To our usual languages in the little "card" above, we wanted to add a New Year's greeting in Tamazight, also known as Amazigh or Berber. But we couldn't find it in tifinagh, the Berber alphabet.
The world's most complete list of holiday greetings has just included (with our prompting) an entry for the language spoken by millions of Moroccans, Algerians, and other people in the Maghreb. Thanks to Omniglot, here it is, Happy New Year in transliterated Tamazight:
Asgwas amegas!
For all of our readers, and to the people who have supported TALIM with their financial contributions over the past twelve months, our heartfelt thanks. To those who contributed their time, or shared their archives with us, thank you so much.
Likewise, to all those who used our research library, who introduced friends and family to this national treasure, or who addressed our audiences of interested citizens and fellow specialists, all our best wishes for 2012.
To our neighbors, including the women of the $10,000 a year TALIM/FTAM literacy program, we say "Kul aam wa intum bikheer."
The new year will be, to say the least, challenging. In a climate of budget cuts, even small change but big impact programs like the $25K annual AIMS Maghribi Grants are ending. The trick will to be to plumb new sources of funding, explore new areas of endeavor for this two-century old site.
So from all of us pictured below, Happy New Year. If you haven't been able to visit the Legation in 2011, we hope that you can join us in 2012. There are lots of events, exhibits, conferences, and activities in store.
Gerald Loftus