An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary : With an Index of English Words, King List, and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets (Vol 1)

- I wanted to know if it was sold in one or two volumes.
I was suprised it was n° 1 out of 2
I ordered the next one.
In between I cosidered this work extremy well done, but I reserve more compliments for the review of part n° 2

This work, volumes one and two, constitutes an indispensible reference work for the Anglophone Egyptologist, amateur and professional. Sure, the transliteration system is old, there are errors here and there, but the vast amount of information is too valuable to pass by. Other "dictionaries" and "glossaries" are so small as to be useless for serious work. In the case of the excellent Faulkner dictionary, it's never been typeset and struggling to read handwritten manuscript pages will quickly give you a headache. Whenever possible,check anything you read in Budge against other sources; but when there are no other sources, which is usually the case, you're better off with Budge than with nothing. Both volumes must be bought together; Amazon's presentation doesn't make that clear.

Budge is the best way to go if you are serious about becoming fluent in this beautiful language. The fact is that Budge puts the symbol, the transliteration, and the translation all together so you can know exactly what word you are reading and you can learn the syntax by reading his texts. You can pronounce it as you are learning it while reading the symbol all at the same time. The other wonderful thing about Budge is that he has loads of works out there. If you study one book, then you can easily move into other books and get the same reinforcement without having to learn some different author's other pronunciation key.

I know it is possible to use these books and become fluent. I am in the process of studying this language and a friend who is already fluent recommended these books for me (actually he reviewed Rosemary Clark's book The Sacred Tradition)--but another key point is to understand the essence behind the language. One who follows the Faith of the Gods of Ancient Egypt will be able to relate more to these texts because in order to understand a language such as this one, one must understand the spirit behind the language. Anyone can pick up a hieroglyphics book and learn to write people's names in hieroglyphics. To really understand the deeper aspect of the language, one must study it from the inside and not just as an observer. It is impossible to truly become fluent in a language by being just an observer.

I would recommend reading The Search for Omm Sety about a woman who was a famous Egyptologist and also practiced the Faith of the Gods. She was one of the few people who learned Ancient Egyptian language fluently and was able to understand and communicate its essence. Omm Sety was a personal friend of Budge and actually helped Budge to edit his work and pronunciation. You also may want to read The Sacred Tradition by Rosemary Clark. She was another author who became fluent in this language and she discussses the use of this language in her writings.

I highly recommend this book. Budge has the very best to offer for anyone serious about learning this language.

If your reading the Heiroglyphics you will need this book so don't even kid your self if you think you won't because it's worth it's weight in gold.
Get your own copy because I'm not lending mine!

i have purchased both of the volumes of this set and have found a lot of differences in the main transliteration of the hieroglyphics, but these two books are well worth the money if you are just learning to read and write hieroglyphics.