Armenian Class

[HyeJinx1984]

So today was my first day of Armenian class. Even though it's been only one session so far, I think it's my favorite class ever in college. I was actually surprised how orderly it was... you'd think a class mostly full of Armenians would be noisy and disorganized. However, the fun part was seeing the non-Armenians taking the class... especially this one african girl who I can't WAIT to see pernounce certain words. Well... this will be fun.

Oh something interesting I realized about the alphabet... the letters are multi-syllabic . The only Alphabet I know is English, an dall those letters are one syllable, but I was really surprised to see some Armenian letters having two and I think even three syllables in them, it's like they're more like words then letters.

[XxgoeyxX]

OOOo Valley started today..Well good luck in that class! :)

[HyeJinx1984]

Well, this is at Valley................ you're not in my class are you? :confused:

[XxgoeyxX]

Well, this is at Valley................ you're not in my class are you? :confused:


No I dont go to valley. I just woke up early to go to the History class I was going to take. But then I changed my mind, 15 units is enough for one semester.

[HyeJinx1984]

Atleast I know who Mesrob Meshdots is now, Baron can be proud of me :p

[xBaron Dants]

hahaha!
Vay HyeJinx vay! I see that you are very eager to please.

And while I must say that it is surprising that you just now found out who Mesrob Mashdots is, the fact that you took an Armenian class speaks volumes about you, and your "Armenianness". :)

Though I'm confused. You know how to speak, right?

[HyeJinx1984]

hahaha!
Vay HyeJinx vay! I see that you are very eager to please.

And while I must say that it is surprising that you just now found out who Mesrob Mashdots is, the fact that you took an Armenian class speaks volumes about you, and your "Armenianness". :)

Though I'm confused. You know how to speak, right?

Oh yes, from what other people have said I speak exceptionally well for someone who was born in America, to the point that people have actually asked me what town in Armenia I am from. However, I do not know how to read or write, and I speak Eastern armenian and the class teaches Western Armenian... but from what the teacher has said, there are really only a few superficial differences in speaking and a few spelling differences when reading and writing.

In one day I've already learned so much. I always figured all of the Armenian Diaspora was due to the genocide, which is for the most part true, however Basgahyes (my dad's side) is a different case all together. About two hundred years before the genocide even happened, when the persians tried conquering Armenia they took about 300,000 Armenians with them back to Iran, who's decendents are modern day Basgahyes. So I learned something about the ancestory on my dad's side. Pretty cool.

Also Baron, I'm seriously considering visiting Armenia summer '05. We should get a group together and go since aside from my uncle and his family I don't really know anyone else there.

[MadHandle]

^^05....I'm probably gonna be there. I'll be at Kanaker mostly.

By the way hyejinx, I was playin postal 2 with a guy similar to your name...was that you?

[HyeJinx1984]

Nope, don't play Postal. You may see me on Battle.net playing WarCraftIII though :D

'nother interesting fact I learned today... did you know the first newspaper published using the Armenian alphabet was produced in Madras, India sometime between 1794 and 1796. Although one question I should have asked at the time, and that you guys are probably now asking... Why India??!?!?!?!?!?

[sad_eyes]

I found it confusing to be honest. English has been planted in my brain so well that It was difficult to understand the concept of the Armenian alphabet, let alone forming scentences. I found it odd (please, no one be offended by that comment) how armenians form sentences by placing the before the noun. Such as "Yes kez sirumen"- translated it sounds in english as "I you love." As we would say , I love you.

[HyeJinx1984]

Yea, right now my biggest fear is not beeing able to grapple the Armenian alphabet because it's sooooo different to the alphabet I'm used to. But once you learn that everything else probably falls into place.

[Stark Evade]

Funny...
The LA Valley College Armenian class is the one I tried to get into yesterday. I stood outside for a bit but there were too many people trying to add. I noticed a black girl in there. Interesting.

