hieroglyphics school

It is true that you learn more about your own grammar when learning a foreign language. Equally true is that learning grammar is a whole lot of headache. I was reminded of this when I started my week long intensive hieroglyphics course at Macquarie University Ancient Languages summer school. It was on a whim that I enrolled, but I think that I am hooked.

Macquarie University runs intensive ancient language schools twice a year and this year, I thought it was time for me to become a student. The experience reminded me what it is like to be a student in a classroom, with all the frustrations and confusion that comes with learning something new. No sooner did I think I had the hang of genitives, I didn’t. No sooner did I think I remembered that logogram, it changed - but only for honorific inscriptions! Rules and breaking rules is par for the course when it comes to grammar. For a brain that is hard wired to an alphabet, learning to remember logograms brings a whole new torture! Several times I remembered thinking that I was out of my depth. As a teacher, it is important to have that vulnerability so you can not only empathise with a student, but authentically assist them through the confusion; which is exactly what our teacher did. Gentle reminders that language is not mastered in a week and that an intensive course means exhaustion by day 3! Be patient. Stay with it.

The language itself is fascinating. We do not know how the language sounded, we only know how it is written, and it is beautifully written. Grammar aside, there is something fascinating about the logograms and how the Egyptians represented sounds, words and concepts by using imagery. This fascination turned to admiration each time I tried to draw the logogram for ‘god’ or for ‘donkey’. Needless to say many of my logograms look like stick insects with a neat phonetic translation next to it so I can actually identify what I tried to draw. But I’m thinking that most people who have tackled hieroglyphics know what I’m talking about. In addition, there are over 30 bird logograms in hieroglyphics - yes, 30! - and each looks different and means something different. Try to imagine my efforts at bird stick figures!

So what will I do with all of this new found knowledge? I begin my Masters in Ancient History this year and I think that the understanding of an ancient language is an important part of an in depth study of the ancient world. I chose hieroglyphics because it is fascinating but also because I can share this fascination with my history classes. While I can’t teach them to read hieroglyphics, I can introduce them to logograms and sounds. From there, they can write their own name, write words or identify key phrases in inscriptions that we are studying as part of Hatshepsut’s reign. Language is power and just introducing some students to a small sample of a new language can lead them down amazing pathways and onto fantastic journeys.

If this sounds interesting to you, check out the summer school schedule for 2020 and let me know how you go.

Go forth and conquer!