How to get to the warehouse in Western Armenian

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: in the street asking the way: past, through, straight across and what to do at a dead end. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• Ներեցէք, ինչպէ՞ս հասնիմ հին պահեստին։

  neretsek', inchbes hasnim hin bahesdin

  Excuse me, how do I get to the old warehouse?
• Գացէք ուղիղ, անցէք եկեղեցիին կողքով։

  katsek' ughigh, antsek' yegeghetsiin goghk'ov

  Go straight, pass by the church.
• Իսկ բակին միջով կարճ ճանապարհ կա՞յ։

  isg pagin michov garj janabarh gay

  And is there a short way through the yard?
• Կայ, բայց հոն փակուղի է. պէտք է ետ գալ։

  gay, payts hon p'agughi e. bedk' e yed kal

  There is, but there is a dead end there — you'll have to come back.
• Ուրեմն ուղիղ ճանապարհով երթամ։ Հեռո՞ւ է։

  uremn ughigh janabarhov yert'am Herru e

  Then I'll go the straight way. Is it far?
• Մէկուկէս քիլօմեթր։ Ուղենիշը կարմիր տանիքն է։

  meguges k'ilomet'r Ughenishə garmir danik'n e

  A kilometer and a half. The landmark is the red roof.
• Իսկ եթէ մոլորիմ, որո՞ւ հարցնեմ։

  isg yet'e molorim, voru hartsnem

  And if I get lost, whom do I ask?
• Խանութին մէջ։ Բակին խորքն է, դժուար չէ գտնել։

  khanut'in mech Pagin khork'n e, tzhuar che kdnel

  At the shop. It is at the back of the yard — not hard to find.

Lines one by one

How to prepare for a conversation like this

Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.

And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.

• Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many times
  Teimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
• That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many times
  Xiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.

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