For me, learning Armenian has been a challenge. In the beginning it was a tearful and terrible challenge, and now it's a fun and often times funny challenge. Here are some of my recent victories connected with speaking the language:
1. My English students in the village this week were unusually talkative (in Armenian) and inattentive. I decided to separate a group of chatty little girls, so I pointed to one girl and told her to "come here". She said, "No." I repeated myself and got the same response. Ohhhh, boy! At that, the angry teacher was unleashed! I began to lecture her (and the rest of the class) on obeying your mother, father, and teachers! Needless to say, she got the picture and obeyed after that.
2. I called an English student last night that I had not seen/spoken to in a while. After talking for couple minutes, she complimented me on speaking! I was so pleased!
3. I understood about 90% of the sermon on Sunday without any translation. During the 2nd service, I listened again, that time with translation, and my sermon notes were almost all correct!
4. My roommate and I lead a group of girls in d-ship on Sunday afternoons. The material we use has been translated into Armenian, so I have access to to the material in both English and Armenian. I have been reading both so I can better speak during the lesson time. An amateur translator (one of my students) helps us, but I sometimes correct her!
5. I remembered the word for tablecloth today when I needed to use it.
Not to brag, but it just feels good to have little successes in language along the way and I wanted to share the joy with you all!
Since we're on the subject of language, here is a little tidbit about the language I'm learning
Much of Armenian vocabulary is what I would call "logical". For example, the word "describe" is made up of two words: the word "to write" and the word "picture". So, describe = to write a picture. Cool, huh?! It sometimes makes the words fairly long, but it's much easier to figure out words that you haven't actually learned yet and it's also easier to categorize words.
Check out these wikipedia links to learn more about the language and the alphabet's creator, Mesrop Mashtots.
3 comments:
Good job!
or maybe, ah prez!
Is that right? ;)
Yay for victories! I'm so proud of you! The phone conversations are SO difficult...I understand the supreme victory you had. Congratulations!
That is such a wonderful accomplishment. You are on your to mastering a very hard language. I remember when you first got there you had a lot of trouble just saying simple things.
Reading your blog has been like reading a good book full of fanbtastic adventures. I really look forward to reading the next one. The Old Art Teacher
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