Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs [ペーパーバック]

This is one of the finest teaching grammars I have ever seen. It consists of 26 lessons, with exercises at the end of each. (The answers to the exercises are given in the back of the book.) The early lessons cover the sounds and the script, and Professor Allen moves on to the grammar beginning with lesson 4. The author does not assume ANY grammatical knowledge on the part of the learner; before getting into the Egyptian forms he explains, for example, what an adjective or an adverb is, and how they are used in English.

Each lesson introduces several related points of grammar, and there are plenty of examples given (Almost all the examples are given in hieroglyphs, with the transcription and a translation.). The short sample sentences at the end of each lesson illustrate and reinforce the grammar from the current lesson, as well as previous ones. And as I said, the answers to the exercises, and translations of all sample sentences are given so you can gauge your progress and understanding. Each lesson ends with a short essay about one aspect or another of the culture of Ancient Egypt. At the rear of the book there is a sign list modelled after Gardiner, and a dictionary of most of the words introduced in the lessons.

This is not "Hieroglyphs for Dummies"; you're going to need a lot of stamina and determination to work through this entire book. (It's a large book; I figure it's going to take me over six months of hard work to get through it, and I'm no slouch.) But if you're seriously interested in the language and culture of Ancient Egypt, and are willing to invest the time and energy, this is the textbook you want.

Beginning students will appreciate his explanation of basic grammar, which is much more understandable and thorough than most other textbooks. The exercises, at the end of each chapter, are the best that I have ever seen. Scholars, and advanced students, will be grateful for the detail and completeness of Allen's work.

As one who has read through the book and worked all the exercises, I can recommend it without hesitation as a reference book for scholars, and as a textbook for university students. My only reservation is that the information presented is very detailed and complex, and likely to be overwhelming to a beginner. So, if you are a beginner, I would recommend that you read through an easier book, such as Collier and Manley ("How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs"), before you tackle Allen.

This is however for the serious student of Egyptian, which is not an easy language to learn, particularly on one's own. There are other works available for those who just wish to be able to recognize common expressions on monuments while visiting Egypt. But this will quite likely prove to be the new standard in teaching and learning Middle Egyptian for the specialist and non-specialist alike. The tone is friendly and inviting, and will hopefully introduce many new readers to the wealth of Egyptian texts.