Official language in Armenia. What language is spoken in Armenia. What languages ​​are spoken in Armenia

Small Armenia connects Europe with Asia. Once upon a time, Armenia was one of the largest states in the Middle East and Transcaucasia, which competed with the Parthian kingdom and Ancient Rome. Now Armenia is a modern country with hospitable people, ancient history, a huge number of historical monuments, rich culture, delicious food, beautiful nature. In addition, there are several ski and balneological resorts in Armenia.

Geography of Armenia

Armenia is located in the Transcaucasus. Armenia borders Turkey in the west, Azerbaijan and Karabakh in the east, Georgia in the north, and Iran in the south. The total area of ​​this country is 29,743 sq. km., and the total length of the state border is 1,254 km. Armenia has no access to the sea.

Armenia occupies part of the territory of the Armenian Highlands. We can safely say that Armenia is a mountainous country. The highest peak in Armenia is Mount Aragats, whose height reaches 4,095 meters. Previously, Mount Ararat belonged to Armenia, but now this peak is located in Turkey. The most beautiful mountains of Armenia are adjacent to numerous valleys. The largest of them is the Ararat valley.

There are more than 9 thousand rivers in Armenia, of course, most of them are small. But the largest river in Transcaucasia, the Araks, flows through the territory of Armenia.

Lake Svan is a 2-hour drive from Yerevan. This lake is the pride of every Armenian.

Capital

Since ancient times, the capital of Armenia has been Yerevan, which is now home to about 1.2 million people. Archaeologists claim that people lived on the territory of modern Yerevan already in the 8th century BC.

Official language of Armenia

The official language in Armenia is Armenian, belonging to the Indo-European language family.

Religion

Most of the population of Armenia are Orthodox Christians (they belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church).

State structure of Armenia

According to the current Constitution of 1995, Armenia is a parliamentary republic. Its head is the President, elected for 5 years.

In Armenia, the local unicameral Parliament is called the National Assembly (131 deputies). Deputies of the National Assembly are elected by popular vote for 5 years.

The main political parties in Armenia are the Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, the Armenian National Congress, and the Land of Law.

Climate and weather

Almost the entire territory of Armenia is located in a continental, high-mountain climate. Only in the south of Armenia the climate is subtropical. In the mountains in summer the average air temperature ranges from +10C to +22C, and in winter - from +2C to -14C. On the plains in January, the average air temperature is -5C, and in July - +25C.

The amount of precipitation depends on the height of the location of one or sometimes the region of Armenia. On average, from 200 to 800 mm of precipitation falls annually in Armenia.

The best time to visit Armenia is from May to October.

Rivers and lakes of Armenia

More than 9 thousand rivers flow through the territory of Armenia. Most of them are small. The largest river in Armenia is the Araks, which is considered the largest in the entire Transcaucasus.

Relatively close to Yerevan, about 2 hours drive, is Lake Svan. Every Armenian is proud of this lake, almost as much as Mount Ararat, although it now belongs to Turkey.

History of Armenia

People on the territory of modern Armenia lived already in the Bronze Age. In the VIII-VI centuries BC. e. on the territory of modern Armenia there was a state of Urartu.

In the II century. BC e. several Armenian states were formed - Sophena, as well as Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia.

In 301 BC Christianity became the state religion of Armenia. In the era of the early Middle Ages, Armenia was part of the Arab Caliphate.

In the 9th-11th centuries, several states existed on the territory of modern Armenia - the kingdom of Ani, the kingdom of Vaspurakan, the kingdom of Kars, the kingdom of Syunik, and the kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget.

In the XI-XVI centuries, Armenia was part of the empire of the Seljuk Turks, the Georgian kingdom, and the Oguz tribal union. In the XVI-XIX centuries the territory of Armenia was divided between Iran and the Ottoman Empire.

According to the Turkmanchay Peace Treaty of 1828, most of Armenia was included in the Russian Empire. Only in 1918 was the independent Republic of Armenia formed, which then became part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In 1922, Armenia became part of the USSR.

In the late 1980s, sentiments about secession from the USSR became strong in Armenia. As a result, in September 1991, Armenia declared its independence.

In 1992, Armenia became a member of the UN.

culture

Armenia only in 1991 became an independent country. Prior to that, for many centuries it was part of the USSR, the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Iran, the Kingdom of Georgia, and the empire of the Seljuk Turks. All these states tried to “blur” the Armenian culture, to impose their cultural traditions on the inhabitants of Armenia. However, despite this, the Armenians managed to preserve their identity, their customs and traditions.

Every winter, Armenians celebrate the holiday of lovers Trndez. On this day Armenians need to jump over the fire to be happy.