[ckBejug]

Oh something interesting I realized about the alphabet... the letters are multi-syllabic . The only Alphabet I know is English, an dall those letters are one syllable, but I was really surprised to see some Armenian letters having two and I think even three syllables in them, it's like they're more like words then letters.

I think what you mean is that ayp, pen, kim, they have 3-4 letters instead of just one like A, B, C. Right? I am pretty sure that they aren't multi-syllabic.

[jgm1975]

I found it confusing to be honest. English has been planted in my brain so well that It was difficult to understand the concept of the Armenian alphabet, let alone forming scentences. I found it odd (please, no one be offended by that comment) how armenians form sentences by placing the before the noun. Such as "Yes kez sirumen"- translated it sounds in english as "I you love." As we would say , I love you.
This is a special characteristic of Armenian. Unlike other Indo-European languages, Armenian places a heavy emphasis on the object rather than the verb or the noun. So while in English you would say "I want the house", in Armenian we would say "The house I want" (Tunuh uzum em or Dunuh g'uzem). "Tun" or "Dun" means house. I think that this emphasis on the object may also be shared by another language, but I do not remember which one.

[Stark Evade]

Actually, that happens in many languages, and that includes Latin. Probably all of the languages where the declensions of a verb are decided by a suffix or a prefix.

[HyeJinx1984]

Funny...
The LA Valley College Armenian class is the one I tried to get into yesterday. I stood outside for a bit but there were too many people trying to add. I noticed a black girl in there. Interesting.

Dude! You shoulda came in, we woulda been classmates!

[HyeJinx1984]

I think what you mean is that ayp, pen, kim, they have 3-4 letters instead of just one like A, B, C. Right? I am pretty sure that they aren't multi-syllabic.

Lyoon
Dyoon
Hyoon

all have two syllabels... unless I'm just pronouncing them wrong, which may very well be the case.

[ckBejug]

Those are mono-syllabic my dear. Keep up the good work though. :)

p.s. Is the teacher arevelahay or arevmdahay?

[HyeJinx1984]

Those are mono-syllabic my dear. Keep up the good work though. :)

p.s. Is the teacher arevelahay or arevmdahay?
I don't know what either of those terms mean, he's Bairuitsi

[ckBejug]

That means he's speaking arevmdahayeren.

Arevmdahay = beirutsi halebtsi, more Arabic-influenced
Arevmoodk= Where the Sun sets. Arev= Sun. Moodk= To come in.

Arevelahay = hayastantsi, more Russian-influenced
Arevelk= Where the Sun rises. Arev= Sun. Yelk= To go up.

I guess the words come from whereabouts the Armenians lived and got influenced from their neighboring countries.

[nunechka]

arevmoodk = west
arevyelk = east

[ckBejug]

arevmoodk = west
arevyelk = east

Yes, that too. :)

[nunechka]

oh and i would just like to add that this is one of the reasons why our Armenian language is so beautiful...

arevyelk is where the sun rises and that is on the EAST
and arevmoodk is where the sun sets and is on the WEST

isnt that just the most simple thing??? rather then the word east and west which isnt telling of whether it is the side that the sun rises or sets... :)

[HyeJinx1984]

Annnnnd I'm off to my second day of class now. Will probably post something once I get back.

[nairi]

Yea, right now my biggest fear is not beeing able to grapple the Armenian alphabet because it's sooooo different to the alphabet I'm used to. But once you learn that everything else probably falls into place.

I think if you speak Armenian fluently, you can pick up the alphabet without a problem. Just sit down one afternoon and rewrite the whole thing over and over and over again. If you don't know the alphabet by heart by the end of the afternoon, then you must have done something wrong.

