Tigrinia: Alphabet, Language, And Culture

The alphabet of Tigrinia, an Eastern African language spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia, is shown and pronounced in this non-English video. Comprised of 32 consonants with seven vowels for each consonant, Tigrinia is a lovely sounding language, and for each consonant/vowel grouping a full word (key, plane, lion, etc.) is demonstrated. Still, the title is more than a little misleading, since what we get here is the alphabet--not the language, and certainly not the culture. Occasionally, the program cuts away to a singing and dancing session filmed stateside in which the singer is singing in Tigrinia, but this hardly qualifies such an all-encompassing word as "culture." This would be an excellent tool for students who were actively engaged in learning the language, but it certainly requires the intermediary of an instructor since it is basically just a reference tool. Not a necessary purchase. (Available from: King Media Services, 5330 Griggs Rd., Suite A-105, Houston, TX 77021.)