Ռ ռ — ra
«ra» is a consonant of Western Armenian, the “The aybuben” script, read as “rr”. A full rolled trill. For example, in the word “Ռուս” — a Russian (person). The Western Armenian alphabet has 40 letters in total. The partner of the soft ր. Ռուս is "Rrus" with a strong roll. It appears, for example, in the word “Ռուս” — Russian (person).
In short
| Character | Ռ ռ |
| Name | ra |
| Sound | rr |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 36th of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ջ and զ, appears in 318 words of this site.
How it sounds
A full rolled trill
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- Ռուսrrusa Russian (person)
The character in the “the other consonants” group
Sixteen signs, read the same way as in the eastern norm. The pair ր and ռ differs by rolling: ր is a soft single tap, ռ is a full trill.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «ra» it is “rr”, as in the word “Ռուս”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 40 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Western Armenian character ռ read?
As “rr” — it is a consonant of the “The aybuben” script. A full rolled trill. For example, in the word “Ռուս” — a Russian (person).
What is the letter ռ called?
Ra. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Western Armenian script: it is called “ra” and reads as “rr”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ռ be confused with?
The partner of the soft ր. Ռուս is "Rrus" with a strong roll. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.