Sato Moughalian and Ryan Nazari, both Ph.D. students enrolled in Armenian classes at Columbia, speak about their experiences and reasons for learning the language. They discuss the complex background of Armenian, which forms its own distinct, independent branch within the Indo-European language family. They also detail how their own personal and family stories intertwine with histories of genocide, forced migration, music, art, ceramics, weaving, and what it means to be Armenian today.
To learn more about Armenian at Columbia, check out
The music featured on this episode is from the Perspectives Ensemble’s album Oror/Lullaby: Armenian Music for Flute and Harp, featuring Sato Moughalian and Alyssa Reit
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0:00 Intro
1:15 History of the Armenian language
5:18 How similar are Eastern and Western Armenian?
10:45 Intertwining of history and language – Sato’s story
14:00 Challenges of teaching Armenian
15:22 Ryan’s story with Armenian
19:22 Sato’s connection with Armenian from childhood
25:52 Challenges of labels
28:00 What is Armenian-ness today?
34:37 Armenian identity and music
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1 Comment
That was such an interesting conversation, thank you! And Ms. Moughalian's music is exquisite.