Easy way to Kurdish, a mini course
Audio-Forum
Compte d’auteur
Easy Way to Kurdish is a brief, basic course designed to give the beginner words, phrases, and sentences useful for everyday conversation, whether traveling or working in Kurdistan.
This course is in Surani dialect which is spoken by 10 to 12 million people and can be understood by many other Kurdish speakers.
The course consists of 16 units and three cassettes. While no specific order has to be followed, it is a good idea to master common phrases frequently used in questions, personal and demonstrative pronouns, numbers, etc. because most other sections will require the use of some of this information. The user is given a wide variety of frequently used sentence structures such as nominal sentences, is/are sentences, and more commonly used verbal sentences. Mastery of these structures will give the user a basis for reproducing similar structures as (s)he expands his/her vocabulary.
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Contents
Kurdistan: An Historical Background / v
Introduction / vii
1. Romanized Kurdish Alphabet / 1
2. Starting Out / 3
A. Vocabulary / 3
B. Simple phrases / 3
C. Commonly used expressions / 4
3. Hello &: Goodbye / 5
A. Greetings / 5
B. Goodbyes / 5
C. Formal addressing / 6
D. Sample dialog / 6
4. Simple Statements & Questions / 7
A. Simple statements & questions using 'to be' / 7
B. Simple statements & questions using 'to know' / 8
C. Pronouns / 8
a. Conjugating verbs using pronouns / 8
b. Using pronouns to indicate possession / 9
D. Vocabulary / 10
E. Sample dialog / 10
5. Traveling Around / 11
A. Vocabulary / 11
B. Direction / 11
C. Sample dialog / 12
D. Additional examples / 12
6. Numbers / 14
A. Numbers / 14
B. Percentages / 16
C. Money / 16
7. Shopping / 17
A. Vocabulary / 17
B. Sample dialog / 17
8. Telling Tune / 19
A. Vocabulary / 19
B. Sample dialog / 19
C. How to tell a.m. &: p.m. / 19
9. Food and Drink / 21
A. Vocabulary / 21
a. Sample phrases / 21
B. Other basic food products / 23
C. Special dishes / 23
D. Questions and phrases / 24
E. Sample dialog / 25
F. Additional dialog / 26
10. People / 27
A. Family members / 27
B. Sample dialog / 27
11. Hotel - Lodging / 30
A. Vocabulary / 30
B. Sample dialog / 31
C. More words / 33
12. A Trip to a Clinic / 34
A. Vocabulary / 34
B. Sample dialog / 35
13. Days, Weeks, Months, Seasons / 36
A. Vocabulary / 36
B. Days of the week / 37
C. Months / 37
O. Sample dialog / 38
14. Weather / 39
A. Vocabulary / 39
B. Sample dialog / 40
15. Colors 41
16. Appendix [more nouns and verbs] / 42
A. Vocabulary / 42
B. Pronouns / 42
C. Verbs in simple phrases / 43
D. Words with multiple meanings in Kurdish / 45
E. Sample dialog / 45
F. Animals / 46
THE KURDS: A PERSPECTIVE ON THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Kurds are an ancient people whose civilization can be traced to 2000 B.C. Kurds are regarded as descendants of the Medes, and most ethnologists believe that the Kurds' ancestors moved out of Europe in prehistoric times, traveling through the Caucasus into what is today western Iran bordering on Turkey and Iraq.
The Kurdish language is a branch of the Indo-European languages. It has four main dialects. Those four dialects are Surani, Kurmanji, Gorani (Hawrami) and Dimili. Kurdish is the spoken language of approximately thirty million people throughout the world.
Kurdistan, the homeland of the Kurds, is forcibly divided between the countries of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The land is the size of France or of California and New York combined in area. Kurds, the largest ethnic nation in the world without a country, have been striving for an independent state, since World War I The Treaty of Sèvres, which gave the Kurds the opportunity to demonstrate their capability of handling their own affairs, and then after four years become an independent state, never materialized. The opponent of this treaty was the new extreme nationalist leader of Turkey, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. Therefore, another treaty called the Treaty of Lausanne, was rewritten. In this latter treaty there was no mention of the Kurds or the Armenians.
After the Persian Gulf War (1991), the United States and allies established "safe havens" inside Iraq for the Kurds who had been persecuted by Saddam Hussein's forces. The Kurdistan region is rich in natural resources and has one of the largest oil reserves in the Middle East. Protection of the Kurdish people and their culture is foremost, but if political conditions can be changed, the Kurds have the potential for a thriving economy in their homeland.
Soraya Mofty
Introduction
Easy Way to Kurdish is a brief, basic course designed to give the beginner words, phrases, and sentences useful for everyday conversation, whether traveling or working in Kurdistan.
This course is in Surani dialect which is spoken by 10 to 12 million people and can be understood by many other Kurdish speakers.
The course consists of 16 units and three cassettes. While no specific order has to be followed, it is a good idea to master common phrases frequently used in questions, personal and demonstrative pronouns, numbers, etc. because most other sections will require the use of some of this information. The user is given a wide variety of frequently used sentence structures such as nominal sentences, is/are sentences, and more commonly used verbal sentences. Mastery of these structures will give the user a basis for reproducing similar structures as (s)he expands his/her vocabulary.
The presentation on the cassettes, as in the book, begins with English which is fol1owed by Kurdish. After you hear the Kurdish words and phrases voiced by native speakers, repeat as many times as needed to imitate correct pronunciation.
When you are in Kurdistan and among Kurds, don't be shy - use whatever you have learned. The best way to acquire a good accent in any language is to listen to native speakers and practice what you hear.
Historical Background Bibliography
Ghasssemlou, Abdul Rahman. Kurdistan and the Kurds. London:
Collet's Publishing, Ltd. 1965
Izadi, Mehrdad R. The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Washington:
Crane Russak. 1992
Kashi, Ed. When the Borders Bleed. New York:
Pantheon Books. 1994
Schmidt, Dana Adams. Jouney among Brave Men. Canada:
Brown & Co., 1964
Other Sources:
Mofty, Soraya. "The Kurdish National Movement." San Francisco
State Univ. Library. San Francisco. 1985
Audio-Forum
Easy way to Kurdish, a mini course
Compte d’auteur
Compte d’auteur
Easy way to Kurdish, a mini course
Audio-Forum
Special Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Cyrus Salam for his valuable
effort in assisting me with editing and proofreading. Also, many thanks to
Mr. Tom Ver Ploeg and the Kurdish Institute of Paris for providing me
with a romanized Kurdish font. Without their help this
work would not have been produced.
Easy way to Kurdish, a mini course
Copyright © 1997 by Audio-Forum
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No part of this publication May be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
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Published by Audio-Forum, a division of Jeffrey Norton Publishers, Inc.,
On-The-Green, Guilford, CT 06437 USA
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN: 0-88432-941-0 text only
ISBN: 0-88432-940-2 text and cassettes
