The week's plan in Western Armenian

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: two people align their plans: first, then, but, and at the last moment. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• Շաբաթ օրը ի՞նչ պլան ունիս։

  shapat' orə inch blan unis

  What plans do you have for Saturday?
• Սկիզբը՝ շուկայ, յետոյ՝ ծնողներու մօտ։

  sgizpə shuga, hedo dznoghneru mod

  First the market, then to my parents.
• Երեկոյեան ազա՞տ ես։ Համերգի տոմս ունիմ։

  yeregoyean azad yes Hamerki doms unim

  Are you free in the evening? I have a concert ticket.
• Հեռու է, փոխարէնը վաղուց չեմ եղած հոն։

  herru e, p'okharenə vaghuts chem yeghadz hon

  It is far, but I haven't been there for a long time.
• Տոմսերը նախապէս առած եմ, որպէսզի հերթին մէջ չկանգնինք։

  domserə nakhabes arradz em, vorbeszi hert'in mech chganknink'

  I took the tickets in advance, so as not to stand in line.
• Ճիշդ ըրիր։ Անցեալ անգամ վերջին պահին չեղարկեցինք։

  jishd ərir Antseal ankam verchin bahin cheghargetsink'

  Well done. Last time we cancelled at the last moment.
• Հէնց որ դուրս գաս, զանգէ, ու միասին պիտի երթանք։

  hents vor turs kas, zanke, u miasin bidi yert'ank'

  As soon as you get out, call, and we'll go together.
• Լաւ։ Ընդհանուր առմամբ, շաբաթը լաւ կ'անցնի։

  lav Ənthanur arrmamp, shapat'ə lav g'antsni

  All right. All in all, the week is going well.

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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