For the serious student a number of books about the Egyptian language are available.

"How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphics: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself", Mark Collier and Bill Manley, University of California Press, 2003

Superb! Magnificent! Perfect! A teach yourself book that teaches the basics, clearly and concisely and deals with real hieroglyphic inscriptions. A must for the aspiring armchair Egyptologist.

"Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs", James P. Allen Cambridge University Press, 2000.

A quite nice book, and for the serious student a good volume to teach yourself from. But it is very expensive in hardback - $100 or more - and some paperback vendors try to hit you for close to that. Shop around and get some less expensive used copies. The one bought for this reference was about $30.

Serious about learning Ancient Egyptian? Buy this book.

"Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs", Sir Alan Gardiner, Oxford University Press, 3rd Edition, (1957).

The absolute fanatic should get a copy of this book although it's not the greatest book for self-study. It's really a reference grammar that started out as an elementary text. Massive and comprehensive it can be bit overwhelming. But still the basic grammar for in serious students.

"Egyptian Language: Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics", E. A. Wallis Budge, Dover and other publishers.

The books of Wallis Budge are usually not recommended. Even the British Musuem - where E. A. was curator of the Egyptian and Assyrian collections - says steer clear of his books. They are outdated and what you read is often not true.

This book is also often recommended to avoid. But a slight dissent is in order. Yes, the mode of transliteration is considerably outdated (it renders the symbol now believed best pronounced as Akh, , as Khu, and he uses more pronounceable vowels for what are actually consonants), but you can read both E. A.'s book and more modern texts books without too much confusion. The basics of the grammar are also correct.

Many used editions are available from various publishers. Hardback versions are available although most recent books are paperback. Since the book is out of copyright scans of originals are (legally) available in pdf format.

"Egyptian Hieroglyphic Grammar" Samuel Mercer, Ares Publishers, 1980.

Something intermediate between Budge's book and Gardiner's tome. Transliteration is a bit more up-to-date but still not what is considered standard.

"The Vocalization of the Ancient Egyptian Syllabic Orthography", Willliam F. Albright, American Oriental Society (1934).

As stated elsewhere the pronunciation of Egyptian is not known but some Egyptian words, mostly names, also appear in cuneiform documents. Cuneiform, or more properly Akkadian, was the international language of diplomacy at the time. Cuneiform is written as syllables and so the vowels were included. Comparing the Egyptian spelling with the cuneiform equivalents (making allowances for the problems of transcribing a foreign language into your own) gives some idea of how the language was pronounced.

For instance Amenhotep III had a throne name Neb-Ma'at-Ra, , and this appears in the cuneiform letters as Nimmuaria. Philologists tell us that this means that in Amenhotep's day, neb was really pronounced nib, the "b" was assimilated into the "m" of "Ma-at", and since the feminine ending "-at" in Semitic and related languages is pronounced "-ah", then the goddess's name, "Ma-at" was probably pronounced more like Mu-ah.

As for the "a" of "Ra", it isn't an "a" but represents the consonant corresponding to Hebrew "'ayin", , or Arabic "'ayn", . These consonants, if occurring at the end of a word often give a guttural "a" sound to the ending. So the word "Ra" should be pronounced more like "Ree-ah", the "ah" being sounded deep in the throat. So what Egyptologists today transcribe as Neb-Ma'at-Ra should really be pronounced in 18th Dynasty Egyptian as Nib-Muah-Reeah. Put it all together, talk fast, and it comes out easily as Nimmuaria.

Although Modern Hebrew texts say 'ayin is silent, in ancient Hebrew it was a bonafide consonant, as it is in most dialects of Arabic today. We do have the sound in English although not officially. To speak it, imagine you've arrived in San Francisco to give an important presentation. When you get to the meeting room you found you left your laptop with your slides back in your office in New York.

So when you scream "Ah, [nuts]!" the kind of guttural throaty sound that starts the "ah" is ayin or ayn.

Script

Books on hieratic, that is, the "handwritten" for of hieroglyphics that Egyptians used in everyday writing, seem hard to find. The grand old volumes of "Hieratische Paleographie" by G. Moller, are generally not available and the newer books listed on the internet for sale seem to be mostly unavailable.

But see:

"How Djadja-Em-Ankh Saved the Day : A Tale From Ancient Egypt", by Lisa Manniche, Eveleigh Books (1977).

An story from a real papyrus with the hieratic reproduction and hieroglyphic transcription included. The trouble is the book is set up to imitate a scroll where it's folded in one single long sheet and reads from right to left. You feel like you're fighting a road map.

Lisa, by the way, wrote a great book on how they made whoopee in Ancient Egypt.

"The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: Free Translation Commentary and Selected Photographs," Arnold Buffum Chace , National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, (1979).

One thing nice about collecting esoteric books is you can pay a few bucks when it comes out only to find out years later it is now "rare" and sells for about ten times what you paid. This reproduction of the 1927 edition (which typically sells for over $600) isn't cheap. This has facsimile of the hieratic, hieroglyphic transcription, and translation.

"Hieratic Inscriptions From The Tomb of Tut'ankhamun", Jaroslav Cerny, Oxford, Griffith Institute (1965).

The hieratic writing in Tut's tomb, mostly short inscriptions, wine jar dockets, etc.