So yesterday I watched this documentary about ancient Egypt and saw all those bird pictures carved on walls. Thought they were just decorations at first, but apparently they're actual writing. Got super curious and decided I wanna figure out how to read basic bird hieroglyphs.
Starting With Zero Knowledge
First thing I did was grab a notebook and search online for "bird hieroglyphs alphabet". Found some ancient Egyptian charts showing which birds meant which sounds. Like an owl stands for "m", a quail chick is "w", and that vulture-looking bird means "a". My notebook got filled up real quick!
The Practice Struggle
Tried writing my own name with bird symbols and wow - turns out birds don't do vowels well! Ended up with something like "H-r-y" for Henry. Kept messing up the direction too since hieroglyphs read both left-to-right AND right-to-left depending which way the birds face. Flipped my notebook around like crazy till it clicked.
- Owl confusion: Drew the owl too cartoonish at first and it looked like a pigeon
- Vulture problems: The "a" vulture has this weird curled head I kept forgetting
- Hawk headaches: Mixing up the hawk ("b") with the falcon ("f") nearly broke me
Finally Cracking Simple Words
After practicing for three hours straight, I got some basics down. Wrote "mother" as an owl plus a vulture (sounds like "mut" when read). Felt like magic seeing the birds transform into real words! Took pictures of my notebook like a proud parent.
Now I can recognize about seven bird symbols. Still mess up sometimes but not totally lost anymore. Next project? Learning snake and bug hieroglyphs. Hope they're easier than these tricky birds!
