armenian alphabet
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Eastern Armenian

Western Armenian

Letter Transliteration Example Transliteration Example Name of letter
Aa pArt Aa pArt Ayp
Bb Big Pp Pen Pen
Gg leG Kk parK Kim
Dd baD Tt haT Ta
Ee (ye) nEt Ee (ye) nEt Yech
Zz Zig-Zag Zz Zig-Zag Za
Ee rEnt Ee rEnt Eh
' (apostrophe) hib'rnation ' (apostrophe) hib'rnation Uht
Tt haT Tt haT Toe
JHjh uSual JHjh uSual Jhe
Ii skinnY Ii skinnY Ini
Ll Less Ll Less Luin
KHkh aCHtung KHkh aCHtung Khe
TSts biTS DZdz biDZ (bids) Dza
Kk sKip Gg leG Gen
Hh Hot Hh Hot Ho
DZdz biDZ(bids) TSts hiTS Tsa
GHgh haGiss GHgh haGiss Ghat
CHch CHess Jj John Je
Mm Men Mm MoM Men
Yy Hat (Yes) Hh (Yy) Hat (Yes) Hee
Nn buN Nn buN Nu
SHsh craSH SHsh craSH Sha
Oo VOvo bOne Oo (VOvo) bOne Vo
CHch muCH CHch muCH Cha
Pp sPorts Bb Big Be
Jj January CHch muCH Che
Rr buRRito Rr buRRito Ra
Ss Sand Ss Sand Se
Vv neVer Vv neVer Ve
Tt baD Dd baD Diun
Rr buRRito Rr buRRito  Re
TSts hiTS TSts hiTS Tso
Vv moVe Vv moVe Hium
Pp Pen Pp Pen Piur
Kk parK Kk parK Ke
Oo mOre Oo mOre Oe
Ff Fan Ff Fan Fe
yev (ev)   yev (ev)   (Yev)

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TRANSLITERATION

The transliteration system I use is very simple, based on the Latin character equivalents assigned to each letter in the alphabet above. Each letter has an English equivalent letter, or combination of letters.

For example, the Armenian word for Armenia, "г۳ëï³Ý" would be pronounced "Hayastan" in Eastern Armenian, or "Hayasdan" in Western Armenian.

It is important to remember that the eastern and western dialects differ in transliteration, because some Armenian characters are pronounced differently. For example, in Armenian, the equivalent of the English name Peter, is Petros in Eastern Armenian, and Bedros in Western. As you can see the P and the T are pronounced differently in Western Armenian. This name would be Pedro in Spanish, where only the letter T has changed. This is because the Armenian alphabet contains a few "middle sounds" which English has for the most part lost. For example, the P and B sounds have a sound somewhere in between those two sounds that English speakers (and often Western Armenians) will have a very difficult time percieving. If you say the English word "sports", you may notice that you are actually pronouncing this middle sound without even noticing it. Most people are not pronouncing a clean P, but something that sounds more like a B, but not quite... this is the sound that Eastern Armenian uses for the second letter of the Armenian alphabet. Western Armenians do not use this difference as much, pronouncing more of a clean B. Western Armenian also differs in vocabulary and conjugation from Eastern Armenian, which is used in the Republic of Armenia today. A brief guide/dictionary of differences between the two dialects can be found here.

 

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