Armenian 1A-Elementary Armenian Language Course Attracts Diverse Students at Fresno State

Hannah Paloutzian
Staff Writer

Armenian 1A, Elementary Armenian, is a four-unit course offered every Fall Semester by the Armenian Studies Program. The class is taught by Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian and is a language course for beginners.

Western Armenian is a dialect that was spoken by Armenians who lived in the Ottoman Empire prior to the Armenian Genocide. Survivors of the Genocide emigrated to the United States, the Middle East, Europe and other areas of the world, but continued speaking Western Armenian.

Today UNESCO considers Western Armenian an endangered language.

Therefore, when students take the Armenian 1A course, they are keeping alive the language of Armenian Genocide survivors.

Twenty-four students in Prof. Der Mugrdechian’s Armenian 1A course completed a survey concerning the students’ interests in taking the course.

The answers were varied, with students each having different reasons for taking the course.

Sophomore Leelit Quintero stated that she is taking the course because she plans to Minor in Armenian Studies. “I am half Armenian and I wanted to better my Armenian language skills.”

Daniel Gooboian, who is also a sophomore, stated, “I am half Armenian and want to communicate with some of my family members.”

Senior Anthony Gomez said that he wanted to take Armenian 1A because he “never really heard about Armenian culture other than the Genocide and I wanted to learn more through this language course.”

Chris Petrosian stated that he is taking the course “to dive deeper into Armenian culture and hopefully play a part in preserving the language.”

Students were also asked to explain what they hoped to gain from the experience of taking Armenian 1A.

Junior Jasmine Awad said that she hopes “to get a basic understanding of the culture and language.” Freshman Jazmin Calixto said that she hopes to “gain more experience about a different culture/language.”

Keyla Estrada, also a freshman, stated that she hoped “to be able to hold a basic conversation and to learn a little bit more Armenian.”

Throughout the rest of the fall semester, the students will continue to learn the unique Armenian alphabet, basic Ar-menian grammar, and general conversational skills.

This semester, the twenty-four students from diverse backgrounds and educational interests have enrolled in Armenian 1A to learn a new language and about a new culture.

Armenian 1B is offered in the spring semester for students to continue learning the Armenian language.