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Preface

“Šlomo Surayt – An Introductory Course to Surayt-Aramaic (Turoyo)” has been developed within the framework of the Aramaic-Online Project (2014–2017), realised by a consortium consisting of four European universities – Free University of Berlin (Coordinator), University of Bergen (Applicant), University of Cambridge, Leipzig University – and the St Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Monastery in the Netherlands. This project, which has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union, has developed an online course and additional teaching material in Surayt Aramaic, which is classified as a severely endangered language by UNESCO.

The course content has been produced through an iterative process, directed by Prof. Dr. Shabo Talay at the Freie Universität Berlin. Each unit has been reviewed several times by the team members. In addition, the course content and methodology have been evaluated by the advisory board and external volunteers.

Overall, the course is a product of a long and demanding process of teamwork consisting of content developers, reviewers, translators, technical editors, layout designers, and software developers. Despite all review cycles, we are fully aware that readers might find mistakes and there are elements to be improved. We kindly ask all readers to share their findings and feedback with the course developers by sending an email to aramaic.online@gmail.com.

We would like to thank all those who made this project possible. First of all the partner organisations with their staff members involved; the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), our associated partners KANO Suryoyo and the Inanna Foundation. We are grateful to all organisations and individuals who have supported the project during the dissemination activities in different European countries.

Special thanks go to Arve Kjell Uthaug and Dr. Ludmilla Torlakova from the University of Bergen for their invaluable support and involvement in all stages of the Aramaic Online Project.

 

Berlin, July 2017

Shabo Talay

On behalf of the Aramaic-Online Project