burmese
Burmese
Burmese
Essays
- Information on the script, grammar, dialects and more.
- Lots of information on the script with a nice chart of all the letters.
About Burmese by P. Phlong
- Information about the language, history, script, dialects, related languages etc.
- A nice essay on studying the Burmese language.
- Article with diagram on the history, dialects, script, grammar and role in society of Burmese.
A Guide to the Study of Southeast Asian Languages by E. Riddle, K. Carpenter, C. J. Compton & J. Wheatley, 2000
- Great article with loads of advice on learning a language, strategies, learning different skills, maintaining a language etc.
Burmese Taster from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
- Video introduction to the Burmese language with demonstrations of some short Burmese phrases.
About Burmese by G. Green
- Short article about Burma, the Burmese people, Burmese alphabet and literature.
- Concise information on the language, dialects, structure, writing and resources.
Courses
SEAsite Beginning Burmese Lessons
- 23 lessons with pictures, audio, drills, quizzes and more. A great resource for learning basic Burmese.
Burmese By Ear or Essential Myanmar by J. Okell, 2002
- Beginning course with extensive audio, teaching spoken survival Burmese & grammatical patterns for everyday life.
- 16 lessons based around texts on Burmese culture & life with audio, drills, notes and quizzes.
L-Lingo Burmese Available in English, French, German & Spanish
- Interactive course with 40 lessons using pictures, audio and exercises to teach Burmese phrases and vocabulary.
- Huge drill-based course using romanization & script (later on), with dialogues, grammar notes & reading exercises.
Spoken Burmese: Book 1 & Book 2 by W. S. Cornyn, 1945 & 1946
- Old sentence-based course using romanization, with grammar, conversations and lots of exercises. Audio can be bought online.
Burmese Familiarization Course
Teaches functional Burmese for everyday situations, with dialogues, exercises, pictures, limited grammar notes etc. Unfortunately no audio.
Websites
Burmese Language Study Materials
- A university website with lots of information on available Burmese courses and materials. Very useful.
- Some information on Burmese grammar and phrases.
- A list of thematically arranged words & phrases as well as information on the alphabet and numbers.
- 10 videos teaching some basic Burmese. Note: Sound quality is rather poor in earlier videos.
- Burmese basic language phrasebooks with audio, some military related.
Ayinepan BROKEN LINK
- A short e-book showing the Burmese alphabet, an English-Burmese dictionary, Burmese mp3 songs and more.
Script
SEAsite Burmese Script Lessons
- 40 lessons teaching letters of the alphabet with audio, notes, quizzes, drills and more. Looks really thorough.
- Flash animations showing how to write Burmese characters and also the sound.
- A short pdf with charts of all the letters in the Burmese alphabet.
South East Asian Scripts & Brahmi Scripts
- Comparative charts of Brahmi & South East Asian scripts.
E-books
Grammar of the Burmese Language by A. Judson, 1883
- An old but thorough grammar book. If you want to download a pdf click 'add to book bag' and then download contents from the bookbag section.
- A short book in Burmese for learning Burmese. Loads of pictures.
ビルマ語文法（一年次） (Burmese grammar, 1st year) from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1999
ビルマ語文法（二年次） (Burmese grammar, 2nd year) from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1999
ビルマ語の音声と文字 (Burmese sounds & script) from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1999 BROKEN LINK
口語体ｖｓ文語体 (Colloquial style vs Literary style) from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1999
ビルマ語会話 by K. Nemoto, 1991
ビルマ語購読 by K. Nemoto, 1991
- Downloadable textbooks from the Tokyo university of foreign studies.
ビルマ語研修テキスト(Burmese Language Training Textbook) by T. Oono, 1976 (no. A079-83)
ビルマ語研修テキスト(Burmese Language Training Textbook) by S. Yabu, 1979 (no. A111-113)
ビルマ語研修テキスト(Burmese Language Training Textbook) by K. Nemoto, 1991 (no. A205-207)
ビルマ語研修テキスト(Burmese Language Training Textbook) by K. Nemoto, 2004 (no. A869-870)
Burmese Grammatical Manual by S. Yabu, 1974 (no. A332)
- Some complimentary copies of these textbooks are available from the university.
Forums
- Unfortunately no posts. However, you may find some help if you post.
Authentic Materials
Radio Free Asia, BBC, NHK, Voice of America
-News, radio and video (on VOA) in Burmese.
- Radio and podcasts about culture, news, science, entertainment; lots of interesting material.
- Burmese wikipedia with more than 5,000 articles.
Technical
- A guide on installing Mac & Window fonts and several fonts to download.
- Searchable two-way dictionary with virtual keyboard.
- Searchable Burmese-English dictionary with virtual keyboard and IPA search ability.
Commercial
Burmese: An Introduction to the Spoken Language, Books 1 and 2 by John Okell, 1994, Center for Burma Studies, Northern Illinois University
- 4 vols, 34 hours of audio, designed for self-study. Takes you further than Burmese by Ear: more words, more structures, more topics & more practice. The third volume in the set introduces you to the script, and the fourth takes you into the literary style.
Burmese: an introduction to the script by John Okell, 1994, Center for Burma Studies, Northern Illinois University
- 450 pages and 7 x 60" tapes or CDs. The method largely avoids relying on romanized equivalents: students learn by associating script symbols on the page with sound from the audio. Includes sections on alphabetical order, the Burmese names of the letters, handwriting, and display typefaces.
Burmese/ Myanmar: a dictionary of grammatical forms by John Okell and Anna J. Allott. 2001, Curzon Press
- An outline of grammar and a generous listing of hundreds of suffixes with illustrations and notes. For more information on the above books please e-mail the author at:
- A fair-trade website where you can learn languages from native speakers through Skype. There is currently one tutor who teaches Burmese at reasonable prices.