Another interesting Armenian festival is the summer “water festival” Vardavar. On this day, Armenians splash water on each other, it is believed that in this way girls and boys attract each other's attention (that is, this is the holiday of lovers). The origins of the Vardavar holiday go back to the times when Armenia was not a Christian country.

Kitchen

Armenians are very proud of their cuisine, and it should be noted that it is quite deserved. The main food products are meat, vegetables, dairy products (especially salty cheese), fish, fruits, lavash bread. In Armenian cuisine, great attention is paid to spices.

When the Armenians have nowhere to hurry, they dine for a very long time. The main reason for this tradition is table talk.

In Armenia, we definitely (along with barbecue) recommend tourists to try the following dishes:

- "Tolma" - lamb in a grape leaf;
- "Putuk" - lamb soup;
- "Khash" - beef soup;
- "Kyufta" - meat balls;
- "Basturma" - dried beef meat.

In addition, in Armenia they cook very tasty trout from Lake Svan - try it. In general, fish dishes in Armenia are all very tasty.

Very tasty fruits and berries are grown in Armenia - peaches, plums, apples, pears, cherry plums, cherries, cherries, cornelian cherry, grapes.

Traditional non-alcoholic drinks in Armenia are Tarragon, fruit juices, mineral water, milk drinks (kefir, yogurt).

Armenia makes excellent wines and cognacs. Try it and you will see for yourself.

Sights of Armenia

According to official data, there are now about 26,000 historical and architectural monuments in Armenia. Since 2005, a national program for the restoration of architectural and historical monuments has been implemented in Armenia. So, only in 2012 in Armenia, at the expense of the state budget, 9 monuments of the Middle Ages were restored (for example, the church of St. Hovhannes and the monastery of Kobayravank of the 12th century were restored). The Top 10 best Armenian attractions, in our opinion, may include the following:

Cities and resorts

The largest Armenian cities are Gyumri, Vanadzor, and, of course, Yerevan.

There are a lot of mineral springs in Armenia, and, as a result, balneological resorts. The most popular of them is Arzni, located 10 kilometers from Yerevan. Among other balneological and mountain climatic resorts of Armenia, Hankavan, Vanadzor, Arevik, Jermuk, Arevik, Tsakhkadzor, and Dilijan should be noted.

Since Armenia is a mountainous country, it is not surprising that it has several ski resorts. So, 40 kilometers from Yerevan is the ski resort of Tsaghkadzor, which has 12 kilometers of slopes for skiing. By the way, the skiing season in the ski resort of Tsaghkadzor lasts from mid-November to mid-April.

Souvenirs/Shopping

Tourists from Armenia usually bring folk art products, Armenian musical instruments (zurna, tar, shvi, dool, duduk), Armenian headdresses, wine horn, backgammon (for example, backgammon made of walnut), and, of course, Armenian cognac, as well as wine.

Office Hours

The number of speakers of this language is estimated at 7-8 million people. around the world. After all, it is one of the oldest languages ​​and belongs to the Indo-European language family. There were versions about the closest proximity of Armenian to Greek, but later they were refuted by scientists, since Greek is included in the western group of Indo-European languages, and Armenian belongs to the eastern one, which is also called satem. Translated from the Avestan "satem" means "one hundred". The evolution of the term for the numeral "hundred" vividly demonstrates the differences that arose in the western and eastern groups of the Indo-European languages ​​over time.

Armenian has come into contact with many ancient and modern dialects in its history: the Urartian language had an important influence on it, since the Armenian gene pool was formed long before the arrival of the Indo-European tribes and Urartian speech was dominant in those early times. Many facts from the history of other languages ​​are revealed due to their connection with Armenian, which is distinguished by a large number of historical layers. The literary form has more than 150 thousand words, while there are a number of dialects, and this is still tens of thousands of words!

The archaic forms of writing were replaced by the modern Armenian alphabet: it was developed in 405 by Mesrop Mashtots, who was later canonized. Thanks to the invention of the alphabet, the Bible and liturgical books were translated, which truly made the language immortal! The Word of God and the preaching of Christianity in their native language saved the people from extinction.

The alphabet in Armenia has hardly undergone any major changes since its invention. Only in the 11th century, 2 more letters were added to the original 36. Over the centuries, only the most common fonts changed: if luxurious graphic forms and calligraphic variants prevailed in the Middle Ages, then more functional fonts came to the fore later.

Now beautiful examples of writing from the early centuries can be seen in the Matenadaran, the treasury of Armenian culture. More than 18 thousand handwritten books are collected here, which in different historical periods were created in monasteries throughout Armenia and in other countries where Armenians created and created. In the Matenadaran you can look at the Gospels, copied by the monks and decorated with amazing miniatures, enclosed in precious salaries.

