TIGRINYA VOICE OVER TALENTS NATIVE SPEAKERS - PAGE 1

Tigrinya language
Native to: Eritrea
Native speakers: 6.9 million
Writing system: Tigrigna alphabet (Ge'ez script)
Capital city: Asmara
Currency: Nakfa (ERN)
Dialing code: +291
Country code: ER
Population: 6,380,803
Tigrinya is a member of the Ethiopic branch of Semitic languages with about 6 million speakers mainly in the Tigre region of Ethiopia and in Central Eritrea. There are also large immigrant communities of Tigrinya speakers in Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Germany, Italy the UK, Canada and Sweden, as well as in other countries. Tigrinya is written with a version of the Ge'ez script and first appeared in writing during the 13th century in a text on the local laws for the district of Logosarda in southern Eritrea. Although it differs markedly from the classical Ge'ez (Ethiopic) language - for instance, in having phrasal verbs, and in using a word-order that places the main verb last instead of first in the sentence, there is a strong influence of Ge'ez on Tigrigna literature, especially with terms that relate to Christian life, Biblical names, and so on. Ge'ez, because of its status within Ethiopian culture, and possibly also because of its inherently simple construction, acted as a literary medium until relatively recent times.