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Welcome to Voices of Ancient Egypt, the podcast for people who don't just want to learn about ancient Egypt, but want to understand it on a deeper, more meaningful level. I'm Melinda Nelsonhurst, an Egyptologist with a PhD in the field and years of experience teaching at the university level, working in Egypt, and training students around the world to read real ancient Egyptian texts. I've spent decades studying this civilization in a traditional academic setting, so you don't have to. And so you can access knowledge that's usually locked behind academic walls. This podcast brings ancient Egyptian history, beliefs, and language to life and shows you that learning hieroglyphs is possible no matter your age, background, or schedule. So whether you want to read hieroglyphs in museums, on social media, or on your next trip to Egypt, you'll find the tools, stories, and encouragement to make it real right here. Let's hear the voices of the ancient world together. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the podcast. I'm happy to be here with you today. And I want to share a bit of what you could think of as maybe a little bit of a behind the scenes or special sort of tip that you just don't hear generally. And this is something I would say that this is really is something that no one's going to tell you before your first Egypt trip, but you may figure out on your own once you've gone. And here's what it is. You shouldn't go to Egypt without first learning to read hieroglyphs. Now you might call this a hot take, perhaps, but here's the thing. People come back from Egypt and they usually say two things. First, they say it was incredible. It was just so amazing. It was a wonderful trip, a trip of a lifetime. And then they also say, I just wish I'd known more. I wish I'd been able to read some of the texts. The truth is, nobody comes back saying that they over-prepared for their trip. But 99.99% of people will not prepare for their trip in this way. They don't prepare by learning to read hieroglyphs, and they come back saying that phrase, I wish I'd known more. But this is absolutely preventable. And I want you to be among that 0.01% who get to have the most amazing trip possible. And here's why. First, being able to read the actual ancient Egyptian texts that ancient Egyptians wrote opens up this entirely new world of experience, a world where you connect with the ancient Egyptians on a whole new level. Because quite frankly, your guide can't give this to you. Tour guides can give you an abbreviated, simplified, like 90-second version of things, right? And sometimes they can read hieroglyphs, but often not. And here's the thing: when you read the texts on the walls yourself, it's personal. You understand the ancient Egyptians' hopes and fears, their beliefs, and who they really were. Whether it's a king's victory, a scribe's pride in his work, a son's prayer for his dead father. You only get that connection if you can read it yourself. No guide, no matter how good, can hand you that intimacy. Because these inscriptions weren't just like museum labels, right? They were communication with the gods, with the dead, and with future visitors to the tombs, like you. And for more on tombs and their texts and people visiting, by the way, you can check out episode 15, which is all about that. The ancient Egyptians fully expected that literate people would come and read what they wrote, particularly in tombs. And for 1500 years, no one actually could do that. Now you can again. And that's not just a hobby, that's participating in communication with real people. And it's something that was interrupted for 15 centuries, but you now have this wonderful opportunity to do for yourself. And you'll be the only person in the room who actually knows what these texts say. Every tourist walks past the same wall of hieroglyphs and reads a little placard like in a museum or at an archaeological site. But you could be the one who walks up and reads it for yourself and quietly realizes you just did that. That moment in the actual temple, in front of an actual inscription, is irreplaceable. Going without this skill means you'll spend the whole trip on the outside of something that you could have been on the inside of. And you'll never feel more alive than in the moment when you read something no one else can there, right? There's a specific type of thrill, or like one of my students said, there's this rush that you get standing at Karnak or in a tomb among the tombs of the nobles, reading an inscription while the crowd around you just flows past, no idea what's going on there. You're not translating from a book. You're reading the real thing. That feeling is available to you. It's not just for scholars, but you do have to show up prepared to receive it. And here's the thing: when I say prepared, I want you to understand it really is absolutely possible to learn to read hieroglyphs before your trip to Egypt. And learning hieroglyphs takes so much less time than you think. People often come to me thinking, I'd need years to learn this. And the truth is, you don't need tons of time to devote to it or to become like a full-time scholar as long as you have the right system for learning. And you can learn enough to engage, to recognize cartouches, decode offering formulas, read about people's families and their relationships with the gods in a matter of just a couple months. That's months, not years. So a trip on your calendar isn't a reason to wait. It's not a time to say, like, oh, I'm just too busy for this, right? It's instead really the most powerful deadline you'll ever have for getting this done and having that amazing next level experience. And when you do, this skill changes you. You're no longer just a tourist, right? It makes you a traveler. It makes you a curious investigator for the rest of your life. Once you can read hieroglyphs, every Egypt trip or trip to a museum anywhere in the world that you ever take for the rest of your life is different. Museums become interactive. Documentaries become verifiable. Random objects in stores like books with hieroglyphs on the covers or posters in the thrift store with hieroglyphs on them become things you can actually examine and verify. Are they real texts or not? What do they say? You don't just take one better trip, you permanently upgrade how you move through the world and through the ancient world. And even if you never were to travel again, every photograph you've taken becomes a translation puzzle that you can actually solve. Right now, photos from Egypt are probably just beautiful souvenir for you. But with even basic hieroglyphic knowledge, every photo becomes a document. You'll come home and keep working, deciphering what you saw, connecting to what you're learning, going deeper long after the trip ends. And really, the trip doesn't end. It becomes the beginning of years of deep connection with ancient Egypt. It's an investment that pays forever. And here's the thing, and maybe this might sound a little harsh, but you can learn this. So why wouldn't you? Why would you miss that opportunity? Right? It's like planning for a big trip to Paris. You're so excited about it. You want to see the sights, and you're especially excited about seeing the Louvre. You've never been there, you're traveling halfway across the world to get there. It's a trip of a lifetime, right? But then you decide to just leave your glasses at home. Why, why bring them? Why bring one extra item, right? And you get there, you can sort of see the art, you know, but it's blurry. Like you're in a museum of shapes almost. It's just the broad outlines and you miss all the details. So just like you're probably thinking, like, I would never do that, right? Why would I leave my glasses behind on purpose to take a trip like this? And I would say, just like you wouldn't leave your glasses behind for a trip of a lifetime to view art, you shouldn't leave behind your opportunity for such an amazing experience and connection with the ancient Egyptians. An experience that's better than 99.99% of trips. And with the right system, you can absolutely learn to read these texts before your trip. On May 12th, I'll be teaching my free class, the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Fast Track. And this class teaches you the four essential things that my students do to fast track learning hieroglyphs. So you can learn to read the hieroglyphs that excite you, the ones you'll actually see on tomb and temple walls, and on ancient artifacts in museums. Save your spot now over at Voicesofancient Egypt.com slash free class so we can get you set up with a system for learning hieroglyphs that really works and we'll have you ready for your trip. I can't wait to see you there.