Local dialects in different regions

The classical or ancient Armenian language is called Grabar. It traces its history back to the 4th century, from the time when the formation of the Armenian nation ended. Gradually speech developed and evolved.

Modern Armenian has two main literary forms - Western and Eastern. They mainly differ in the pronunciation of consonants, verb conjugation and spelling. Each of them, in turn, has a unique linguistic material of numerous dialects, adverbs and dialects.

Dialects of the Western Armenian branch predominate in the communities of Europe, America and the Middle East, and are also present in the Armenian-populated region of Javakhk and partly in the historical communities of the Armenian diaspora of the south.

Eastern Armenian dialects are represented in the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), as well as most of the Armenian communities in Iran and Russia. In addition, there are large areas of Western Armenian dialects on the territory of Armenia - the north-west of the country and the regions of the cities of Martuni and Gavar in the lake basin.

Among the Eastern Armenian dialects, Nagorno-Karabakh and Southern Armenia stand out with their originality. Here, almost every village has its own unique dialects, which sometimes differ greatly from each other. These differences enrich linguistic traditions, become the occasion for many funny incidents and cases, the topic of jokes and anecdotes.

Even in the conditions of unification of literary standards, which every schoolboy owns, Armenians never forget the dialect of the region of their origin and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. Dialects are an important part of the cultural heritage accumulated over almost 6 thousand years of the history of the ancient people.

Russian-Armenian phrasebook

Most Armenians speak Russian well, and many communicate without the slightest accent. But many guests of the country will be interested in trying their hand at the Armenian language, and we decided to compile a small phrase book - a dictionary of the most common words and expressions.

Hello!	Barev Zezz!
Goodbye	Ttesutyun
How are you (your) doing?	Wontz ek(es)?
I'm good
Sorry
	Shnorakalutyun Often they say instead
Please
What is the price?	Inch arzhy?
Where is?	Worteh e gtnvum?
	Andznagir
	Kareli eh?
Hotel	Hyuranots
Dear brother, brother	Akhper jan
	Che or voch
Delicious	Shat amov e
Could you come over?	Kmotenak?
Could you help me?	Karoh eq windowl?
Do you speak Russian?	Hosum ek rouseren?
I love you Armenia!	Sirum em kez, Hayastan!
Do you understand me	Hascanum ek indz?
I need the Historical Museum	Indz petk a Patmutyan tangaran
Free? (about taxi)

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Books

• Studies in Greek paleography and codicology, IV - XIX centuries. , Fonkich Boris Lvovich. The work includes studies of Greek manuscript books of the 4th-19th centuries. and Greek documents of the XIV-XVIII centuries. predominantly in Moscow and St. Petersburg storehouses, as well as collections in Ukraine, Georgia and ...
• Studies in Greek paleography and codicology of the 4th–19th centuries. , B. L. Fonkich. The work includes studies of Greek manuscript books of the 4th-19th centuries. and Greek documents of the XIV-XVIII centuries. predominantly in Moscow and St. Petersburg storehouses, as well as collections in Ukraine, Georgia and ...

Armenian language is an Indo-European language, amazing in its nature and origin. The Armenian language has the main feature - it is not spoken by those who cannot classify themselves as the Armenian people. Thanks to this feature, and having heard the Armenian language somewhere, one can safely draw a conclusion about the nationality of those who speak Armenian. Only in rare cases will you be able to see in front of you not an Armenian, but a person who, for one reason or another, is interested in the Armenian language.

History of origin and development.

The Armenian language arose simultaneously with the appearance of the Armenian nationality. For many years, historians have been arguing, and arguing to this day, to which group of languages ​​the ancient Armenian language can be attributed. However, more and more historians and philologists come to the conclusion that the Armenian language is quite difficult to attribute to any ancient group of languages. It is not like Greek, Syriac or Persian. More and more researchers come to the conclusion that the Armenian language has absorbed the features of the dialects of the peoples who lived on the territory of the Armenian Highlands.

Until the moment when in the 5th century appears Armenian alphabet, all knowledge is given in Syriac, Greek or Persian. After he returns from the famous expedition, from which he actually brought the improved Armenian alphabet, the Armenian language begins to enter into all spheres of the life of the people. The Armenian alphabet is taught, literacy is taught, children are taught to calligraphically display all the letters of the Armenian alphabet, which gave a tangible impetus to the Armenian language.

Scientists and clergy, writers and poets write their works in Armenian, glorifying and praising it. It is believed that by the end of the 5th century, everyone, without exception, introduced the Armenian language into their daily lives. It is generally accepted that since then the Armenian people began to speak the same dialect. Despite such rapid successes and the development of the language, all the works of scientists were handwritten and few could fall into the hands of. The first book published in Armenian was published in the 16th century.

