Yes indeed, the people at the bike shop are some sort of miracle workers. If it wasn't for the hideous purple color, I would have thought they gave me the wrong bike! No more clunking, new shifters (that's the technical term right?) and I can hear the sweet sound the tires make on the pavement. I think I am all geared up for "Bike to Work Week" next week.
I have been searching out resources to try and learn a little Amharic (official language of Ethiopia). There are not too many resources out there that I have found. It seems like either the program is only available on 27 cassette tapes (can you say "I don't think so") or I have heard reviews that native Amharic speakers have had difficulty understanding the pronunciation that is used in the lessons, that's a serious problem. One of my friends at work who adopted from Russia suggested intra-library loan or actually contacting the Ethiopian Embassy to see if they have any suggestions. I think those are great suggestions that I would have never thought of. The next step will be finding people to practice with!
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I'm trying to find a program to learn Amharic as well. I've seen about 4 different programs- africanlanguage.com, the "Talk Now" series, Appleyard's Colloquial Amharic, and the super intense FSI cassettes. Which programs did you hear had pronunciation problems? Thanks!
On the Ethiopian Yahoo Group, someone back in May stated that they heard the Talk Now Amharic had the pronunciation problems, If you are a member of that group, you may want to search for those posts, I found them helpful. I have been looking at the Africanlanguage one as they seem the most user friendly for me. I have yet to find someone who has that series though, and the demos dont have sound so I couldn't have someone listen to it ahead of time. I am thinking maybe I should get the single travelers version and try that out, then if it seems good, try the 101, 102 & 103. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the info! Heather over at http://burakaeyae.blogspot.com/2006/08/amharenya-amharic.html used the africanlanguage software to learn Amharic before she brought her kids home. She seems to love it but said that you have to learn to read the script in order to advance in the software. Not sure how the pronunciation compares though...
Thanks Kat, I will check out that blog you mentioned!
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