Speaking Armenian—Choice? Luxury? Bother?
I put down the pen and stared at the paper for ten minutes. I checked the dictionary, revisited my mind’s wordbook. Countless minutes passed. I was still unable to find what I was looking for. For a moment, I felt like I had lost a precious item; but in fact, I had found one.
The word I was looking for was the English equivalent of the Armenian word karot, a word which would complete a letter to my British friend. The physical dictionary and my cognitive wordbook suggested options such as “nostalgia,” “melancholy,” or “depression,” but none were suitable to express what I truly felt. The word “nostalgia” had an exclusively positive connotation, while “melancholy” and “depression” depicted solely the pain and the darkness behind my karot. I hoped to convey a mixture of feelings, both cheerful and sad, that would evoke memories of late-night exam preparations and popcorn movie nights. Meanwhile, the kar component of the karot would have gently described the nature of my contrasting feelings for kar itself literally means something that was, but is no longer.
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Ask any psychologist and they’ll tell you that if you want a child to be bilingual one parent should speak one language and the other parent another. Children can handle it. It’s the parents who have difficulty with this, get frustrated and give up. How can a child in Armenia NOT learn Armenian? Trust me, when they are outside playing with the other children they’ll pick up the language very quickly, with or without the parents intervention.
I am multilingual, but both of my parents have always been speaking Armenian at home, and I can assure you that my strong command of the Armenian language has helped me a lot to learn other languages.
Furthermore, the article is not about not knowing Armenian at all, but about the choice and the use of language as a path to Westernization (in this particular case – Russianization).
Karot = Yearning
Also, baklava and dolma are Greek.
I agree with your general point that knowing your own language is key to understanding yourself.
NONSENSE!
Baklava is not from mainland Greece. Granted, the Greeks had something to do with it, but so did Armenians, and most likely it was a joint effort by Armenian and Greek chefs of the Ottoman Empire. This is why the Turks have attempted to take over this dish as supposedly “Turkish”, capitalizing on the fact that people ignorantly assume that “Ottoman Empire” automatically means Turkish. Turks do not have a single authentic dish, not even manti.
Most importantly, do not ever touch our Dolma as being of any origin besides Armenian. Dolma/Tolma is 100% Armenian. Not even 99%. 100%.
Dear Andre, yearning has a rather negative connotation and is often accompanied by sadness, while the kar component of karot encompasses what I truly felt.
Greek people would say baklava and dolma are Greek, Turkish people would say these food are Turkish, people from Iran would label them as Persian. As an Armenian, I consider baklava and dolma to be Armenian, and, especially after having tasted the Arabic baklava and witnessing its baking process, I can assert that ours is unique, both in its preparation process as well as in its taste.
Yearning is perfectly accept as the word “longing” which you use in your text: garodtsay/karottsay, I longed/yearned [for you].
As mentioned in my previous comment, yearning implies a rather negative feeling , whereas karot does not necessarily involve sadness, and is purely the emotion for something that “kar.” Also, please take into consideration that “karot” (which was chosen based on a real-life situation) is not the only and the best example of what my article is aiming to address, and we all know that there are many words in Armenian which do not have any direct (and even indirect) translations in other languages. And this is relevant not only to the Armenian language, but to Russian, French, Spanish and other languages as well, given the different and unique contexts of their production/creation and development.
As a fluent Western Armenian speaker the word “karot”, transliterated in Western Armenian as Garod, did not a ring a bell for me to mean “melancholy,” or “depression,” may be a bit of “nostalgia”. “Garod” also means , quoting *Nayiri” , “Needy, necessitous, in want of, poor, indigent, destitute; out at elbows; want, need, necessity.”. Yes, words have profound cultural nuances that at times cannot be truly translated. No wonder it is said that “translation is a sin” but a necessity at that.
A very sad reality indeed ‘ that a majority of our compatriots do not value our mother tongue’ our heritage of the Armenian language’ …
I wonder how casually the parents’ the role models come up with excuses’ – I wonder how their conscious does not bother them’ to forget the sacrifice our exiled’ deported ancestors endured to keep and transfer the language and culture to the next generation …
I wonder if all ethnic communities are this careless about the survival of their unique language and heritage …
As Mr. Mirakian mentions’ learning Armenian’ learning one’s own mother tongue does not prevent the child being fluent in other languages … Specially so much research is proving the plasticity and the skills of the brain …
Just a matter of commitment and acknowledgement of the importance of our rich and ancient Armenian language on the part of the role models …
Laura’
I applaud you Milena, keep up your great work and keep writing. Written words are very powerful. You have a goal; go for it!! Too bad some of these individuals who commented above completely and sadly have missed your main point,, instead they are nitpicking at the minute details. Cannot wait to read more of what your creative mind has to offer.
It means longing.
As mentioned in the article and in the text by D. Kouymdjian, above. The best translation to Karot, garod depends on the speller, the best translation is longing. i don’t know Turkish except for some words, both my parents were Genocide survivors I have heard someone said in Turkish dolma means to fill and Sarma means to wrap
Parev Bedros,
As a Turkish native speaker, I can confirm that the both of the names are subtantived versions of the verbs sarmak (to wrap) and dolmak (to fill). But I do not know further about the origin of these food. I guess they are native to Anatolia.
“I have heard someone said in Turkish dolma means to fill and Sarma means to wrap”
And????????????????????????????????????
I have also heard that Turks came from the Altai Mountains of Central Asia, where there were not grapes or grape leaves or any other foods and ingredients used in Armenian Cuisine, and eventually raped, pillaged and plundered their way into an “empire” on Armenia’s ancestral lands through acts of Genocide, Theft of Culture and Appropriation of Identity.
Did that person who taught you the history of Dolma and Sarma forget to teach you that as well?
“karot” btw is exactly the same word as “saudade” in Portuguese and has equivalents in other languages as well…