In Armenia, migration is changing the language of daily life

In 2022, Yerevan began transforming into a city its own residents increasingly fail to recognize. The change can be seen everywhere, from the streets and sidewalks to the central cafés. Seeing a waiter approach customers in a café in the very center of Yerevan with a casual yet foreign-sounding “Здравствуйте” (“Hello” in Russian), instead of the familiar “Բարև Ձեզ” (“Barev dzez,” the Armenian “Hello”), is no longer unusual. In just over a year following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, 113,753 people arrived in Armenia from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, according to Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan, Arka reported. Around half had Armenian surnames. Subsequent waves of migration have continued to bring newcomers to Armenia. More recently, Armenpress reported that Armenia granted 10,561 resident statuses to foreign nationals in the first half of 2026, a 59% increase compared with the same period in 2025. Analysts divide the post-2022 migration into two waves, each affecting the domestic market in its own way. First, the arrival of thousands of tech specialists, entrepreneurs and remote corporate workers brought huge purchasing power into the country. Russian citizens registered 7,328 business entities in Armenia in 2022, including about 5,000 individual entrepreneurs, Arka reported. Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan estimated that about 3,900 of those entrepreneurs were software developers. Foreign card spending and transaction numbers in Armenia also increased compared to the previous year. According to the Central Bank of Armenia’s 2022 report, transactions made with foreign cards in Armenia increased 33.4% in value and 64.6% in number compared to the previous year. Many Russian-speaking arrivals rely on the historical legacy of Russian as a Soviet-era lingua franca. According to census data compiled by Translators without Borders, approximately 89% of the population in Armenia reported a working command of Russian as a second language in 2011. Many Russian-speaking newcomers default to Russian in daily commercial interactions, as can often be observed in Yerevan. Migrant workers, language barriers and labor rights The economic impact of migration has not been uniform across sectors. Russian migrant workers tend to be employed in fields such as IT, finance and professional services, while migrant workers from India and Iran are more concentrated in construction, cleaning and food service, according to a 2026 assessment by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The study identified language barriers as a major hurdle to adaptation, cited by 52.5% of male respondents and 40.4% of female respondents. While Russian-speaking arrivals build upon Soviet-era linguistic legacy, the IOM assessment notes that non-Russian-speaking migrant workers face acute communication barriers in everyday transactions and work environments, prompting a strong demand for language acquisition to navigate daily life and assert their rights in the workplace. When communication breaks down, fundamental rights are compromised. The study found that 27.8% of surveyed migrants identified communication barriers as a primary obstacle to navigating official procedures. As the report observes, workers "rarely seek legal recourse for workplace abuses due to fear of retaliation, language barriers, and unfamiliarity with Armenian labour laws.” Systemic vulnerabilities often begin before foreign workers even set foot in Armenia, where unregulated intermediaries charge exorbitant recruitment fees — sometimes exceeding 1.5 million drams — while offering false promises about wages and working conditions, the IOM report found. Once in the country, these workers are absorbed into an informal labor market. Nearly 40% of those surveyed said they worked without written employment contracts, while 13.8% of surveyed migrants were in irregular status. The report also cites inspectors’ accounts of cramped, substandard apartments housing 15 to 20 workers, sometimes with people sleeping in shifts. The IOM study explicitly calls on the state to institutionalize language learning rather than leaving it to chance. It recommends that the government, in collaboration with international partners and civil society, offer free or subsidized language training to help foreign workers navigate daily life, access services and integrate into local workplaces. For customer-facing staff, learning basic Armenian vocabulary can help bridge the language gap. A waiter does not need to debate Armenian literature to take an order; they simply need to know how to say "Barev dzez" (Hello), "Inch ktsankanak?" (What would you like?), as well as understand basic menu terms, numbers and polite responses. If a guest asks a complex question about ingredients or something else, simple protocols can help: If the guest is comfortable switching to Russian, English or French, they can do so voluntarily; if not, the staff member can politely bring over an Armenian-speaking colleague. But establishing this kind of system requires intentional management. Without state-level integration guidelines or standardized language training tailored for foreign service workers, individual establishments may lack the incentive or structure to bridge the gap. So this article is not a manifesto against foreign workers, nor is it born out of hostility toward the thousands of people who have sought refuge and new life within Armenia’s borders. Armenia is a land of hospitality, and I do not want it to change. The issue is not migration itself, the nationality of workers or the employees simply trying to earn a living. One of the core vulnerabilities facing Armenia and migrant workers today is the lack of an active, integrated policy framework for managing migration and supporting language integration. The International Organization for Migration underscores this policy deficit, noting that Armenia's rapid shift from an emigration country to a high-volume transit and destination hub has outpaced existing institutional mechanisms. The assessment highlights that the state’s approach remains largely reactive, characterized by regulatory fragmentation and a lack of comprehensive integration, language onboarding and labor market safeguards. If Armenia is to remain a stable, welcoming and livable homeland, the state and the private sector must collaborate on a proactive, dual-track migration strategy. First, strict labor enforcement must eliminate the root causes of worker vulnerability by clamping down on predatory recruitment fees, mandating formal written contracts and enforcing housing standards. Second, institutionalized integration must establish structured language-acquisition modules for foreign arrivals. Together, these measures will protect workers from structural exploitation while ensuring Armenians can interact and order in their native language in their own homeland. Armenian speakers should be able to expect basic communication in their language when receiving services in Armenia, just as a diner in Moscow would expect to be greeted in Russian. Armenia’s strength has often been its ability to preserve its identity while opening its doors to the world. But welcoming thousands of new residents requires clear rules, active planning and mutual respect, so newcomers feel protected and locals do not feel marginalized in their own space.

In Armenia, migration is changing the language of daily life

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Milena Baghdasaryan

This story is FREE for you...

Milena Baghdasaryan

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