Yep, you read right, that is what I’m gonna try to learn to do.
I just wanted to know if anyone else on this board already does so, could share experiences etc.
So far, I have figured out which direction and sequence the hieroglyphs go in. I got to the second lesson which, on the first page, required the memorization of the uniliteral signs. I put it away for today. 
I’m sure it will come in very handy :). The book “Breaking the Maya Code” by Michael Coe has an excellent account of how Egyptian hieroglyphs work and how 19th century scholars worked it out…
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500277214/ref=ase_theprecolugraphi/103-2177304-3583823
Hey, Laurange, what book are you using? I have a copy of E. A. Wallis Budge’s Egyptian Language, but I’ve been told that it’s grammar, or something, is wrong. Anyone know if that’s true?
This is always something I’ve wanted to do, but my accursed schoolwork always gets in the way.
Oh, and BTW, did you memorize the uniliteral, or “phonetic”, heiroglyphs yet?
I’m using James Allen’s Middle Egyptian. It was recommended to me by my Egyptian history teacher, and I had to order it from Amazon as no Canadian companies seemed to want to tsell it to me.
I haven’t really heard of any other books, I’m pretty new to this. Although, I do own a biography of the man who first translated hieroglyphs, so I have that covered, Hemlock.
And, alas, no, I haven’t made any progress yet. But I have an essay due tomorrow, so that’s my priority now. (Why am I posting on the SDMB then, you say? I say: SHH!)
I started with Budge, but I prefer How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Mark Collier and Bill Manley (British Museum Press, 1998). After a couple of months or so of working the exercises I had a fair recognition vocabulary, which served me well on last year’s visit to The British Museum and the Louvre. You’d be amazed how often you run into voice offerings of a thousand bread and beer, a thousand ox and fowl, a thousand alabaster and linen.
I’m afraid I’ve forgotten most of it now.
Breaking hte Maya Code is still worth reading, if you are into this sort of thing. A wonderful, wonderful book, with a really good basic introduction to the theory/principles behind writing systems in general.
Thanks for the info, Laurange, and Manda Jo. I’ll look into some of the books mentioned.
The uniliterals are pretty easy, and once you get past the practical differences in transliteration, you can spell out anything. Unfortunately, that doesn’t actually help you read anything but names, and usually odd ones at that. I haven’t yet found the time to learn anythin else but a few ‘determinants’. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance this coming semester break.
Good luck!
A classmate of mine is also learning hieroglyphics, and her prof is having her use Allen’s Middle Egyptian as well. Good luck!
Allen is good, the British Museum book Peregrin mentioned is perfect if you’re main interest is in reading names and “stock phrases” (all you really need to appreciate most of what you see in a museum or – I assume – on a trip to Egypt), and Budge is an out-of-date waste of time.
If you’re really serious, the absolutely best “teach yourself Ancient Egytpian” materials I’ve found are available from an organization in Paris – Kheops Archeologie. (www.khéops-égyptologie.fr.) They offer correspondence courses as well as instructional books and CD-Roms. (The only problem with Kheps is that they teach you Egyptian in French.)
Good luck!
Apart from some really bad typos, let me correct the URL in my earlier post: Kheops can now be found at “www.egypt.edu/kheops/choix.htm”.
For books about Egyptian in the U.S., I’d recommend Schoenhof’s Foreign Books in Boston (www.schoenhofs.com) over Amazon. Schoenhoef’s has a lot of things in stock that Amazon only claims it can ship in about 6 months. They even have the Kheops texts by Pierre Grandet and Bernard Mathieu.
I take it the written language evolved like English has, so if you can read Middle Egyptian you can’t read Old Egyptian or Roman Egyptian…?
Actually… coughs, then pulls out a podium
There are several phases of the language, and several writing systems. In chronological order:
Languages:
Old Egyptian
Middle Egyptian
Late Egyptian
Demotic
Coptic
Writing systems:
Hieroglyphs
Cursive hieroglyphs
Hieratic
Demotic
Coptic
So the book I’m reading is teaching me to read Middle Egyptian, in hieroglyphs (this combination was used for about 2000 years for formal use on monuments and the like, even after no one really spoke it).
The languages aren’t necessarily mutually intelligeable (I’m sure they are, practically, though), but I think the writing systems are.