Armenian language
The Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European language family. The Armenian language has been influenced by contact with neighboring languages and cultures, such as Greek, Persian and Arabic. These influences can be seen in the grammar, vocabulary and phonetics of the language. There are similarities with Greek words, but also loan words from Persian. The Armenian people appear in documents as early as the 6th century BC.
Because the Armenian language contains many different sounds, Armenians often find it easy to pronounce other European languages – there is the “German” CH, the English R, and a rolled R as in Russian or Italian.
Armenia is the size of Brandenburg and has around 3 million speakers. There are countless dialects in this small mountainous country. A distinction is also made between Western and Eastern Armenian.
Armenian is also spoken in the Armenian diaspora – in Russia, Lebanon, Syria, Europe and the USA. Depending on the estimate, the total number of speakers is up to 9 million. Around 100 Armenians live in Dresden.
Script
The Armenian alphabet was developed around the year 405 AD by the monk and saint Mesrop Mashtoz using Latin and, above all, Greek letters. It comprises a very large number of letters, namely 39 (the German alphabet, without the umlauts ä, ü, ö, has 26).
The artistic design of letters is a deeply rooted folk tradition in Armenia. In the capital Yerevan, there is a monument made of large stone letters.
Armenian schoolchildren grow up with three alphabets: At school, they learn the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
Dresden spricht …
Workshops, tours, writing and printing workshops under the motto “Dresden speaks many languages”
Period
03-12.2024
Porject coordination
Yvonn Spauschus (Projektleitung)
Yulia Vishnichenko · Moussa Mbarek · Nadine Wölk · Rosa Brockelt · Yuliya Firsova · Martin Mannig (workshop leader)
Rosa Brockelt · Rosa Hauch · Falk Goernert · Birthe Mühlhoff (moderation, documentation)
Adina Rieckmann · Lydia Hänsel (tourguides)
Inge · Mahsa · Karin (voluntary help)
Cooperation partners
JugendKunstschule Dresden – Standort Passage, Omse e.V., Nachbarschaftshilfeverein, Stadtteilverein Johannstadt e.V., Malteser Hilfsdienste e.V., Jugendhaus LILA as well as Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum e.V., Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V., GEH8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Umweltzentrum Dresden – ABC Tische and many more
Supported by
The project is funded by the State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament within the framework of the state programme Integrative Maßnahmen.