This tutorial aims to teach basic Armenian Alphabet reading skills. By the end of this short tutorial you should be able to recognize all the letters and main letter combinations and be able to sound out basic texts in Armenian script.
Fluent reading, of course, requires months of practice and is beyond the scope of this tutorial. However, it is possible to master reading of key texts and words, along with their meanings, relatively easily. For this reason this tutorial focuses on the Hayr Mer and some of the words and hymns you may already know from Church and Home as the framework for learning basic Armenian reading skills.
This tutorial uses Western Armenian pronunciation because it is designed mainly for those who are predominantly English speakers and may have had some exposure to Western Armenian at home, church, or family gatherings.
BEFORE YOU START EXERCISES:
Make sure you have gone over the instructional materials and download and/or print out reference materials.
The Armenian Language is distantly related to English, for this reason, you may recognize certain words (or parts of words). These related words are called
cognates. Cognates usually have similar consonants, or the consonants exhibit a regular correspondence, e.g., hayr father
pater, hats food pasture. Armenian often loses letters, as in li full plenty, yerek three, and sometimes sounds change quite dramatically and uniquely, as in dznunt kin generation, dzanot know prognosis, medz mega, or kaghtsr sweet, kuyr sister sorority. Recognizing
cognates can accelerate your mastery of Armenian or any foreign language. Try to think of Armenian as an extension of the English you already know.
