What has changed in the city in Western Armenian

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: two people meet after a long break: what has changed in the city over a decade. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• Տասը տարի հոս չեմ եղած։ Ամէն ինչ փոխուած է։

  dasə dari hos chem yeghadz Amen inch p'okhvadz e

  I haven't been here for ten years. Everything has changed.
• Այո, վերջին տասնամեակին քաղաքը շատ մեծցաւ։

  ayo, verchin dasnameagin k'aghak'ə shad medztsav

  Yes, over the last decade the city has grown a lot.
• Իսկ հին շուկան տակաւին կա՞յ, թէ՞ արդէն քանդած են։

  isg hin shugan dagavin gay, t'e arten k'antadz en

  And is the old market still there, or has it already been demolished?
• Քանդեցին։ Հիմա հոն պուրակ է՝ կանաչապատումէն ետք։

  k'antetsin Hima hon burag e ganachabadumen yedk'

  They demolished it. Now there is a small park there, after the landscaping.
• Կարծես այժմ տեսնեմ այն շուկան։ Մանկութիւնս հոն էր։

  gardzes ayzhm desnem ayn shugan Mangut'yuns hon er

  I can see that market as if it were now. My childhood was there.
• Մեր օրերուն ամէն ինչ արագ կը փոխուի։ Դժուար է համակերպուիլ։

  mer orerun amen inch arak gə p'okhui Tzhuar e hamagerbuil

  Nowadays everything changes quickly. It is hard to come to terms with.
• Բայց բան մը մնաց նոյնը՝ մարդիկ նոյնքան բարի են։

  payts pan mə mnats nuynə martig nuynk'an pari en

  But something stayed the same — the people are just as kind.
• Ճիշդ է։ Այսուհետ աւելի յաճախ եկուր, տասը տարի մի սպասեր։

  jishd e Aysuhed aveli hajakh yegur, dasə dari mi sbaser

  True. From now on come more often — don't wait ten years.

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.

Next

• The whole phrasebookAll situations in one list
• Why sort the garbageNeighbors argue in the yard: are separate…
• The status of the orderA customer calls the plant: the delivery…
• Tell me what happenedOne person tells a story about a spoiled…
• The new colleagueTwo people discuss a new colleague…