diff --git a/fluents/annotations.py b/fluents/annotations.py
index e2b52b4..56f82c5 100644
--- a/fluents/annotations.py
+++ b/fluents/annotations.py
@@ -58,3 +58,46 @@ class DictAnnotationHandler(AnnotationHandler):
     def get_annotation_names(self):
         return self._dict.keys()
         
+
+def read_annotations_file(filename):
+    """Read annotations from file.
+
+    Reads annotations from a tab delimited file of the format:
+    dimname     annotation_name1    annotation_name2 ...
+    id1         Foo                 0.43
+    id2         Bar                 0.59
+    """
+    
+    ann = DictAnnotationHandler()
+    dimname = None
+    annotation_dicts = []
+    annotation_names = []
+    
+    fd = open(filename)
+
+    ## Read the first line, which contains the dimension name and
+    ## annotation names.
+    line = fd.readline()
+    values = [x.strip() for x in line.split()]
+    dimname = values[0]  
+    annotation_names = values[1:]
+    annotation_dicts = [{} for x in annotation_names]
+
+    ## Read the lines containing the annotations. The first value on
+    ## each line is an id along the dimension.
+    while line:
+        values = [x.strip() for x in line.split()]
+        for i, x in enumerate(values[1:]):
+            annotation_dicts[i][values[0]] = x
+        line = fd.readline()
+
+    fd.close()
+
+    ## Add everything to the annotation object and add the object to
+    ## the specified dimension.
+    for i, a in enumerate(annotation_names):
+        ann.add_annotations(a, annotation_dicts[i])
+
+    _dim_annotation_handlers[dimname] = ann
+    return ann
+
diff --git a/test/system/annotationtest.py b/test/system/annotationtest.py
index e40890c..4a1b9de 100644
--- a/test/system/annotationtest.py
+++ b/test/system/annotationtest.py
@@ -53,5 +53,10 @@ class AnnotationsTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
         assert h.get_annotation_names() == ['name']
 
+    def testReadAnnotationsFile(self):
+        ann = annotations.read_annotations_file('../data/annotations.fann')
+        assert ann != None
+        assert ann == annotations.get_dim_handler('dim1')
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()