Activities for Ten-Minute Hieroglyphs Course
On this page you'll find the activities that accompany the Ten-Minute Hieroglyphs Course. Before attempting an activity, please complete the relevant lesson. I'll add activities each time I post a new lesson. If you would like to receive email notifications when new lessons and other resources are posted, as well as other news, please join the mailing list. Read this article for some tips for new learners of hieroglyphs.
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Please note that, for teaching purposes, these activities use Gardiner's slightly simplified transliteration system. See the lessons for more information.
​​​​​If you can't see a game's "start" icon you may need to reload this page.​​​
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The activities on this page are hosted on Wordwall. If you choose to add your name to the leaderboard, it will be visible to other players. Please use only a first name or nickname, not your full name.
Lesson 1: Basic concepts
Try this quiz after you've completed Lesson 1 and read The Journey from Hieroglyphs to Coptic. ​​
Lesson 2: Transliteration and starting to learn the 'alphabet'
Use these resources after you've completed Lesson 2 and read What is transliteration and why is it an essential step in translating hieroglyphs?.
Use the flashcards to help you learn the signs, then play the game to test yourself.​​
Lesson 3: Completing the 'alphabet' and alphabetical order
Use these resources after you've completed Lesson 3.
Use the flashcards to help you learn the new one-letter signs.​​​
The quiz below is on the alphabetical order used in hieroglyhic dictionaries. If you have a dictionary, or a textbook with a vocab list at the back, you could refer to it while you work through the quiz or use it to check your answers. This will help you get used to using a hieroglyphic dictionary.
Lesson 4: Direction of writing and how to read words
Use these resources after you've completed Lesson 4.
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There are two levels of difficulty.
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The match-up game is easier: you match a word in hieroglyphs with its transliteration. Words may be written left to right or right to left.
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The flashcards are a bit more challenging: look at the word on the front and see if you can transliterate it in your head. Next flip the card to see if you were right.
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As an extension, why not use the flashcards to learn the words? They'll be useful vocab for your future studies.
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Hint: all words are spelled out using the one-consonant hieroglyphs that you've learned in previous lessons. If there are signs at the end of the word that you don't recognise, they'll be determinatives (see Lesson 2). These don't need to be transliterated, so you can ignore them for now. You'll learn more about determinatives in Lesson 5.
Lesson 5: Determinatives
Use these resources after you've completed Lesson 5.
First use the flashcards to familiarise yourself with some common determinatives. The front of the card shows you the determinative and describes what it's a picture of. The back of the card tells you areas of meaning that the determinative can indicate.​​​
Lesson 6: Multiliteral signs
Use these resources after you've completed Lesson 6.
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First use the flashcards to familiarise yourself with some common multiliteral signs. The front of the card shows you the sign and the back shows you the transliteration. You should focus on learning each sign's transliteration, but you might find it interesting and useful to look the sign up in a sign list (see the lesson for details) to learn more about what it's a picture of and how it's used.​​​