Saceredceltic:

TANEMMIRT S TUSSDA - which translates as "THANK YOU VERY MUCH" in my language :-D

Hi everbody,

I have sent a request to Sysko in order to add my language, Berber (Amazigh - North Africa) to the website. Now I am waiting for the language to be added. However I have a question: can I add more than the 10 requested sentences in my language even if it's not yet one of Tatoeba's recognized languages ? In other words, can I add an unlimited number of sentences in my language at the present stage ?

Sacredceltic:

Not the transcription (spelling) but the standardization of modern vocabulary. For the transcription, many grammars have been alread published. There are three Academic institutions that work (sometimes together) in order to carry out the standardization of the spelling, and they are the IRCAM (Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture in Morocco), the Amazigh Department in the University of Bejaia (Algeria) and the Berber Research Center (which is part of French INALCO - National Institute of Eastern Languages and Civilizations). They regularly issue recommendations for spelling. IRCAM also issued some glossaries.

cntrational
Thank you for asking this question :-)

Some linguists consider Amazigh (or Berber) as ONE language which has various dialects. Others (especially Anglosaxon linguists) consider it as a "group of different languages". We, as the speakers of the language consider that OUR LANGUAGE IS ONE AND HAS ONE NAME, TAMAZIGHT.

The unity of our language DOES EXIST. Since the birth of our cultural and identity revival in the early 20th century, we have been talking about Amazigh culture and language, and all efforts meant for the standardization of our language refer to the Amazigh language as ONE.

In the recent years, Moroccan and Algerian governments granted official status for the language and they always refer to it as the Amazigh language (and not "languages" :-)

Intercomprehension between the speakers of the different dialects varies from area to area, but we can say without risk that ALL the dialects of the Northern part of North Africa (Nefoussa [western Libya], Shawi [Northeast Algeria], Kabyle [Northeast Algeria], Chenoui [West Algeria], Mozabite [Central Algeria] and all of the Moroccan dialects) are intercomprehensible.

There are only three dialects that are very different from the mainstream Amazigh, and these are the Tuareg (Sahara), Ghadames dialect (Northwest Libya) and the Zenaga dialect (southwest Mauritania).

In television shows of Amazigh-speaking channels, you can see a host speaking a dialect and a group of hosts, each speaking a different dialect, and yet, they make a superb program in which they communicate without any problem. Communication between the speakers of the various Amazigh dialects is similar to that between UK and US English-speakers. The only missing thing is the standardization (or what we commonly refer to as "unification") of our language.

Tanemmirt s tussda (= Thank you very much)
:-)

Sysko:

Oh !!! Thank you very much Sysko :-D

Thanks a million !!!

Hehehe ... Thank you for the information ^v^ I'm proud to represent my country on this wonderful website :-D

Hi Sacredceltic,

Thank you :-) The avatar represents letter "Z" (the double trident) in our traditional alphabet called "tifinagh". This is the symbol of all Amazigh groups of North Africa. The symbol can be also seen in traditional Amazigh decoration on carpets and pottery.

In 2011, Morocco recognized the Amazigh language as the second official language of the country, alongside Arabic. The Moroccan government officially adopted the traditional alphabet as the official script for the language. In Algeria, there are still problems between the supporters of three different alphabets: some want the language to be written in the traditional alphabet, others want it to be written in Arabic script, and others want it in Latin or Roman script. In my contributions to Tatoeba, I used the Roman script, because this is the main alphabet used to teach the language at Algerian schools and Universities. Moreover, almost all spelling and grammar standardization works were based on the Roman alphabet. The supporters of the other two alphabets, in Algeria, produce almost nothing.

However, we all want to keep our traditional alphabet (the Tifinagh) as our common heritage and a source of pride ^v^ After all, Amazigh is one of the few indigenous African languages that has its own script !!!

Shadd:

It's classified in the same language group as Arabic, the Afroasiatic languages group, together with Ancient Egyptian, Chadic languages (Hausa language), Semitic languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Phoenician, etc.) and Cushitic languages (like Somali).

However, Berber (Amazigh) doesn't resemble much Arabic. It has a remote kinship with Semitic languages. The degree of resemblance between Amazigh and Arabic isn't as clear as it is between Arabic and Hebrew and Aramaic for example, and this is due to the fact that the Amazigh language branch split from the main Afroasiatic branch much long ago (5000-6000 BC).

Resemblance between these languages are mainly structural and not lexical ^v^

That's it, Sacreceltic, there was a blending or a marriage between North African Amazigh music and sweet Celtic music !!! I have always loved this mixture and, nowadays, we often hear this kind of music on Amazigh-speaking television programs in Algeria !!! There's something in common between our two populations ... we have a lot of coincidences both in Ancient times and nowadays ... We were among the earliest peoples to enter North Africa and you were among the earliest Indo-Europeans who arrived to Europe :-) The Belgae was one of the last surviving Celtic tribes in continental Europe ^v^

I'll follow your instructions right now !!!
Tanemmirt (Thank you !!!)

Shame on me, I have forgotten my brothers in the southern Tunisia :-) That's right ... There are others in the oasis of Siwa, in Northwest Egypt and another group in Southwest Mauritania (the Zenaga Berbers) ^v^ Let me teach you the two mostly used words in our language: "Azul" (hello) and "Tanemmirt" (thank you)

^v^
Omar

Thank you very much Sacredceltic !!!

Celts and Berbers have something in common ^v^ Both peoples trace back their origins to protohistoric times and they are very rebellious ... And their languages are very rich and exotic :-)

Omar

Thank you very very much Jakov !!!

I'm a native speaker of Amazigh (Berber) and I can contribute with tens of thousands of sentences translated from 5 different languages (English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Italian).

I'll follow your instructions,
Thank you
Omar

Good evening,

I would like to ask the team in charge with this wonderful website to add Amazigh (Berber) to the website. I'm a translator and this language is my mother tongue. It's mainly spoken in Algeria, Morocco, Libya (Northern Berbers), Niger and Mali (Tuareg Berbers).

Thanks a lot for taking my request into consideration ^v^