Assyrian: What language does it sound like to you?

[Zroota]

Btw I have some news regarding our language apparently scholars from England, France, Germany and the US are creating some sort of both written and spoken standard East Syriac based on all of our dialecs, including the Chaldean ones. Sounds pretty exciting and about time. Written Syriac is pretty different from all of our spoken dialects including Iraqi Koine.

They should. Because nobody speaks Syriac anyway, and many of us barely understand it. It's like using Middle English for modern English literature. Very unfair for us and it's no wonder so many Assyrians forget their language.

[solaris]

it sounds somewhat like Hungarian.

[Zroota]

Good Assyrian song.

[xtal]

To me it sounds like older poetic Persian with hebrew lexicality

[Roy]

Similar to Hebrew, but I also perceive some vague resemblance to Albanian & Arabic.

I'd be able to tell though that this is not Hebrew upon listening to it.

[Zroota]

Similar to Hebrew, but I also perceive some vague resemblance to Albanian & Arabic.

I'd be able to tell though that this is not Hebrew upon listening to it.

In your foreign ears, how did you differentiate Assyrian and Hebrew upon listening to it?

[Nazarene]

I can't tell the difference well between Neo-Aramaic and Classical Syriac. But the Hakkari/Urmia dialects sound beautiful.

[Nurzat]

Eastern Assyrian : Hebrew

Western Assyrian : Arabic


after all they're all Semitic languages.

[itilvolga]

Sounds like Hebrew (major) + Arabic (minor) to me.

[Nazarene]

As an Arabic speaker I don't hear it much in most Assyrian dialects. Nineveh Plains dialect sounds much more Arabic influenced especially with all them loanwords.