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1,600 YEARS FOR 38 LETTERS
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Oct 5 2005
Language key to Armenian life
When Nicole Oganesian realized that her high-school Spanish kicked
in while she was trying to communicate with her great-grandmother -
but not the language of her ancestors - she knew it was time she
learned Armenian.
She saw her opportunity at the University of California, Los Angeles.
After five quarters, she was able to communicate in the language she
hadn't learned growing up in an Armenian home.
"I felt a frustration - not being able to communicate with family
and grandparents," said Oganesian, 26, a law student from Chino Hills.
"There was no reason for me not to know how. I almost felt a duty
to learn it. It just makes me feel like I can better interact, and
I felt like it just made me more in tune with the culture."
Some 10 million Armenians worldwide this week are celebrating the
1,600th anniversary of their alphabet - which, along with their
Christian religion, serves as a key link to preserving their cultural
identity.
Armenians have long believed that their alphabet was destined for them
and came from a higher source, even ascribing its origin to mysticism.
Mesrop Mashtots, a cleric of the Armenian royal court, is said to have
dreamed the 38 letters in 405 A.D., writing them down when he awoke.
Mashtots, who was interested in translating the Bible into his native
tongue, is something of an icon for Armenians, with statues of him
erected throughout the homeland. Most Armenians-Americans today have
a poster or painting of the alphabet in their homes.
More than anything, Armenians believe that their language is the basis
of maintaining the culture - one that has been threatened over the
years by a genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire
in 1915 and by life in the Diaspora.
In an effort to keep their language, values and customs alive in
America, Armenians over the past 40 years have built about 20 schools
in the Los Angeles area that serve more than 3,000 students.
Greg Tufenkian and his sister - who grew up in a household with an
Armenian-speaking mother and an Armenian-American father who spoke
only English - attended Armenian school and now send their children
to Armenian school in an effort to preserve the language.
"I think we're so lucky to have a language and an alphabet as a people,
since there are so many people whose languages aren't even spoken
anymore," said Tufenkian, a Glendale resident who sells commercial
real estate.
"It seems through history we've always been an underdog; yet we've
always been able to regroup, refocus, survive and go forward. So
preserving our language for the next generations is the least we can
do to preserve our culture."
High-profile attorney Mark Geragos said he speaks enough Armenian to
ask for more water, say thank you and ask how are you. But he talks
to his two children about the Armenian Genocide and sends them to
Armenian events, summer camps and church - to keep the culture alive
in future generations.
"The rule of thumb is that identification with your culture dies out
in three generations, and I'm determined not to let that happen."
Armenian-Americans have been criticized as insular and ethnocentric,
but determination to keep the language alive is a byproduct of
historical tragedy, said Ed Finegan, professor of linguistics and
law at the University of Southern California.
"Because of our history - when you experience a calamity like a
genocide or holocaust - you are so insecure and so paranoid that you
are constantly fighting a war of preservation," said Vahe Berberian,
an Armenian writer, performer and artist.
Stepan Partamian, the popular host of a controversial Armenian
public-access program, argues that there's not much to celebrate
when, like Americanized Spanish or Spanglish, what's being created
in America is "Armenglish."
"Why should we celebrate 1,600 years of the Armenian alphabet when
we don't utilize it today?" he said. "Learning it will one day become
more of a novelty than a necessity."
But language in fact must change and adapt in order to survive,
Finegan said.
"In order for a language to remain vital, it has to grow and adapt,
so borrowing English or words from other languages doesn't affect
the heart of the language," Finegan said.
Despite the effort to preserve the language, some Armenians are
resigned to the probability that it will one day die in America. They
point out that once-vibrant Armenian communities have evaporated in
India, Rome and Singapore.
There are two ways a language can die, Finegan said: Its people are
eliminated, or the speakers give it up for another language. But the
language can survive by being used for functions more immediate to
the culture - as at home, church or heritage events.
"The more it can be preserved there, the more likely it will be to
survive," Finegan said.
Oganesian would definitely want her children to learn Armenian.
"I think it's a connection to their heritage," she said. "It's always
a good idea to know how to speak more languages, and any way you can
give yourself more avenues by which to express yourself, the better
off you are."
