Another of my absolute favorite books, and one of the initial books I bought (you can see some of the damage on the cover from shipping this from abroad to Ethiopia as I couldn’t find it in country). This is another book that mainly serves a reference goal now with the lexicon and grammar sketch. The grammar sketch is, if anything, more terse than Griefenow-Mewis’ but still thorough. The lexicon is pretty cool as the authors went with the root word form (I believe it is Zorc who has also published a paper explaining how one should write an afaan Oromoo dictionary where this point is also stated). The big aspect is of course the newspaper reader section.
The articles chosen probably were among the best on offer in 1996 when this was published. There are thirty-two articles included starting at a very basic level and working up to a reasonably difficult point. Every word used within the book is explained and often longer thoughts are explained when the translation of individual words may fail you. I may start a second read through so that I can post my thoughts on each individual reading but that is dependent on time.
Dunwoody Press, the publisher, went out of business before being bought out. It seems they are attempting to get rid of any remaining stock. This book appears to be sold out but it appears to have an audio cd that I had not bought the first time. When I am able to I may try to purchase that as well.
Overall, this is probably one of if not the most useful English language material currently out there for learning afaan Oromoo. The newspaper reader will help students trying to advance past the most basic level. The spelling is fairly modern, unlike The Handbook of the Oromo Language (an English language textbook). In particular the lexicon section is a great place to look up words and find related words formed from the same root. If it wasn’t for the fact that it is slightly heavy, it would be the book that I carry with me all the time for when I find an odd minute to practice.