Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian: An Introduction for Complete Beginners. Paperback – December 21, 2019

This language makes French, Spanish or even German or Russian look easy.Sumerian is one of several languages that were written with cuneiform - a system of writing, NOT an alphabet. A group of wedges could be (1) a "word", like "cat" or "dog", (2) a sound, like "mu", "a", "ur" or "ni" or (3) a determinative - an indication of whether the wedge groups following belong to a special category. (These determinatives are not spoken or translated.)I became very excited about Sumerian and cuneiform after seeing Irving Finkel on a PBS program. He's a fascinating person and a cuneiform expert. Read his books, too. (The Ark Before Noah, e.g.)Imagine becoming good enough to be able to read a tablet. (There are thousands of them waiting for translation, you know.)

Those interested in learning Sumerian, the world's first written language, quickly realize that the instructional material available to them is rather scant. This is even moreso for those at the very beginning of their study. Much of what little material is available seems designed for scholars in Assyriology or those who already know Akkadian. "Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian" does a magnificent job filling this gap. The book is truly adapted to real beginners whose knowledge of grammar (even English grammar) may not be what it should be, while those who are familiar with another language---especially a highly inflected language like Latin or Greek---will be encouraged by what they already know. The authors present the Sumerian language in digestible segments which allow the student to make steady progress without feeling overwhelmed. Not only is the spoken Sumerian taught (in romanized text with super- and subscripts necessary to avoid confusion of words which would otherwise sound identical), but the cuneiform text is introduced incrementally so that students can learn to actually read this ancient language. In addition, the authors have all the lessons (there are 11 of them in Book 1) taught on YouTube (digitalhammurabi.com). (NB: There are small differences between the material in the text and the material as presented on YouTube, but these are not really a problem since the basic concepts taught are the same.)Students whose knowledge of grammar and/or linguistics is more solid will find the going even easier. Sumerian is (as far as we know) a language isolate, but the grammar is reflective of familiar language concepts common to all languages and is no more demanding than Latin. The cuneiform script, on the other hand, presents certain challenges, but it is introduced in manageable portions and actually is one of the most attractive parts of the text. A person who works through this text and its sequel (possibly coming out late this year or early 2022) should have a great beginning in Sumerian.

The authors of this book also have an exhaustive video series on YouTube that I would suggest as a companion to the book. The channel is Digital Hammurabi.It will make it much easier to visualize and grasp the sound of Sumerian as well as the grammar.I am nowhere near an expert but after just a couple chapters you can already look at chunks of ancient tablets and recognize things. The lessons are presented in a logical manner.It does help to understand the terminology of grammar. Most people don't bother remembering all the parts of a sentence by name but it comes in handy when 'normalizing' a string of cuneiform.Sumerian is easier for the western speaker to pronounce as well. It lacks the hard back of the throat sounds we are familiar with from languages like Arabic and Egyptian. Sumerian has lots of SH sounds instead.This book (and the video series) are presented in a way that you will almost immediately be amazed at how much you can decipher. Most of the examples are lines taken from actual tablets and poems which shows that almost right away you are able to read actual ancient texts- not just super dumbed down 'beginner' versions. It's very motivating.