The greatest way to learn Amharic is, of course, to practice it with a native speaker. Most medium to large cities in the US have Amharic-speaking residents (D.C. area, San Diego, Dallas, Columbus Ohio, Minneapolis, et cetera), and I was amazed to find several Ethiopians even in tiny, somewhat culturally-homogeneous Tallahassee, FL. I have compiled here several ways you might go about searching for an Amharic language partner.
Your Community
Nowadays, a simple google search should be able to direct you to any community organizations in your area that may connect you to native Amharic-speakers. Search for African organizations or Ethiopian organizations in your city. Most will have a web site, phone number, or email address through which you can contact them. You may also consider looking into immigration/resettlement programs. Ask if they are in contact with anyone from Ethiopia. Maybe you can offer to tutor English in exchange for Amharic!
You may also consider looking into churches or other religious organizations. Many Ethiopians are Orthodox Christians, Protestants, or Muslim, and may continue to practice these faiths after they come to the US. Bonus: you might also learn about a religion you never knew about before in the process.
Also, look around for businesses: Ethiopian restaurants, specialty food stores, et cetera. Don’t be afraid to walk in and say you’re interested in learning Amharic. You’d be surprised at how willing people are to help you (in fact, the bulk of my language-learning thus far has happened in Ethiopian-owned convenience stores).
Colleges and Universities
Perhaps you attend university yourself or are fortunate to live in a city with a university or community college. Institutions of higher education are magnets for immigrants/exchange students/et cetera, so this is a great potential resource. Most colleges/universities have international student centers, so you can start there. Consider emailing someone who works there (or walk into the office if you’re a more face-to-face kind of person) and asking if there are any students from Ethiopia who might be willing to practice Amharic with you.
Many large universities also have multicultural organizations or student clubs, so you may consider trying to find out if there are any Ethiopian student organizations.
Most universities also have some sort of ESL program for international students trying to improve their English skills. You may consider asking if there are any Amharic-speaking students who would like to do a language exchange with you.
Even if there are no Amharic-speaking students at the college, consider searching for professors whose research intersects with Ethiopia. They usually will know if there is any community of Amharic-speakers in your city and can connect you. This is how I connected to the Ethiopian community in Tallahassee, in fact!
Online
Personally, I prefer in-person communication, but, if you are unable to find Amharic-speakers to converse with you in your area, there is always the internet. We are fortunate to live in a technological age that allows us to easily communicate with anyone most places in the world. While Ethiopia’s internet access can be a bit…well, lackluster, partly due to government censorship, you can certainly find Amharic conversation partners living in Europe and the United States. I cannot personally speak to the efficacy of these resources since I have never used them, but other language-learners have recommended them, so I offer a listing of them for you here:
My Language Exchange (https://mylanguageexchange.com/) is an online community that allows you to search for tutors based on the language you want to learn, the language they want to learn, and region.
ITalki (https://www.italki.com/home) is similar. To find Amharic speakers, you have to click on the “Language Exchange” link (https://www.italki.com/partners), as it appears there are no professional teachers or community tutors in Amharic at this point in time.
Also, try Facebook! I searched for “Amharic” and found a few groups geared towards Amharic-language learning. Again, I cannot speak to their efficacy or if they are even active, but it is certainly worth a try if you are having difficulty with some of these other avenues (or just want to branch out in your methods and resources!)
Learning Amharic 