Six months ago I couldn’t speak Hayeren (Armenian). I remember touching down in Yerevan, seeing all the signs written in this new alphabet and thinking “I’m never going to learn this”

The greatest thing about Peace Corps service is daily telling yourself “I can’t do this” and then going and doing it anyway. So now I read Armenian, and for where I am right now, I speak it well.

I know how to order a taxi, organize my clubs, explain that not all Americans look or sound like me, talk about my future after Peace Corps– all in my third language. The biggest unintentional compliment I’ve been getting recently is “Are you sure you don’t have Armenian roots?”

Learning Armenian has been different from learning the other language I speak, French. For 10 weeks I had Armenian lessons for 3.5 hours, 6 days a week. On top of that I lived with my host family that was told to only communicate with me in Armenian.

I was not learning the traditional, grammar focused, conjugation chart, drill-the-tenses-into-your-brain-way. Peace Corps takes a communicative approach. They teach us situational language skills, how to communicate at your workplace, with your host family. One of the first things I learned to say in Armenian is “I am a youth in development volunteer”. Which is a mouthful.

ես երիտասարդության զարգացման կամավոր եմ

yes yeritasardutyan zargacman kamavor em

The other language I speak is French, although right now I don’t speak it well. In my brain, I am always translating when I speak French. Because I originally learned it in the classroom, I have hesitation before I speak.

When I speak Armenian, I am creating with the language. I don’t need to think about the sentence I need to construct before I begin to speak. Of course, I make mistakes but I’ve had the opportunity to learn the language in context. In the home, at the workplace, within its own culture. Armenian has an immediacy in my brain that French does not.

Armenian is a warm language. Take a look at all the diminutives Armenians give each other. These little terms of endearment are glued to your first name, you can’t have a conversation with an Armenian without hearing at least two:

• jan (dear)
• jana (dear, more personal)
• jani (dear, cutsey)
• aziz (dear)
• aziz jan (dear, extra sweet)
• balas (my child)
• bala jan (dear child)
• kyanqs (my life)
• tsavd tanem (give me your pain!)
• Mernem qez (I’ll die for you)
• Mernem janid (I’ll die on your body)

I’m still learning the language, and sometimes more complex conversations can go over my head because of how rich Armenian is. It’s structure is very different from English, it’s word order is complex and words can be lengthy. Something I’ve noticed about Armenian is that it is much more action based than English. Armenians have a handful of adjectives that are commonly used, but I have the sense that they use verbs and adverbs more than English speakers. Imperatives are much more common in Armenian too. Almost any verb can be turned into a command.

Here’s an example that might come off as rude in English, but it is normal and caring in Armenian. When I come home from work, I usually tell my host mom I’m going to rest and for a while. In English this might sound like this:

“Go lie down and write after you’ve gotten some rest”

In Armenian I’m told:

“Gna, Hangataci, Gri aziz jan”

which literally translates to just “Go. Relax. Write.”

This took a little adjustment when I was learning the language. Saying “Relax” when someone needs to rest or calm down is a real faux pas in English. Now I’ve got the context to understand why this is a normal phrase.

I can’t understand everything that is being said to me, and sometimes I don’t understand anything because the dialect where I live is very strong. Something I do have a good sense of is that Armenians are hilarious. The city I live in is known for its comedians and writers. Armenians in general love to tease, joke with each other and give each other nicknames.

Armenian itself has unintentionally evolved to make its speakers funny. I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s get into some linguistics.

Here’s a sentence in Armenian with it’s transliteration, then the English translation.

Գյումրիում իմ սիրած տեղը այգին է որովհետև սիրում եմ այնտեղ կարդալ։

Gyumrium im sirats teghy aigin e vorohetev sirum em aintegh kardal

Literally translated in English, it would sound like this:

Gyumri in my favorite place garden the is because love I there to read

The sentence in correct English is:

In Gyumri my favorite place is the garden because I love to read there

Important lexical meaning in Armenian is condensed at the ends of words and sentences through post positions and auxiliary verbs. In the first sentence, Gyumrium means “In Gyumri” the locative case ending -um serving as the English preposition ‘In’. Armenian has a Subject-Object-Verb sentence structure, compared to English’s Subject-Verb-Object.

All this to say, Armenian is primed for jokes to be extra funny. Word order is flexible, what you want to emphasize can be placed at the beginning of the phrase. The object is at the end of the sentence, what the action is being performed on. Because of this structure, sentences in Armenian have to me have a natural ‘punchline.’

Now take John Mulaney’s famous joke, “There’s a horse IN the hospital”.

In Armenian, it would translate as

“Hvandanocum dzi ka”.

You don’t know that the horse is THERE until the end of the joke, it’s punchline.

I’m only six months in to seriously learning Armenian. I wonder what point I will reach with my understanding a year or two later. When I say things like “I love you, I miss you, I’m overwhelmed, I’m happier than ever” in English, I understand what I mean. I feel the subtext and the emotions behind those words. I’m not there yet in Armenian, but I want to be.

Armenians will tell you they are “hot-blooded”– They are passionate and emotional. This part of the Armenian personality is intertwined with its language. As I continue to learn, my next task is not just understanding what I am speaking, but feeling it too. And hopefully down the line I’ll be able to crack some jokes in Armenian too.