In the Market of Armenian Language-Learning Resources, Every Book Counts

Anyone that’s ever tried to learn Armenian eventually comes into contact with the bizarre duality of the language—namely, that there are two. And these two dialects are divided, as the rest of the world appears to be, between East and West.

But for all their differences, Eastern Armenian (the language spoken primarily in Armenia, the former Soviet Union, and Iran) and Western Armenian (the dialect spoken throughout the Diaspora) are united by the fact that the resources available to those who wish to learn either of them are in short supply. The market for Armenian-as-a-foreign-language textbooks, be they Eastern or Western, is a small one.

Mary Hakobyan, an Armenian teacher from Yerevan, has spent the last five years crafting her own pedagogy for teaching Eastern Armenian, which has recently been published as a textbook last February. Drawing from the pedagogies of existing methodologies, as well as her contemporary experiences as a language teacher who taught Armenian to young international volunteers through the Birthright Armenia program, Hakobyan says the self-published textbook is not just a form of language instruction, but a rather, glimpse into what life is like in Armenia today—and that exposing students to some of the cultural nuances has been key to her success in teaching.

I recently spoke to Hakobyan to discuss some of the intricacies and history of the Armenian language, its contemporary pedagogy, and the gap her new book is filling in the rather sparse market of Armenian language-learning resources.

 

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Karine Vann: Before your book, what existing resources were there for people who wanted to learn Eastern Armenian?

Mary Hakobyan: I would say there are very few options. I’ll start by saying, if you want to learn English, French, Spanish, you will find hundreds of resources, books, methods. Each of them is different, each gives you something useful. Because these languages are very popular and international. For Armenian language, it’s not the case. Even during the Soviet Union, the main language was Russian. As there was no demand, there was no need to create lots of different resources to teach Armenian to foreigners. After the collapse of the USSR, the interest—especially from the Diaspora—grew, and the need to create new text books started to rise.

Most of the other textbooks are mostly grammar and exercise construction. I have mentioned in my textbook that I consulted other resources for the grammar theory, namely A. Gevorkian’s and D. Sakayan’s books, which were rather successful in their own style.

But to my understanding, the Soviet system of learning a foreign language focused on reading and writing most of the time, like knowing the grammatical rules; writing exercises; reading text. But modern teaching methods require more skills, like listening and speaking skills.

However, the Eastern Armenian Textbook is unique in its own way, which you will feel when you start studying with it.

K.V.: What is your book contributing to the pre-existing literature that wasn’t before? How is it unique?

M.H.: This is a new style in learning Armenian. My book has illustrated texts which are a series, which are a continuation of the same story. The stories correspond to the grammar and vocabulary of each lesson. There are two main “heros,” who are put in different situations, and they have to speak using a grammar style that corresponds with the topic. There is lots of discussion, you practice listening, reading, speaking, and you learn new vocab and you practice your pronunciation. I haven’t seen this kind of method in other Armenian textbooks so far.

And also, I have illustrations for exercises. Let’s say they learn directions. There is a map of Yerevan and they have to explain how to get around. I tried to make my textbook close to other modern pedagogies, even for other languages, like English, but based on rules which are specific to Armenia. I have seven years of experience, I know which grammatical construction corresponds to which scenario or topic. The idea was to have a more modern approach to learning, with illustrations.

There are also authentic photos, like if someone talks about visiting Tatev Monastery, I have pictures of the monastery. So it’s not just acquainting students with grammar and asking them to do exercises, but it’s showing them the culture and the country, the mentality, the behavior, everyday problems, routines. This makes the book and the process more interesting.

 

K.V.: Can you talk a little bit about your background and how you came to realize you wanted to dedicate your career to this?

M.H.: I graduated from Yerevan State University, the faculty of Romance and Germanic languages in 2007 with a Master’s Degree in Philology and I always loved learning and teaching languages. However; when I started working at Birthright Armenia in 2009, I realized that teaching Armenian was something I greatly enjoyed and I would like to dedicate my career to it, since you not only teach your language and culture, but you also learn a lot from your students’ language and culture. So, I started tutoring diasporans, ambassadors, diplomats and foreigners in Eastern Armenian with a self-developed curriculum, adopting an entirely new approach to teaching and learning Armenian.

 

K.V.: How long were you working on the book? Did you face any obstacles in getting it published?

M.H.: To tell you the truth, I never thought I would ever publish a book, let alone this kind of a comprehensive textbook. When I started working in Birthright Armenia, I struggled with the books and materials available there to teach Armenian and, at the same time, I could understand the difficulties and fears of my students. I had to write texts, exercises, create games and activities for every lesson. Soon, I realized that I had a lot of material and experience which I could put together for my lessons. In 2013 I started to design the main body of the textbook and then added the lessons one by one. By that time, I had a good understanding of the challenges of the learning process and designed the book to allow the students to overcome them with confidence.

Starting in 2014 I used this first draft of the book (without illustrations, photos and recordings) for my lessons – correcting, editing and evaluating it with my students. I decided to design, illustrate and record the dialogues to get the full potential of the teaching method but I couldn’t find any sources to finance this effort. I envisioned a high quality book to rival the best existing publications but it would crush the family budget. I experienced a great deal of disappointment after applying for financing to several Armenian business and education development-focused organizations and being rejected by all of them.