[nunechka]

nairi i love your name... :)

clever... and it reminds me of this:

Yes im anush Hayastani arevaham bern em sirum,
mer hin azgi vokhpanvag latsakumats larn em sirum
Arnanman tsaghikneri u varteri buireh varman
U NAIRIAN aghchikneri hezachkun parn em sirum


shnorhakalutiun

[HyeJinx1984]

Whoa... what a day. It was all intensive writing and learning of the alphabet. Hard, but what are ya gonna do. However, it was hard for me to keep my mind on the work. Gotta admit, the hight light of my night was not the lesson, but this very very attractive girl who seemed to be very, VERY attracted to me... I've never seen this kind of reaction from someone on the day they first meet me. I mean. wow, this is going good. All thanks to the fact that I'm a fan of Serg Tankian :)

By the way, to whoever was trying to get in last time but gave up, you should have came today, he was adding whoever was there.

[bell-the-cat]

I think if you speak Armenian fluently, you can pick up the alphabet without a problem. Just sit down one afternoon and rewrite the whole thing over and over and over again. If you don't know the alphabet by heart by the end of the afternoon, then you must have done something wrong.

There was a seller on ebay a few months back selling little scrabbble-like wooden tiles each with a different Armenian letter printed on them. Would have been a good thing to have for learning the alphabet. But I suppose scraps of paper would do almost as well.

[bell-the-cat]

Armenian places a heavy emphasis on the object rather than the verb or the noun. So while in English you would say "I want the house", in Armenian we would say "The house I want" (Tunuh uzum em or Dunuh g'uzem). "Tun" or "Dun" means house. I think that this emphasis on the object may also be shared by another language, but I do not remember which one.

It might be Turkish :eek:

[HyeJinx1984]

There was a seller on ebay a few months back selling little scrabbble-like wooden tiles each with a different Armenian letter printed on them. Would have been a good thing to have for learning the alphabet. But I suppose scraps of paper would do almost as well.

Actually my problem is that the sheet I have is a very bad copy, and when I look for the alphabet online it's either super fancy handwriting or a font which looks much different then how it should look. I just need the alphabet written for me in a simple hand printed way and I'll learn it like that *snaps fingers* but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[nairi]

I don't have a scanner, otherwise I'd scan a few sheets for you. Sorry :( But if you live in Glendale, I'm sure there are plenty of these books in Armenian bookstores: like Berj or Abril. I know someone who recently bought a "Eastern Armenian for Beginners" there and is quite satisfied (although it's not flawless :(, but better than nothing I guess). Otherwise, in Armenia, there's a lot of books for children learning to write Armenian. As you know, the handwritten form is different from the typed form; very much like Latin.

[HyeJinx1984]

I don't have a scanner, otherwise I'd scan a few sheets for you. Sorry :( But if you live in Glendale, I'm sure there are plenty of these books in Armenian bookstores: like Berj or Abril. I know someone who recently bought a "Eastern Armenian for Beginners" there and is quite satisfied (although it's not flawless :(, but better than nothing I guess). Otherwise, in Armenia, there's a lot of books for children learning to write Armenian. As you know, the handwritten form is different from the typed form; very much like Latin.
Yea, which is my problem right now, I'm trying to learn handwriting by looking at printed letters. It's quite frustrating.

[nairi]

I'll see if I can scan a few tomorrow at someone else's house. Maybe by the end of the weekend. Bare with me :)

[HyeJinx1984]

Thankie, thankie, thankie!!!!!

[ckBejug]

http://forum.armenianclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=50

I posted a link to one of my favorite (translated into Armenian) poems a while ago.... I have written it out myself, if that helps. I will write out the aypoopen when I get home and scan it for you, if that helps...

[choban]

http://forum.armenianclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=50

I posted a link to one of my favorite (translated into Armenian) poems a while ago.... I have written it out myself, if that helps. I will write out the aypoopen when I get home and scan it for you, if that helps...


I can't read your scan, but i would like to read your poem so why don't you post it up on the site.

[nairi]

Hyejinx, I'm sorry I was unable to find those sheets. I was sure I had them, but apparently I don't :( I asked someone else who hopes to have them to scan some for me (I haven't heard from him yet). Meanwhile, I took a picture from a book. Hope it helps in the mean time (sorry for bad quality):

http://www.xs4all.nl/~nairi/IM000164.JPG