LingoflyՉ չ — cha
«cha» is a consonant of the Western Armenian script, the aybuben, read as “ch'”. A ch with a noticeable puff of air, like the ch in English "chair". For example, in the word “Չորս” (chors) — four. The Western Armenian alphabet has 38 letters in total. It appears, for example, in the word “Ոչ” (voch) — no.
In short
| Character | Չ չ |
| Name | cha |
| Sound | ch' |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 32nd of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ծ and ձ, appears in 246 words of this site.
How to type Չ չ
- On a phone: add the Armenian keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0579 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0579.
- Unicode code points: չ — U+0579, Չ — U+0549. With them, the characters can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A ch with a noticeable puff of air, like the ch in English "chair"
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.
The character in the “triplets: where the western reading turns the letters over” group
Five triplets, fifteen letters — and in each triplet the norms read them differently. The former voiced բ, դ, գ, ձ, ջ now sound like p, t, k, ts, ch with a puff of air. The former voiceless պ, տ, կ, ծ, ճ turned voiced: b, d, g, dz, j. The aspirated փ, թ, ք, ց, չ kept their puff of air. If you read the eastern norm, these ten letters have to be turned over.
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 «cha» it is “ch'”, as in the word “Չորս” (chors)), 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 — 38 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 չ read?
As “ch'” — it is a consonant of the Western Armenian script, the aybuben. A ch with a noticeable puff of air, like the ch in English "chair". For example, in the word “Չորս” (chors) — four.
What is the letter չ called?
Cha. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Western Armenian script: it is called “cha” and reads as “ch'”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.