In 2016, with self and family financing, I finally launched the design process. It took more than a year to finish everything, which was, by far, more difficult for me than the development of the material in the book. The textbook is a result of my innovative teaching methods which I exercised with my students for many years and I hope that it will assist everyone to succeed in learning Armenian without fears, stresses and obstacles. I am sure that this textbook will help people really enjoy learning Armenian.

 

K.V.: In the past, I have encountered those who complain Eastern Armenian has been “diluted” by Soviet influence. Is that because Western Armenian is more related to grabar (classical Armenian)?

M.H.: I wouldn’t say that because Western and Eastern Armenian are two sister languages, and both are descended from grabar. Historically, Armenia was divided into two countries, that’s why the languages developed separately. So we have difference in vocabulary, in grammar, in pronunciation. I think probably Eastern Armenian was influenced a little bit by Russian language, because of the Soviet Union. But I would say that Western Armenian is influenced by other languages depending on where the community is.

 

K.V.: What do you mean by “influenced”?

M.H.: Well, it’s a natural process, all languages are influenced by other languages, this is how they develop. But when I say Eastern Armenian is “influenced” by Russian language, for example, I don’t mean that we have Russian words in our classical writing or reading or that we teach that. I mean that maybe you will hear Russian words on the streets, in their everyday language. Sometimes older generations who had Russian educations might pronounce Armenian words with a Russian accent.

 

K.V.: How did the linguistic rift between the two dialects occur?

M.H.: Well, the country was divided between Russian and Turkey. So, people who were living in the part that was occupied by Turkey, they developed Western. The other part developed Eastern. Eastern Armenian, we had a change in orthography during Soviet Union. But only very few changes occurred on the way you write, spelling rules. It didn’t change the grammar, pronunciation or anything. They say that they tried to simplify, because throughout the Soviet Union, it was very difficult to find educated people, so they were trying to foster literacy by simplifying the spelling, in order to help people to learn to read and write.

To tell you the truth, I participated in a language course many years ago, we were discussing exactly what changes occured during that time to the Armenian language and the only changes that occurred were some spelling changes. Like, we don’t write յ in front of հ anymore, we used to do it according with classical orthography. I mean, I was not there, I was not a witness to know exactly what they changed or what were their exact intentions, but the result is just that they changed some spelling rules. Six or seven, that’s all. Nowadays, I know some people who can write both, with the modern spelling, but also the old.

 

K.V.: So how do you account for the different pronunciation. There are more sounds in Eastern Armenian than in Western. What happened?

M.H.: When Mesrop Mashtots created the alphabet in 405 A.D., he created it exactly to suit the sounds that Armenians had at that time. So, we Eastern Armenians, preserved all the sounds until now. That’s why we have these cluster of consonants (like բ, պ, փ; or գ, կ, ք). Mesrop Mashtots created these symbols because we had these sounds.

 

K.V.:I see that the book is available for purchase in select bookstores in Armenia, but is there any way for people living abroad to purchase it outside the country?

M.H.: The Eastern Armenian Textbook was published very recently on February 16, 2018. As you noted, it is already available in a number of bookstores in Yerevan. It is available on Amazon for those who want to buy it outside of Armenia. The availability will be regularly updated on the book’s website and Facebook page.

Karine Vann

Karine Vann

Karine Vann is a former editor of the Armenian Weekly. A musician who was deeply affected by the poverty and environmental degradation she observed living in Armenia from 2014 to 2017, she now covers topics at the intersection of consumerism and the environment for local and national publications as a journalist. In addition to writing for the Weekly, her work has appeared in Dig Boston, The Counter, Civil Eats and Waste Dive. To supplement her writing, she has worked in jobs traversing the Greater Boston area's food economy, from farming to fair trade spices. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and anxious beagle, Rasa.

11 Comments

  1. Dialects? No, two branches of the same language. As for Eastern Armenia,as spoken in Armenia,being influenced by Russian, it’s more than the use of Russian words. It’s also to be seen in the syntax – a gradual deformation of sentence structure as well.

  2. I was Mary’s student in Yerevan for about two years and I can honestly say she’s one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, all subjects considered. She’s patient, and always manages to explain complicated grammatical issues in a way that everyone understands. She painstakingly invented and wrote a bunch of short stories in Armenian about students living in Yerevan, their lives, their work, their heartbreaks, and it was so good for me to read something I could actually relate to, rather than non-contemporary texts that would not have helped much in my daily attempts to communicate. I was so happy to hear she had finally published her book, and ran to get it from Noyan Tapan!! I was acquainted with the materials since we had been using them during our private lessons, but it’s really awesome to have them gathered in one book – it’s colourful, easy to read, a great start for anyone trying to learn Armenian on their own. I hope there will be a follow-up book for intermediate students because I expect my Armenian will only get better faster now that I got my hands on the book :) :) Bravo Mary jan!!