Historians and researchers of the Armenian language also note that the Armenian language was divided into Western and Eastern from the moment of its inception. The Western Armenian language was used in their speech by the Armenian people located on the territory of Turkey and the colonies of Western Europe. The Eastern dialect was also used in Armenia itself by those Armenians who were on the territory of Russia. In general, the languages ​​did not differ from each other on such a large scale, but they still had some features. A large number of distorted words of both dialects were mixed with each other during a huge number of persecutions of the Armenian people. The words of one dialect were intertwined with the main Armenian languages ​​and were carried along with the Armenians to where a long journey lay ahead. That is why a huge number of researchers do not undertake to thinly distinguish between dialects.

Of course, the development of the Armenian language can be easily traced in the works of scientists, writers, poets, and in the first published books. But at the same time, no one can say with complete certainty about the origin of certain words in the new Armenian language, which to this day is the state language of the Republic of Armenia.

Other nationalities about the Armenian language.

Russian citizens living on the territory of Armenia say that you begin to understand the Armenian language intuitively after you constantly hear it.

Olga, a housewife from Yerevan: “I have been married to an Armenian for 20 years and have never expressed a desire to learn the Armenian language in these 20 years. My husband didn’t force me, he speaks Russian very well, so we don’t have a language barrier. Considering that Russian is perfectly understood in Armenia, of course, it’s quite simple for me. But after 5 years of living in the republic, I realized that I was beginning to understand the Armenian language. Some kind of consonance with Russian words, but with specific endings, they make it possible to understand what it is about. At some points it is completely incomprehensible, but I am not upset, my husband translates everything for me.

Some tourists who come to Armenia for the first time are pleasantly surprised by the unity of the Armenian people. Armenians speak among themselves only in their native Armenian language, mixing some Russian words into their speech. At the same time, not a single Armenian will embarrass the guest if he does not know and does not understand the language. The Armenian language is intertwined with the hospitality and cordiality of the Armenians. If you ask an Armenian in Russian, they will most likely answer you in Russian too. Albeit with an accent, with the wrong declension and cases, but you can understand your interlocutor.

There are also peoples in Armenia who do not speak Armenian. Despite the fact that the Armenian language is the state language in the republic, Armenians are not fanatical about ensuring that absolutely all peoples and nationalities living in the territory of Armenia speak only Armenian. Armenia is a multinational republic and the inhabitants speak Armenian, Russian, Ukrainian, Kurdish, Syrian. It is noteworthy that the Kurds in Armenia use the Armenian alphabet when writing.

Armenian language in other countries and states.

Everyone knows very well that the Armenians, in the course of numerous persecutions and migrations, settled in different parts of the world. In almost every city you can find an Armenian, people with Armenian roots and origins. Due to circumstances, Armenians are forced to adapt to different mentalities, get along with different people. It is worth noting that due to their natural charm, every Armenian can easily make friends with any person. In every city, every country and republic, an Armenian community is organized, which in turn form a large Armenian diaspora. A distinctive feature of the Armenian communities is that they do their best to preserve the cultural heritage of their people. In distant countries, Armenians in communities study the culture of their own people, the features of the architecture and buildings of Armenia, get together and celebrate national holidays. The Armenian language is studied at will by the members of the community. Some see the Armenian alphabet for the first time and learn to write in Armenian, which does not prevent them from enthusiastically starting this business.

It is noteworthy that the Armenians of different countries only speak Armenian among themselves. For them, this is a sign of unity, some form of mutual assistance and support for each other. Having heard a passage of native speech, an Armenian can easily speak to a stranger who uttered this phrase. They will not look askance at him, they will not move away in fear, a lively, sincere conversation will begin, seeing which outsiders will not think that these two met for the first time in their lives a few minutes ago.

The main feature of some Armenians is the fact that while confidently using the Armenian language in their speech, they may not know the Armenian alphabet and may not be able to write in Armenian. Often it depends on the locality and country they live in. Those who were born in Armenia, and then went to Russia or another country with their parents, simply do not consider it necessary to write in Armenian, since this skill comes in handy only for those who live in their homeland. Immigrants from Armenia use this skill rather as a tribute to their people, a skill that will come in handy someday. Some Armenians also do not know how to read Armenian books, poems, works, but they are not at all upset about this, since almost all modern works can be found in translation.

Thus, we can conclude that the Armenian language is the main criterion that allows an Armenian to feel like an Armenian, but not a fundamental one. Armenians are loyal to the inability of their compatriots to read and write in Armenian. Probably, Armenians value something else in knowing their own language - the ability to speak, to understand their relatives, friends, compatriots. And in which case, to help learn all the subtleties of the language to those who want to become one step closer to the Armenian culture and nationality.