Comments for Footprints - Armenia

Comment on Syunik village mayor resigns over mining project by Armenian Activism at its finest | Footprints - Armenia

Armenian Activism at its finest | Footprints - Armenia — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:08:23 +0000

[...] Syunik village mayor resigns over mining project [...]

Comment on Yerevan Vendors Unite to Protest Ban by Why Demolish Yerevan Kiosks? | Footprints - Armenia

Why Demolish Yerevan Kiosks? | Footprints - Armenia — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:34:14 +0000

[...] interests of Yerevan residents that are barely able to get by in mind. Just after the New Year he infamously declared that street trading — in other words grandmothers selling cilantro and lemons on the sidewalk — was to end, [...]

Comment on Armenian Youth Should Learn from Spain by rahagets

rahagets — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:07:03 +0000

Sadly, you are whistling in the wind if you believe such developments will ever take place here in Armenia. Sure, there are a few activist groups of young people and students but the vast majority either don’t give a damn or don’t believe that they can promote positive change. They either want to leave Armenia or else see themselves being coopted by the system in some way. Then too, the universities and colleges here aren’t known for engaging students in any relevant social or political dialogue or debate. Education is more about rote learning and getting that diploma to a better life.

Comment on The Case for One Armenian Dialect by rahagets

rahagets — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:15:24 +0000

To get back to the practical side of all this, let the educational system in Armenia do its job correctly by training students to actually speak and write proper eastern Armenian first! These future linguists and educators should then get some immersion into classical western Armenian.

It would take just one generation of school pupils in Armenia to master a return to classical orthography.

Since most Armenians in the “traditional” diaspora neither read or write Armenian, it’s not how the words are spelt that’s preventing increased ties with Armenia.

Comment on The Case for One Armenian Dialect by Ferdinand

Ferdinand — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:36:27 +0000

Time has come for the UNIVERSAL ONE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE. Work has to start immediately. Both sides need to compromize. Ythere are brilliant examples how other nations coped with the problem: Hebrew in Israel was ‘reinvented’ in 20th centure and became- modern, adoptable, easy to learn, flexibale and effective for technology, art, literature and business. Another eaxmple – 19th centure success story of recreation of literary Czech language by a dedicated group of intellectuals (even without a giovernment support and sponsorship)

Comment on The Case for One Armenian Dialect by linipoo

linipoo — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:52:43 +0000

What then will we complain about?

Comment on The Case for One Armenian Dialect by Lucine

Lucine — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:35:39 +0000

Gor: Havanum es, eli?
Eli: Eench guness gor?
(Just exploring idiomatic phrases with both dialects…)

Comment on The Case for One Armenian Dialect by Ruben Malayan

Ruben Malayan — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:19:00 +0000

I absolutely agree. My work for past few years has been dealing with Geghagrutiun (Calligraphy), the beautiful (and proper) writing in Armenian. And the art of writing is long gone, at least here in Armenia. Our kids grow dumber by the day, the official language is polluted by street slang, which is least to say repulsive. We must unify our language, and bring back the Classical education system we always had before the Turks genocided us and the Bolsheviks took away whats left.

Comment on The Case for One Armenian Dialect by AB

AB — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:34:32 +0000

The problem with your suggestion of a single dialect is that by actively giving up the Western dialect we would be contributing to the tremendous cultural loss caused by the Genocide. Many diasporan Armenians may be opposed to this.

I don’t think that it is a problem to learn both Eastern and Western Armenian. My father’s family is from Western Armenia and my mother’s family is from Iran. Therefore, I was exposed to both. It may be difficult, but I think it is important for schools in the diaspora to teach children both because it would help create a bridge to the Republic and wouldn’t result in the cultural loss that I mentioned above.

Regarding your concern about the Russification of Armenian in the Republic, the easiest way to overcome it would be to focus on our pride of our language and include elocution lessions in Armenian school curricula. If the Republic wants to include chess, I don’t see why we can’t also include elocution. A focus on public speaking and learning and memorizing Armenian literature was always part of our yearly hantes in Armenian school. Improving upon this tradition may be easier than creating a new dialect.