Introduction

Unlike many African countries which have formally adopted European languages, Ethiopia has retained an indigenous language, Amharic, as its national language. Amharic belongs to the Ethiopic branch of the Semitic language subgroup. This subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language family includes such languages as Arabic, Hebrew and Assyrian. As a country with a diverse range of ethnic groups, Ethiopia has many languages in common use such as Oromo, Tigrinya and Somali. While regional languages are important in Ethiopia today, Amharic is the most widely used and understood language throughout the country. It is the mother tongue of the 12 million or so Amhara people in central and north-western Ethiopia and is a second language for about one third of the total population of Ethiopia. Amharic is the official language of the media, the government and cross-cultural communications. For the traveler to Ethiopia, it is the most valuable language for getting around.