Free Aramaic resources available online

(Syrian Church of Antioch) - Online Project at the Mor Aphrem center. The evening started with a welcome message by His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak. This European Union funded Aramaic project is a collaborative effort that is comprised of an international team of native speakers, scholars, and institutions including Mor Aphrem Monastery in Holland, Midyat Süryani Derneği, and Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute housed in New Jersey. Professor Talay talked about the different dialects that exist within Turoyo and the challenges his team faced in developing an online course that would standardize it. The project team managed to develop materials that teach Turoyo to Arabic, Dutch, French, German, English, and Turkish native speakers. The materials can be downloaded for free (http://www.surayt.com) in hopes that the youth can use it to help preserve one of the pillars of our culture: our language of Turoyo. Following the lively question and answer session, the talk concluded with the demonstration of a forthcoming app for teaching Turoyo/Aramaic. The app when developed will be available for free. The event was hosted by the Suryoyto Women’s Committee.