Nightlife in Yerevan is comparable to large college towns like Athens, Ga or Clemson, SC -- a lot of bars and a few places to dance. Our first week Nare took us to a bar called Wild West. Needless to say this bar was themed like and Old West Saloon, complete with wannabe slatted doors and wagon wheels and horse saddles on the wall. The waitress recognized us after the first night (we went there several times) so she helped us out with the menu. Apparently, that first night, a table full of younger Armenian men were giving Nare a very hard time, and the waitress had to intercede on her behalf.
One of the specialties of Wild West was crawdads. I have no idea what they call them in Armenian but that's what they amount to.
Also in that first week we hit up a very cool karaoke bar. For those not in the know I love karaoke and have no qualms making a fool out of myself in front of even friends (when singing karaoke). Imagine if you can how ridiculous I can be in front of strangers 7,000 miles away from home! That night lasted until at least three am and by the time we left the club most of the city lights had been turned out.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Language tips
There are two main languages spoken in Yerevan: Armenian and Russian. The level of proficiency in Russian varies from person to person, but nearly everyone understands it. Georgian (the country right next door is The Republic of Georgia) also floats around. All three have a different alphabet (AHH!) and are very easy to pick out from one another when heard and when seen written. Of the three alphabets, I found the Russian Cyrillic alphabet the easiest of the three to understand, though that's not really a fair assessment as it was the ONLY one I could ever decipher,lol. Armenian and Georgian script to me looks very elegant, but ultimately to my eyes looks like scribble. Georgian, to me, resembles Greek slightly in written form.
As I mentioned earlier, due to political influences the older crowd uses Russian much more frequently than the younger crowd, which uses Armenian almost exclusively. The political influence being that Armenian was once until recently (1991) part of the Soviet Union, and much of the education was in Russian. Incidentally, most of the lab equipment was Russian.
Personally, I found Russian on the whole easier to pronounce as well. Many Armenian words have guttural sounds made in the back of the throat that are very difficult for people who aren't used to making those sounds. Don't get me wrong, Russian can get very hairy, and they do have a few guttural sounds as well, but they aren't nearly as difficult as Armenian (for me at least). The Russians also have a particular fondness for twenty-five letter words (only two of which are vowels) for words like "ice", so you end up spitting on yourself trying to say some words. You think I'm kidding. **Bear in mind this is being written after I have visited Russia, as well**
To me, Armenian is characterized by hard, hard sounds with a lot of "g's" and "cha's". Russian, is characterized to the ear as a lot of hard soft hard soft hard soft hard soft sounds with a lot of "z's" and "ka's", and "nyeh's".
Some useful Armeinian phrases (bear in mind I'm spelling these phonetically):
"Inch ka" -- What's up
"Voncets" -- How are you? (formal)
"Yes ozoum ___" -- I would like ____
"Hashiva bereq, khndrumem/khndrem" -- basically equates to "Check please"
"Shnorakalutsyun" -- Thank you very much (they really like it when foreigners use this one)
"Merci" -- thanks (it's not quite as accented as in French)
"Yes chem haskanoum" -- I don't understand (you'll use this one a lot)
"Ayo/Ha" -- yes/yeah
"Knereq" -- I'm sorry/excuse me
"Che" -- no
"Che ha!" -- like no way! or "Really?!"
"Chegidem" -- I Don't know
"Genazig" -- Let's go/let's move
And of course knowing numbers is infinitely helpful.
And how about some Russian?
"Kakh dzela?" -- how are you?
"Min yeh zavoot ___" -- my name is
"spasiba" -- Thanks
"Stop!" -- stop ;)
"pazhalstahn/dobra pazhalstahn" -- "welcome/you're welcome"
"Yeh nyeh poonamayhoo__" -- I don't understand
"Prosti" -- Sorry/excuse me
"Da vai" -- go/move it/let's go
"Maladyetz" -- well done/good work
"Yeh hachoo __" -- I would like __
As I mentioned earlier, due to political influences the older crowd uses Russian much more frequently than the younger crowd, which uses Armenian almost exclusively. The political influence being that Armenian was once until recently (1991) part of the Soviet Union, and much of the education was in Russian. Incidentally, most of the lab equipment was Russian.
Personally, I found Russian on the whole easier to pronounce as well. Many Armenian words have guttural sounds made in the back of the throat that are very difficult for people who aren't used to making those sounds. Don't get me wrong, Russian can get very hairy, and they do have a few guttural sounds as well, but they aren't nearly as difficult as Armenian (for me at least). The Russians also have a particular fondness for twenty-five letter words (only two of which are vowels) for words like "ice", so you end up spitting on yourself trying to say some words. You think I'm kidding. **Bear in mind this is being written after I have visited Russia, as well**
To me, Armenian is characterized by hard, hard sounds with a lot of "g's" and "cha's". Russian, is characterized to the ear as a lot of hard soft hard soft hard soft hard soft sounds with a lot of "z's" and "ka's", and "nyeh's".
Some useful Armeinian phrases (bear in mind I'm spelling these phonetically):
"Inch ka" -- What's up
"Voncets" -- How are you? (formal)
"Yes ozoum ___" -- I would like ____
"Hashiva bereq, khndrumem/khndrem" -- basically equates to "Check please"
"Shnorakalutsyun" -- Thank you very much (they really like it when foreigners use this one)
"Merci" -- thanks (it's not quite as accented as in French)
"Yes chem haskanoum" -- I don't understand (you'll use this one a lot)
"Ayo/Ha" -- yes/yeah
"Knereq" -- I'm sorry/excuse me
"Che" -- no
"Che ha!" -- like no way! or "Really?!"
"Chegidem" -- I Don't know
"Genazig" -- Let's go/let's move
And of course knowing numbers is infinitely helpful.
And how about some Russian?
"Kakh dzela?" -- how are you?
"Min yeh zavoot ___" -- my name is
"spasiba" -- Thanks
"Stop!" -- stop ;)
"pazhalstahn/dobra pazhalstahn" -- "welcome/you're welcome"
"Yeh nyeh poonamayhoo__" -- I don't understand
"Prosti" -- Sorry/excuse me
"Da vai" -- go/move it/let's go
"Maladyetz" -- well done/good work
"Yeh hachoo __" -- I would like __
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