6th Grade Social Studies March 2014 Vol 1 | Page 9

Language of Egyptians By Meghana Nagilla People write in all different languages like, English or Hebrew, but what did the Egyptians use as a written language. Egyptians used three written scripts. Hieratic script, demotic script and hieroglyphs are what the Egyptians used as a written language. Egyptians used all scripts for different purposes. Scribes were the only one that knew how to read and write. Egyptians use different scripts for different reasons. Demotic script and hieratic script were an important part of the Egyptian written language. Egyptians used hieratic script for taxes and to record accounts. Demotic script was invented a little later and was used for legal documents. The book Ancient Egypt by George Hart states the purposes for hieratic and demotic script. Hieratic script and demotic script were not picture writing. Ancient Egypt mentions that hieratic and demotic script were not picture writing. Hieroglyphs were another important part of the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs had over 700 pictures that scribes needed to memorize in order to be able to read and write fluently. In the book Ancient Egypt it is stated that scribes had to memorize several hundred hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs were written on tomb walls and monuments. Ancient Egypt mentions where hieroglyphs were written. Scribes were important people in Egypt who were the only one able to read and write. Student scribes took up to ten years to memorize the several hundred hieroglyphs. In the book Ancient Egypt there is evidence that proves how long a student scribe took to memorize hieroglyphs. Student scribes used bits of broken stone called ostraca to practice how to write. Ancient Egypt also states what student scribes practiced on. In the Egyptian language there are three types of writing called hieratic script demotic script and hieroglyphs. The Egyptians used these three scripts as their official written language. Scribes were the only one who could read and write. They knew all three scripts and it took them a very long time to master all three of them. Even though the Ancient Egyptians are gone they are still remembered by their written language.