Basics of Classical Syriac

Several assumptions in place here: 1) you are interested in this book because you are looking for a "primer" of sorts in Peshitta Syriac/Aramaic because of an interest in Ancient Studies, Biblical Studies, Church History, or related subject matter. 2) You have studied (with middling success or better) a Semitic language before such as Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, possibly Ge'ez or Coptic, or maybe even Akkadian or Arabic. Not that it's a necessity, but honestly Syriac and this book is not a good starting place for introduction to the structure and study of ancient Semitic languages. Though not a requisite, there are too many Semitic language foundational matters integral to successful study of Syriac as presented here that the student should bring from a knowledge of Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic, that to try to make progress without them in place would leave a novice student frustrated and perplexed. Prof. Hallam provides useful indices and writes from that perspective (of the experienced student coming from a Semitic language backgground) to put that to use.Those two aside, I will only compare this to Professor Thackston's Introduction to Syriac.  Introduction To Syriac Prof. Hallam keeps in mind this is written for the Zondervan "Basics of" series. He directs interested students looking for more sophisticated and analytic treatment of grammatical and lexical issues to Noldeke ( Compendious Syriac Grammar, with an Appendix ) or other reference works. That is a good thing. This is an introduction and "basic of" and there is more than enough to master and keep one busy here for the student new to Syriac. Professor Thackston's book presupposes an instructor to direct and redirect, though not obviously required to get something out of it. Professor Hallam contemplates the student working with good Biblical studies software to gain access to Peshitta texts etc., and draw up comparative textual resources. Prof. Thackston's book requires more diligence at first from the self-directed student, and may slow things down for the DIYer; this book moves things along quickly to get to reading actual texts to reward early moderate persistence even for one working apart from formalized settings.Personally I enjoy them side-by-side. Prof. Hallam knows his target audience and exhorts them accordingly. Learning Syriac to the point where it is actually useful to a student or scholar requires more than an hour or two a week, obviously, and a beginner's text can't do the work for you. I think the person who could most benefit would be someone fresh off intermediate Biblical Hebrew, for example, such that the linguistic concepts are still close at hand.If Syriac is your third or subsequent Semitic language then you may prefer Thackston's more traditional structure and direction.A very minor observation (not a critique) is that Professor Hallam takes issue with misconceptions of names of Eastern/Western scripts, and takes pains to point out that a Church schism in the 5th century is likely responsible for the divergences of scripts and tradition. Apparently terminology like "Jacobite" and "Estrangela" are worth disputing over to some people, which really is quite beside the point if we agree on what branch of Aramaic/Syriac/Samaritan we a referring to. Another key insight I found telling is that, as if he is tired of reminding Biblical students, Syriac is not *derived from* Biblical Hebrew but developed alongside it, as part of another branch of Northern Semitic languages. What majority scholarly position would argue otherwise?The exercises come through clearly, and it is obvious Prof. Hallam knows first hand from the classroom what is helpful and what is not.

Excellent introduction to Syriac. I tried this after attempting Muraoka's grammar(which was for the most part, very choppy and difficult to understand/process). I found this to be much more helpful. There are some structural and informational inconsistencies(for instance on pg 46, on the introduction to pronouns, Hallam lists Ena as the subjective first person - I.e., "I", but proceeds to list hnan as the objective pronoun -i.e., "us" rather than we), but overall I've learned a ton and definitely appreciate the difficulties involved in creating such a grammar.I have been mostly working on this after having learned Aramaic. I know that most students of Syriac will have had Hebrew and not necessarily Aramaic, but as I've learned Syriac, I'm struck by the similarities syriac has to Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Perhaps future revisions could relate Syriac to other semitic languages in addition to Hebrew (although, as I said earlier I understand that most students will only have had exposure to Hebrew)

All in all a decent Text if you have had Hebrew. Without this background why are you even studying it? There are DVDs to help you. The text is Basic and easy to use. There are some typos. Once you complete this you can use the Accordance Bible Software and read comfortably the Syriac Peshitta Text since it is tagged (i.e. run the cursor over any word or part of a word and it gives you all the information on each word or part of a word. Incredible!) If this is where you want to be, then this text is a good and easy start. We are using it at Charnock Institute of the Bible.

I consider this book more written for the scholar rather than the layman. I specialize in reading/teaching with the Eastern Aramaic Psheeta used currently in the Assyrian and Chaldean Churches from natives who have cherished the Eastern (Assyrian) style of writing. Mr. Hallam has written this book for the true scholar, not really for the beginner because the result that he seeks to achieve is getting you to read the Estrangela Letters which was the earliest found Writings included. However, his vowel markings lead to some inaccuracies of pronunciation as well as omissions of dots where needed. For the scholar, this may be an outstanding value. For me, however, this book...while great for reference, forgets that Jesus lived in Galilee (the "land of foreigners") which was repopulated by the Assyrians after they conquered, and more likely to follow the Assyrian Aramaic which I do find much easier to learn.!!! (Please note)

Great grammar, but I didn't see where the student or teacher can attain an answer key. Where would the interested party find such? Thanks.

Although the book is laid out helpfully, it is full of too many errors, both in Syriac and in English. I advise everyone to wait for the second edition.

A wonderful resource and I would even say it is the best book I've come across for those interested in learning Aramaic or Syriac. Thank you for this great effort.

This book needs to be re-written. Concepts appear in one chapter and are not explained until the following chapter. The phonetic representation is incomplete. There are frequent errors and sentences which say one thing but mean another.

The reason I can't give this 5 stars is that the book came poorly packaged. I'd have thought for a soft back book you would package it with stiff cardboard to prevent it bending. This just came in a bubble wrap envelope.The book itself is easy to read and well laid out. I love that when you flick through the book you see so many exercises taken straight from the Bible. This really encourages the student to learn because they see where their learning is taking them; to a better understanding of God's word. I have only gotten so far through the book, so I don't know how it progresses. I think the really early exercises could be reviewed a bit to ease the first time student in more gently, but overall, I'm very pleased with the book.

Excellent product and written in an easy-to-understand format!

great