Naush Boghossian, (818) 713-3722
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Oct 5 2005
Language key to Armenian life
When Nicole Oganesian realized that her high-school Spanish kicked
in while she was trying to communicate with her great-grandmother -
but not the language of her ancestors - she knew it was time she
learned Armenian.
She saw her opportunity at the University of California, Los Angeles.
After five quarters, she was able to communicate in the language she
hadn't learned growing up in an Armenian home.
"I felt a frustration - not being able to communicate with family
and grandparents," said Oganesian, 26, a law student from Chino Hills.
"There was no reason for me not to know how. I almost felt a duty
to learn it. It just makes me feel like I can better interact, and
I felt like it just made me more in tune with the culture."
Some 10 million Armenians worldwide this week are celebrating the
1,600th anniversary of their alphabet - which, along with their
Christian religion, serves as a key link to preserving their cultural
identity.
Armenians have long believed that their alphabet was destined for them
and came from a higher source, even ascribing its origin to mysticism.
Mesrop Mashtots, a cleric of the Armenian royal court, is said to have
dreamed the 38 letters in 405 A.D., writing them down when he awoke.
Mashtots, who was interested in translating the Bible into his native
tongue, is something of an icon for Armenians, with statues of him
erected throughout the homeland. Most Armenians-Americans today have
a poster or painting of the alphabet in their homes.
More than anything, Armenians believe that their language is the basis
of maintaining the culture - one that has been threatened over the
years by a genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire
in 1915 and by life in the Diaspora.
In an effort to keep their language, values and customs alive in
America, Armenians over the past 40 years have built about 20 schools
in the Los Angeles area that serve more than 3,000 students.
Greg Tufenkian and his sister - who grew up in a household with an
Armenian-speaking mother and an Armenian-American father who spoke
only English - attended Armenian school and now send their children
to Armenian school in an effort to preserve the language.
"I think we're so lucky to have a language and an alphabet as a people,
since there are so many people whose languages aren't even spoken
anymore," said Tufenkian, a Glendale resident who sells commercial
real estate.
"It seems through history we've always been an underdog; yet we've
always been able to regroup, refocus, survive and go forward. So
preserving our language for the next generations is the least we can
do to preserve our culture."
High-profile attorney Mark Geragos said he speaks enough Armenian to
ask for more water, say thank you and ask how are you. But he talks
to his two children about the Armenian Genocide and sends them to
Armenian events, summer camps and church - to keep the culture alive
in future generations.
"The rule of thumb is that identification with your culture dies out
in three generations, and I'm determined not to let that happen."
Armenian-Americans have been criticized as insular and ethnocentric,
but determination to keep the language alive is a byproduct of
historical tragedy, said Ed Finegan, professor of linguistics and
law at the University of Southern California.
"Because of our history - when you experience a calamity like a
genocide or holocaust - you are so insecure and so paranoid that you
are constantly fighting a war of preservation," said Vahe Berberian,
an Armenian writer, performer and artist.
Stepan Partamian, the popular host of a controversial Armenian
public-access program, argues that there's not much to celebrate
when, like Americanized Spanish or Spanglish, what's being created
in America is "Armenglish."
"Why should we celebrate 1,600 years of the Armenian alphabet when
we don't utilize it today?" he said. "Learning it will one day become
more of a novelty than a necessity."
But language in fact must change and adapt in order to survive,
Finegan said.
"In order for a language to remain vital, it has to grow and adapt,
so borrowing English or words from other languages doesn't affect
the heart of the language," Finegan said.
Despite the effort to preserve the language, some Armenians are
resigned to the probability that it will one day die in America. They
point out that once-vibrant Armenian communities have evaporated in
India, Rome and Singapore.
There are two ways a language can die, Finegan said: Its people are
eliminated, or the speakers give it up for another language. But the
language can survive by being used for functions more immediate to
the culture - as at home, church or heritage events.
"The more it can be preserved there, the more likely it will be to
survive," Finegan said.
Oganesian would definitely want her children to learn Armenian.
"I think it's a connection to their heritage," she said. "It's always
a good idea to know how to speak more languages, and any way you can
give yourself more avenues by which to express yourself, the better
off you are."
Naush Boghossian, (818) 713-3722