With Armenia populated by more than 98% ethnic Armenians, it’s easy to assume that it’s a monolingual, monocultural nation nestled in the diverse and complicated region of the Caucasus. In fact, a smattering of ethnic minorities, most notably Yazidis and Russians, are also found throughout the country, but by and large, Armenia is ethnically Armenian, and most people in the country speak Armenian as their native language. But it’s not quite as simple as that. Armenian is split into two key variants, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, making it a pluricentric language.
While the Armenian constitution ambiguously stipulates that “Armenian” is the official language of the land, Eastern Armenian is the de-facto standard, used in the country’s government, business, education, and media. Western Armenian, despite boasting more than 1.6 million native speakers, is overshadowed by its eastern sibling and even faces endangerment, as it’s primarily spoken outside of the Republic of Armenia, in countries like Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria. Western Armenian speakers are pressured to assimilate to the culture and language of their host nations, eroding their identity as Western Armenians. Sadly, by failing to acknowledge the language and offer services for it, many translation companies are complicit in Western Armenian’s silent oppression.
But here at TranslationServices.com, we’re proud to stand with Western Armenians worldwide and provide tailored Western Armenian translation services. For a free quote, simply get in touch with us!
What makes Western Armenian different from Eastern Armenian?
The western and eastern variants of Armenian draw on different roots, with Western Armenian based on the Istanbul Armenian dialect and Eastern Armenian tracing its origins back to the Yerevan Armenian dialect. The two variants may be somewhat mutually intelligible to educated speakers, but uneducated speakers may have trouble understanding the other variety. This is largely due to pronunciation differences, with both Armenian variants using the native Armenian script for writing.
Western Armenian features four noun cases, with the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases merged into one. Declension can be tricky, as nouns may adopt different inflection patterns based on their makeup. The language uses articles (i.e., words like “the” and “a” in English), attaching them as suffixes to a noun stem. Western Armenian verbs also undergo significant inflection, with markers for person to indicate who is performing the action. Speakers use particles to indicate the tense or aspect of a verb, and the absence of these particles indicates the subjunctive mood, creating the same nuance that the English “if” provides.
Trust our Western Armenian translation team for high-quality translations.
Western Armenian is completely different from English, although the languages are, believe it or not, distantly related. These differences make translating between the two languages difficult, but our Western Armenian translators have spoken the language from birth and are passionate about bridging the linguistic gap between their language and the rest of the world. Whether you’re a native speaker of Western Armenian looking to broadcast your message to speakers of other languages or you’re a foreign national who wants to tailor your content for Western Armenian speakers, our team is eager to assist.
Whatever kind of Western Armenian translation services you need, we can provide. Looking for business translation services so you can show your local Western Armenian clientele that you really care? Seeking specialized translation of your research materials so you can work closely with Western Armenian subjects in your academic study? Need careful translation of Western Armenian folktales to draw attention from the international community to the unique Western Armenian diaspora? Want tailored Western Armenian translations of your literary work or digital media to help legitimize the Western Armenian language and encourage more use and learning among ethnic Western Armenians? Our translation team can’t wait to help with all these projects and more.
Why not get started with your Western Armenian translation project today? It’s easy—just shoot us a message with the details of your translation needs!