LEVI'S
My local friends constantly ask me questions about the English language (how to say certain words, how to form sentences, and so on.)
Since I've been living here, I've come to realize how complex the English language is. Not necessarily how rich it is, but rather how inconsistent things are. (I suppose it's like one of those things that has always been there, but I've never taken notice of.) For example, there are too many synonyms, which the Armenian language doesn't seem to have a lot of. Then there are the abnormal pronunciations of many words, abnormal because they don't match up with the way the words are spelt. This abnormality rarely occurs in the Armenian language, especially in the Modern Eastern Armenian spelling used in Armenia.
If you know how to read Armenian, then you most probably know how to pronounce the words correctly. But in English, it's a totally different world. Am I making any sense? (If you know what I'm talking about, just take any sentence in this blog and you'll notice.)
I know I shouldn't be comparing the two languages, but I've realized that the more I learn the Armenian language (modern, not Grabar) and how to express my thoughts, the more I understand how rich, yet simple (in most ways) it is at the same time. Pronunciations are straight-forward, especially since we rarely have more than one letter to make a certain sound (in English, ie. "ch", "sh", etc.) Also, when you hear a word for the first time, you can usually guess what it means by just dissecting that word, since Armenian has a tendency to combine words to make new ones.
Anyway, I'm sort of getting into too many details, but here is what I'm trying to get at...
I know NIKE is a brand, and not an actual word in the English vocabulary, but most locals in Armenia pronounce the name NIKE the exact way it is spelt. When I try to correct people and tell them it's pronounced "Ni-Key" they get all confused.
Ya ya, no reason to make a big fuss, but...
I just saw a new LEVI'S store, which replaced the Shanghai Chinese Restaurant on Mashtots. (I'm not sure if it's an official franchise, but anyway, that's not my point here.) The store's sign says "LEVI’S" and beside it is the same word in Armenian, but spelt to pronounce "Léveess".
Since I've been living here, I've come to realize how complex the English language is. Not necessarily how rich it is, but rather how inconsistent things are. (I suppose it's like one of those things that has always been there, but I've never taken notice of.) For example, there are too many synonyms, which the Armenian language doesn't seem to have a lot of. Then there are the abnormal pronunciations of many words, abnormal because they don't match up with the way the words are spelt. This abnormality rarely occurs in the Armenian language, especially in the Modern Eastern Armenian spelling used in Armenia.
If you know how to read Armenian, then you most probably know how to pronounce the words correctly. But in English, it's a totally different world. Am I making any sense? (If you know what I'm talking about, just take any sentence in this blog and you'll notice.)
I know I shouldn't be comparing the two languages, but I've realized that the more I learn the Armenian language (modern, not Grabar) and how to express my thoughts, the more I understand how rich, yet simple (in most ways) it is at the same time. Pronunciations are straight-forward, especially since we rarely have more than one letter to make a certain sound (in English, ie. "ch", "sh", etc.) Also, when you hear a word for the first time, you can usually guess what it means by just dissecting that word, since Armenian has a tendency to combine words to make new ones.
Anyway, I'm sort of getting into too many details, but here is what I'm trying to get at...
I know NIKE is a brand, and not an actual word in the English vocabulary, but most locals in Armenia pronounce the name NIKE the exact way it is spelt. When I try to correct people and tell them it's pronounced "Ni-Key" they get all confused.
Ya ya, no reason to make a big fuss, but...
I just saw a new LEVI'S store, which replaced the Shanghai Chinese Restaurant on Mashtots. (I'm not sure if it's an official franchise, but anyway, that's not my point here.) The store's sign says "LEVI’S" and beside it is the same word in Armenian, but spelt to pronounce "Léveess".
posted by Der Hova at 5:55 PM
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