Semitic languages. This manual is conceived as an academic one and is primarily intended for college and theological academy students; it can also be used as a “self-teaching” grammar book. An introductory course of eight lessons presents the Syriac phonology and script, followed by the basic course of 40 lessons. The book is specifically designed to cover one academic year. Accompanying study materials are available to download here.

REVIEWS

"The book opens with an overview of the history of the Syriac language that the author calls ‘brief’. This is in fact a relatively long (28 pages) and very well documented introduction to the history of the Aramaic language and its dialects with, of course, a special emphasis on Syriac.

The manual provides a series of lessons that the author designed so as to cover one academic year, or to be used for self-study. The main strength of these lessons is their very progressive aspect. 

A significant merit of the textbook is the clarity with which the author presents grammatical concepts and rules without going into overly technical details.

Overall, the author wrote a highly valuable textbook. He has well designed the sequence of lessons and the progression in grammar and vocabulary. With its length of 399 pages, the book is the longest manual for English-speaking learners.

No doubt, students who go through the entire manual and online reader will attain a respectable level that they cannot reach by using the other available course books. Therefore, this textbook is highly recommended for learners who intend to invest earnestly in the study of Syriac."

-- Excerpts from EMMANUEL AÏM, 2022, Hugoye 25, pp. 485-489