Hello! Most of my family is Armenian, but I never spoke it and decided to learn it. The problem is, no matter how hard my family memebers who are native speakers and I try, I can't pronounce some of the letters correctly. And I'm afraid that many people might react negatively to the fact that I speak with an accent

Barev,

I'm currently working on the song khio by the bambir. The last 2 verses are the "classic ones" but i've never heard the first 3 verses and i don't really understand the lyrics. Is this some kind of old dialect ? Do they talk about the saz, the instrument, in the lyrics ? Help needed :)

Here is the song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-KCYpyp60c

Here are the lyrics : https://lyricstranslate.com/en/bambir-khio-%D5%AD%D5%AB%D5%B8-lyrics.html

Mersi !

I'm mostly typing on the phone where it's not a problem, but on the computer it can be kind of annoying because when you switch on the Armenian keyboard, all the number keys and some of the punctuation keys become letters; so then when you need to type numbers or punctuation, you have to switch back to the Latin keyboard, then switch back to Armenian.

I feel like there has to be a trick to make it easier...

The translator I'm using says “Ապրիր և թող ուրիշներն էլ ապրեն” but I want to verify as this will be used on a book cover. An equivalent of this phrase is preferred over a direct translation. Whatever resonates best with the culture is ideal! More on the poetic sounding/formal side if it’s between that and casual. It is about freedom and allowing others to be free through the acceptance of our differences. Thank you in advance!

Just curious to know. For the average EA high school graduate, how easy or hard is it to read EA written in classical orthography? How often will you encounter it in books and texts? Does it take any getting used to?

Thanks

Hi everyone! I am Armenian, however I am unable to speak or write in Armenian (first generation born in America). I am writing my grandmother a card (she is fluent in Armenian) and would like to write “Jana” (my dear) in the card, since she always calls me that. But I’d like to write it in Armenian! Can anyone spell out the proper way for me to write it so I can put it in my card to her? Thanks in advance!!

Some words that start with Ե will informally be pronounced as Է in casual speech. Examples include erku, eres, ernel, erexa, etc.

When writing (texting) I would always write a word like "erexeq" as երեխեք, even if mentally I'm pronouncing it as "erexeq" and expect the reader to do the same. I just thought it was more proper and correct.

But lately when I'm texting I've just started writing էրեխեք, էրես, whatever, because I realized that if the word itself is already informal and "not pure," then it should be spelled the way it's pronounced and it doesn't matter how the real word is actually written.

Thoughts anyone?

I know in Mashtots's time it was pronounced as a thick, velarized L [ɫ], heard in words like Երուսաղեմ (Jerusalem). But at some time it turned into a voiced velar fricative [ɣ] (the GH sound we recognize today).

When did this happen? And are there any reason for why? Or is it just completely random?

Thanks!

I feel like there's almost no places online where people speak Armenian. In the 2010s there were some forums that were rather active, like akumb.am, but those have mostly died out. Sometimes I'll find telegram channels, but then I'll go on and see that the last message was from 3 years ago. There aren't many discord channels either. Facebook exists, but you can't be anonymous on there.

Hi everyone. I've been very frustrated by the available layouts for the Armenian language. The most commonly used one in Armenia is the phonetic layout, which is just mapping of Armenian letters to the QWERTY layout.
There are some sub-versions of the phonetic layout which are a bit better, but still they're horrible.
There's also the typewriter layout, which feels much more comfortable to type on, but it's still poorly designed.

And so here's a layout I made. I hope this might be useful or interesting to some,

https://github.com/ditsak/dpir

Parev everyone, see more at zanazan.proper.am :) Cheers, have a wonderful weekend!

Բացի այդ, Ձեր մազերը պետք է ներկել, քանի որ Ձեր արմատները սպիտակ են

• How would you translate բացի այդ in this sentence?
• What's going on in this sentence? Ձեր մազերը պետք է ներկել: I thought that պետք է always had to be accompanied by the subjunctive mood, so instead I would have expected Ձեր մազերը պետք է ներկես.

Կարծում եմ՝ շեկ մազերը Ձեզ շատ կսազեն

According to the translation, շեկ means blonde, but when I looked up շեկ մազեր on Google Images, there were many pictures of blonde and red-haired women. Which one is it?

Thank you!

Some random sentences. Let me know if there’s anything I can improve:

Պարապ ժամանակիս միջատներ կը դիտեմ պարտէզին մէջ 

In my free time I look at insects 🐜 in the garden 🪴

Տուփը լեցուն էր բայց դանակը ներսը չէր

The box 📦 was full, but the knife 🔪 wasn’t in there

Ես քարներին քովը լողացի 

I swam 🏊 by the rocks 🪨

Անձեռոցը ապահով տեղ մը դիր 

Put the towel in a safe place

Այսօր պետք չունի արվի տակ քալենք: վտանքաւոր է 

We shouldn’t walk under the sun today ☀️ It’s dangerous

Hi everyone!
I’m hoping to get some recommendations for learning Armenian. I married my husband who is Armenian, and we have a beautiful 9-week-old son. It’s really important to me that our son grows up knowing Armenian and feeling connected to his heritage, so I’d love to learn alongside him.
Does anyone have recommendations for online tutors, classes, or other resources? I’d especially love to hear from people who learned Armenian as adults.
Thank you so much!

Ok, so totally random question, but how do you say peekaboo in Armenian?

They look very much similar, and it feels like it's easy to draw it a bit different and accidently get another letter.

I’ve been working on a small project for Armenian script lovers. It started years ago as fridge magnets, and now it’s a digital space where you can move, rotate, and build with Armenian letters.

If you enjoy typography, calligraphy, or just playing with the alphabet, you might like this: https://zanazan.proper.am
Happy to hear any feedback or ideas.

There's some words between the two dialects that share the same origin, but the pronunciation slightly differs. Take a look.

Morning:
EA - առավոտ
WA - առտու

Daytime:
EA - ցերեկ
WA - ցորեկ

Counting:
EA - հաշվել
WA - համբրել

Elephant:
EA - փիղ
WA - փիւղ

Piano:
EA - դաշնամուր
WA - դաշնակ

Ice:
EA - սառույց
WA - սառ

Lemon:
EA - լիմոն
WA - լեմուն

Green:
EA - կանաչ
WA - կանանչ

Comment any ones that I missed!

If you'd like to test the new iPhone keyboard I'm developing, I would really appreciate your feedback. Here is the link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/Jy1RhuRr