1. Use a notebook and a pen and physically write the alphabet.
2. Print the booklet. There are 25 page in this booklet. Each page is a .jpg file (photo). Right click on each page, save it to a disk or flash drive and print it.
Note: to learn how to type in Assyrian in PhotoShop software (Windows©)
Or, on my http://www.facebook.com/: abrahamgiliana, you will see more videos of mine.
Also, you can watch on the screen how the alphabet is written on page: Assyrian Alphabet.
my new website dedicated
to teaching the Assyrian online
Due to a popular demmand, I am proudly publishing "WriteRight", a book that will teach students to write in Assyrian. This book is designed for students five years of age and up. In a plain language step by step shows how to write (draw) the different characters of the Assyrian alphabet. The steps are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Each number refers to the stroke that the student will take to create that particular part of the letter. Some (Assyrian) letters require only one stroke, some two and some more.
I have had students in Tehran from all walks of life, grammar school and high school students of 'Shushan', Youth Organization at 'Behnam' school, a Persian-speaking dentist and three nuns in Saint Joseph Catholic Church using this technique. I am especially proud of the three nuns, whose their first language was Belgian, in a short time spending in my classes, they were able to speak, read and write correctly in Assyrian with amazingly correct grammar.
It is appropriate to mention that I have redesigned and organized this book in 1998 in Wheeling, Illinois for my daughter, Stephanie. She was ten at the time and she did fine practicing with the same pages provided here. With the help of an instructor or the parents, it should be easy for kids under ten to do the exercises.
note: The term "stroke" refers to how many times we lay the pen (or pencil) on the paper to draw a particular part of the letter.
One rule is common for all characters, and that is the direction of the pen moving on the paper: the pen can move diagonal or straight to any direction—up, down or left, but it should not move from left to right.
note: The general rule that Mr. Issa Benyamin has thoroughly explained in his book: "Assyrian Calligraphy" is that our letters are drawn in seven layers (shweetas). For the purpose of making the lessons simple, I have simplified them into two layers or three lines.
The Assyrian alphabet includes 22 main characters: allap, bet, gammal, dallat, hae, waow, zain, khait, tthait, yoot, cap, lammad, meem, noon, simkat, aei, sodde, qope, resh, sheen, taow. Some of these letters use different shapes when they are at the end of the word, and some letters will change by adding "dots" or small lines on top or beneath them and represent a different character. We will discuss them later.
1. The direction of writing
Like Arabic and Hebrew, the alphabet of the Assyrian language reads and writes from right to left.
2. Starting point
Teaching in Tehran, I came up with the idea "the Starting Point", which is an imaginary point on the line where we start writing in Assyrian.
The first stroke of the characters is drawn (or written) starting from an imaginary point, which I have called "starting point". This point is located on the right side of the line where the letter are written. That means, in order to write in Assyrian, you will start writing from that point. From here, draw the line to the left, up or down--not to the right.
Ironically, to this rule there is one exception, and that is the first letter—Allap. The second stroke of Allap starts from the top and ends at the end of the first stroke. (see next page: allap).