2nd Generation Armenian Americans anyone?

[Tigranes]

I'm sort of a third generation US born Armenian. My father is from Armenia but my mothers family is US born and can even trace some of her ancestors to the Revolution.

[IAmMadAtAC]

I was born in the US and so were my parents. I'm 100% Armenian. They dont speak Armenian, neither do I. I dont know too much about Armenian traditions.

Is there anyone else whos a 2nd generation or more Armenian-American?

I live in NYC and I don't meet many Armenians. The ones I do meet are all not born in the USA, I don't know any Armenians as friends so when I meet someone who is Armenian, I'm always friendly and I get a nasty response, like "F--K OFF".
I also visted Glendale, CA, not one person I met there was born in the USA. Not that I'm upset about it or theres anything wrong, but I never met anyone like myself and I'm confused. Is it very rare to be like this? Do you know anyone that is?

Also I would say Most of the Armenians I met do not like me because I cant speak the language and dont know much about the culture, I found them to be jerks and very rude. Is that common?
Also most of the Armenians I met tell me "you're not Armenian" I tell them I am and they say "there no way you can be"
I think its really ignorant.

My parents say Armenians are wonderful, nice people, but I don't see it all.

I can't really see, NightOwl, why you would get xxxx offs from Armenians. I know none like that, and I live just a city away from NY. Usually when meeting an Armenian they are happy and friendly, since its not often you meet a fellow one. I'm a 100% 6th generation Armenian-American (well not on all sides of course, third is the least on any side) and I do though agree that some Armenians can be unfriendly or unwelcoming. When meeting just one solitary Armenian somewhere things are almost always as stated, but I've noticed that Armenians much more recent than me tend to be very clichy and not friendly with the older-stock non-accented Armenians like myself. I've been discriminated against from recent Armenians for being an older-type one, and the components that come with that such as great assimilation and the fact that I don't know much Armenian. Things like this don't make me Armenian enough for some of these recent Armenians and they look down on me for it. What's ironic though is it's likely I know more about Armenian culture, history, and current issues than 95% of them.
This is not the norm though, I get along with most Armenians I know, recent or not. Despite what I said above, this is only what I've encountered in a small percent of Armenians. Overall I find them to be very friendly and can't understand why you would have that kind of idea about them. You must be associating with a lot of the wrong kind of Armenians? I really don't think there are many like you speak about and that they could be that ignorant. The ones I know from New York aren't, but of course I don't know that many. The many I know from here though are for the most part definitely not like you describe either.

[winoman]

I'm second generation and for most of my life I had little contact with Armenians outside of my extended family. My mother has basically regected her Armenianess and we didn't really interact with many Armenians in the traditional sense. My dad - a non-Armenian - is actually the one who got me interested in my heritage and first impressed me with the idea that Armenians are pretty special people.

[ArmoBarbi]

Crimson Glow, its not "nice". Any good major university will offer it. Get into one and it wont be a problem.

Owl, I just remembered something you may find of interest. I belong to the Armenian Students Association (National). We have a good NYC branch. They do a lot of cool things. I think it could be a good way for you to learn about Armenian culture and meet some nice Armenians. http://www.asainc.org/index.php

[HyeERuski]

ur parents are armenian and they dont speak armenian thats the ga y est sh it i ever heard man u must be the most americanized little brat i ever seen damn man this whole forum is like all american and sh it why arent there any armenians from glendale or hollywood so i can get a long with get ur gay asses out of this forrum

[Che_Ka]

HyeERuski: Assimilation is an inevitable part of living in the USA. One of the first things that Armenians lose by the 2nd and 3rd generations is the Armenian language. This is simply a reality and we must accept it.

Whether you want to believe it or not, your children will not be as proficient in Armenian as you are. And perhaps your grandchildren will not know Armenian at all.

Don't you think the Armenians who came to the US 2 or 3 generations ago didn't speak Armenian? Don't you think most of them wanted their children to speak Armenian in addition to English? Sure they did. But as generations go by, the social pressures of living in the US force American-born generations -- from any immigrant group -- to choose English over Armenian. This happens to every immigrant group.

Our duty and our goal should be to delay this process. In our wildest dreams, we should stop or even reverse the process. But that is simply not possible in the US, unless Armenians decide to live in complete isolation, as the Amish do in Pennsylvania. (The Amish still speak a dialect of German.)

Please understand that these 2nd and 3rd generation Armenian-Americans did not CHOOSE to not know the Armenian language. Their ignorance (sorry for the word) of the language is simply a result of social pressures of assimilation -- something that my and your children will be very much subject to.

[HyeERuski]

i see were you are coming from and ur a smart guy