Armenians Learning Armenian in the 19th & 20th Centuries

​Somewhere deep in the Armenian imaginary lies the idea that all Armenians in the past were perfectly proficient speakers, readers, and writers of Armenian. As the thinking goes, these model Armenians would have had no need for classes or books or apps like many of us do today. Armenian was not a language they learned; it was a language they just knew.

Lord Byron (1788-1824)

​Armenian history has tended to lionize figures like Lord Byron, an Englishman who briefly set his sights on mastering Armenian in the nineteenth century. But it rarely shines a spotlight on the scores of Armenians in the past who were born into languages other than Armenian and spent years of their lives learning it and making it their own. Also just right of the spotlight stand all those who grew up speaking Armenian as children and tasked themselves with learning to read and write in it later in life.

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​Armenians who worked to acquire Armenian, in other words, have been more common in history than we might expect. Centering the stories of these historical learners may help present-day learners—often made to feel small, inadequate, and behind for not knowing the language from the start—see that they are, in fact, in excellent company.

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​Just as many Armenians around the world today speak English, or French, or Russian, or Spanish, many in the past too were often more comfortable in the languages of the majority societies around them. On the eve of the genocide, Armenian communities that had spoken Polish (below, in green), Georgian (in yellow), Turkish (in blue), or Arabic (in purple) for centuries dotted the map of Europe, the Middle East, and the Caucasus.

Languages spoken by Armenians c. 1909 from Classification des dialectes arméniens by H. Adjarian

Linguistic diversity among Armenians was not always the threat to identity that some consider it to be today. In centuries past, religion was the hallmark of Armenian identity. To put it simply, if a person belonged to an Armenian church, they were Armenian. The language they spoke in daily life did not call their Armenianness into question or lead them to be considered any ‘greater’ or ‘lesser’ of an Armenian.

​In the nineteenth century, these ideas slowly began to change. Nationalism was the ethos of the day around the world and brought with it a new way of thinking about language as a pillar of identity. Adopting this way of thinking as their own, many Armenians invested wholeheartedly in the belief that to be Armenian meant to know Armenian, however aspirational and disconnected this belief was from the linguistic reality on the ground.

​Not all Armenians found this new way of thinking convincing. Many chose to live out their lives in the languages their families had spoken for centuries. But others went to great lengths to add Armenian to their repertoires. Some took on this challenge in order to personify the new definition of a ‘real’ Armenian and to compensate for what they were taught to feel was a missing piece in their lives. Others took on the challenge for more practical reasons, confronting the need to communicate after migrating to Armenian-speaking communities or marrying into Armenian-speaking families. Others still, just like today, did not come to Armenian weighed down by emotional baggage or communication concerns but took it up out of pure curiosity and the thrill of stepping into a new linguistic universe.

​Let’s meet a few learners from the past who grew up with languages other than Armenian, arrived at it as young adults, and put their language skills to use in their own distinct ways:

Gomidas/Komitas (1869-1935)

Gomidas/Komitas (1869-1935) was born into a Turkish-speaking family in Kütahya. He began learning Armenian at the age of 10 when he entered the Gevorgyan Seminary in Etchmiadzin. He later became a celebrated ethno-musicologist and used his Armenian skills to teach music, lead choirs, and document Armenian folk songs.

​Grigor Artsruni (1845-1892) was born into a Russian-speaking family in Moscow. He began learning Armenian around the age of 13 when he started high school in Tiflis. He later become the founder and editor of the newspaper Մշակ [Mshak] and used his Armenian skills to write prolifically in support of reforming Armenian social and political life in the late nineteenth century.

​Thomas Kalo Mugerditchian (c. 1860-1945) was born into a Kurdish-speaking family in Redvan. He began learning Armenian around the age of 15 when he started to attend an American missionary school in Kharpert, called Elâzığ today. He later became an interpreter for a British consul and used his Armenian skills to gather intelligence for the Allied powers during World War I as well as to write an eyewitness account of the Armenian genocide.
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Zaven Der Yeghiayan (1868-1947) was born into an Arabic-speaking family in Mosul. He began learning Armenian around the age of 13 when he entered an Armenian school just north of his hometown, in Siirt. He later became the Armenian Apostolic patriarch of Istanbul and used his Armenian skills to lead and console his flock during the genocide and its aftermath.

Thomas Kalo Mugerditchian (c. 1860-1945)

These men came from very different language backgrounds and used their Armenian in very different ways, but they did have one thing in common: the school. Just like today, the Armenian school was key to introducing Armenians to the Armenian language, all while their home and community lives often played out in other languages.

There were also many people who spoke Armenian as their first language, with varying degrees of ease, but did not learn to read or write in it until they were young adults. Let’s meet a few of them too:

​Madteos Mamourian (1830-1901) grew up on the island of Syros and in the city of Alexandria speaking his parents’ Armenian dialect of Izmir. He attended Greek elementary schools and first learned to read and write in Greek. He began learning to read and write in Armenian at the age of 13 when he was sent to a new school in Izmir. He later became a well-respected man of letters who used his Armenian skills to establish, edit, and write for the long-running journal Արեւելեան մամուլ [Arevelian Mamoul] and to translate works of French literature (We have him to thank for the Armenian translations of Arabian Nights, The Three Musketeers, and Around the World in Eighty Days).

Madteos Mamourian (1830-1901)

Serpouhi Dussap (née Vahan) (1840-1901)

Serpouhi Dussap (née Vahan) (1840-1901) grew up in Istanbul speaking the Armenian dialect of her native city. Like many well-to-do girls of her generation, she was educated by private tutors who first taught her to write in French, Italian, and Greek. She began learning to write in Armenian around the age of 21 when she started taking lessons from the poet Megerdich Beshigtashlian. She later became an accomplished novelist and activist, who used her Armenian skills to pen works that championed the economic and social emancipation of Armenian women and to lead an organization aimed at training Armenian women to become teachers in girls’ schools in the Ottoman provinces.

​Diana Apcar (née Agabeg) (1859-1937) grew up in Calcutta, India speaking her family’s Armenian dialect of New Julfa. She was educated in British schools and first learned to read and write in English. She began learning to read and write in Armenian at the age of 16, teaching herself and relying on her mother and on a few books for guidance. She later became a businesswoman and the short-lived honorary consul of Armenia to Japan, using her Armenian and other languages to help genocide refugees who had reached Japan regain their footing and travel onward to the United States.

Diana Apcar (née Agabeg) (1859-1937)

Richard Hovannisian (1932-2023)

​Richard Hovannisian (1932-2023) grew up in Tulare, California hearing his family’s Armenian dialect of Kharpert at home. Like most Armenian-Americans of his generation, he went to American public schools and first learned to read and write in English. He began learning to read and write in Armenian at the age of 23 when he spent nine months studying the language intensively in Beirut. He later became a historian and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and used his Armenian skills to delve into historical sources and uncover new facets of the Armenian past.

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​Today, there are many more opportunities to learn Armenian than there were in the past. Curious learners can travel abroad to take a summer course; attend a semester-long class online; learn virtually on their own time; meet with an online conversation buddy to practice speaking; test out apps and textbooks to build vocabulary; or work one-on-one with an instructor to brush up on reading.

​No matter what language they are coming from, where they are in the world, or why they are choosing to learn Armenian, what is for certain is that learners today are following in a long line of Armenians who began as students of the language and went on to do remarkable things with it. Given all the different ways these historical learners used their skills to pursue personal interests and to serve their communities, one major question remains: what remarkable things will today’s learners do with their Armenian?

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