Ge'ez script or Latin letters: which should you use?

If you can write Amharic in both scripts, you have to choose each time. Most people do it on instinct and get it right. This is that instinct written down, which is useful when you are setting a default rather than making a one-off call.

Use Ge'ez script when

• The text will be published — a caption, a post, an article, a notice.
• It is formal or official — an application, a contract, anything institutional.
• The audience skews older, where Latin-letter Amharic reads as careless.
• It needs to be searchable later in Amharic, since Ge'ez spelling is consistent and Latin spelling is not.
• It will be read aloud by a screen reader, which handles Ge'ez correctly and mangles Latin Amharic.

Use Latin letters when

• It is a chat message — this is the native register there.
• The conversation is already in Latin letters. Matching it matters more than being formally correct.
• You are mixing English and Amharic in one sentence, which is smoother in one script.
• The recipient reads Amharic fluently but is slower with Ge'ez script, which is common among the diaspora.

The accessibility point is underrated

Latin-letter Amharic breaks screen readers. The software sees Latin characters, assumes English, and pronounces the result as English — which is unintelligible. If there is any chance your reader uses a screen reader, Ge'ez script is not a stylistic preference, it is the accessible choice.

The search point is the one people miss

Ge'ez spelling is stable, so searching your own notes for a word tends to find it. Latin-letter Amharic has no fixed spelling, so a word you wrote three ways is a word you will fail to find twice. If you are keeping notes you expect to search later, that argues for Ge'ez even for informal text.