  3. To say that Eastern Armenian has retained all of the sounds from the time of Mashdots is an overstatement. How can we know what Armenian sounded like in the 4th-5th centuries? For example, perhaps there was a “th” sound that has been lost. Letters with in-between sounds (pb, gk, td) are pronounced in the spoken dialects of some regions (e.g., Palu in Western Armenia). The enunciation of the distinct in-between sounds of these letters is dying out with the passing of the children of those who came from those regions. Eastern and Western Armenian (as taught) are both guilty of having absorbed the sounds of these in-between sounding letters (e.g., either as b, p, k, d, t, g, etc.). Moreover, the reduction of Soviet orthography to such a narrow impact is also an overreach.

  4. Surly Eastern Armenians pronouncements of letters sounds clearer and it’s much easier and helpful to not making mistakes in dictation, cause you write what you hear, but the change from Mesrobian to soviet type created big time mistakes that you don’t have them in Iranahy Eastern armenian, who didn’t go through the sovietization of the language. I wish the western Armenians learn how to pronounce the 3 sounds of some letters from estern Armenians to make it easier when it comes to write it. Thank you for the article.

    • There are few points in the interview and comments that need clarifications
      1-The differences between Wesrern and Eastern Armenian are 15 that Catholicos Kevok V mentions in his letter of 1939 addressed to Parya to remove “Լեզուական բարենորոգումները ” of 1922 which was imposed in Armenia by state “ Դեկրետ” .
      2- Pronounciation between 2 branches of “ Հայերէն Աշխարհաբար” stares during kingdom of Cilicia and culminated in Costantinopoli.
      No doubt Rastern Armenian is more genuinely follower of Classic Krapar , which probably was used in 5th century .
      Therefore Eastern Armenian has to correct the Orthographic mistakes that introduced in 1922 and 1940 . Also Western Armenian has to Adapt the pronciation of Eastern Armenian .
      3- In Eastern Armenian ( proven by counting “Անհարկի-Unnecessary
      word in the major dictionaries published in Yerevan between 1944–1978)there are 29680 “ Անհարկի” օտար բառեր , introduced during Russian and Soviet regime , which continues until today, with removal of Armenian words …

  5. I wish Iranian Armenians would learn how to use a proper Armenian cadence and pronounce an Armenian r sound.

  6. Why should Western Armenians change their pronunciation Armen? Perhaps Eastern Armenians should show some flexibility and make an effort to understand Western Armenian. In doing so, they will help preserve the richness of Armenian culture in its totality. You can’t have statues of Antranig, Gomidas, Sasuntsi Tavit and other “akhpars” all over Yerevan and and not respect their dialect.

  7. Mary worked for long time for the AGBU Armenian Virtual College where she grew professionally and learned a lot through interaction with professionals in the field. It is disappointing that she does not mention this. It is also disappointing that she does not mention other resources in Eastern Armenian, such as Anahit Avetisyan’s book, available on amazon and much praised by users. This is by far not the first book in Eastern Armenian. Scholars from Armenia have a long way to go to understand copyright/plagiarism issues.

    • Dear Seta,
      Thank you for your review. However, I would like to mention that I never worked for AGBU Armenian Virtual College and I do not personally know the professionals working there. I worked for Birthright Armenia where I grew professionally and it is clearly mentioned both in the article and on my textbook’s website.
      What concerns the copyright issue, I would like to clarify that I wrote in the introduction of my textbook the names of the books I used while compiling it thus giving my respect to the authors.

  8. If anyone could direct me to a source for eastern Armenian books for boys 12 and up, I would appreciate it greatly. I have located Scripture and Psalms. My sponsored child is a reader and I want to encourage this as much as I am able.

  9. I have some thoughts on the interview and responses above, and believe there are truths amongst those comments.
    I’m a Western Armenian speaker, and had several years of personal instruction from Vahe Oshagan, the son of writer Hagop Oshagan. He always stressed that many Armenians either don’t know and/or aren’t clear on their own language; grammar, role of the letter sounds, declensions, etc.
    Oshagan stressed the “consonants (like բ, պ, փ; or գ, կ, ք). That բ , գ, դ, չ, ձ are “soft” consonant sounds, where փ, ք, թ, ջ, ց are their respective “stronger” sounds.
    In addition, he said, that the Eastern Armenian pronunciation was more “true”. Grigor vs Krikor, Hakob vs Hagop, Barsgasdan vs Parskastan, etc.
    Vartan makes a valid point regarding the Masdots alphabet, and the Armenian spoken at that time, etc. In addition, the alphabet and the Armenian spoken was long before Turkey or Russia even existed.
    Mesrop Mashtots created these symbols because of the prevailing spoken sounds.

    Languages evolve over many years, especially Armenian give the vast areas they lived in. Not just areas now part of Russia and Turkey, but the other diaspora areas; Egypt, Ethiopia, Bombay, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, etc. Of course there’s also the matter of dialect differences within both “Anatolia Armenians, Caucasus Armenians, etc.
    Further, My grandparents were from Van and Bitlis, cities that Oshagan said were “at the outermost area” of Western Armenian, that drew influences from both Arevel and Arevmdian
    Armenian.

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