Razmig Tanashian, a 27-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, USA, was raised in an Armenian-speaking household. Up until his teenage years, he was even enrolled in Armenian day school and Saturday school. Basically, he’s been speaking the language his whole life.
However, as time went by, he noticed that his writing and reading skills were getting weaker due to the lack of exposure to a consistent learning environment. At the beginning of 2024, Razmig decided to take action by enrolling in the Armenian Language course at the AGBU Armenian Virtual College (AVC).
A year later, we interviewed Razmig to talk about how language learning has shaped his identity and how his experience at AVC was going.
Is there a specific thing you think your family did that helped you connect with your Armenian heritage?
My parents enrolled me and my siblings in many extracurricular activities alongside Armenian school. I feel like that played a huge role in maintaining our Armenian identity and the language. Activities such as Armenian dance, piano lessons with an Armenian-speaking teacher, and attending Armenian camp every year. Loss of heritage can happen very easily when living in the diaspora, but I am thankful that my brothers and I had the opportunity to partake in these communities that helped us maintain our heritage so much.
Do you think language learning has shaped your identity in any way? If so, how?
I believe it has. One day, I'd like to teach Western Armenian at a Saturday school here in Los Angeles. In preparation, I enrolled in AVC and have been slowly reading Armenian books. I spend a lot more time consuming Armenian content online, which definitely has me more engaged and involved with our local Armenian community.
When you enrolled in the AGBU AVC courses, what was the first thing that made you excited about learning online?
It's amazing how AVC offers an accessible online platform that is easy to use. When I was looking for programs to enroll in, AVC was the most convenient one that allowed flexibility in my schedule, as there is no strict meeting time for classes.
Since language learning takes continuous practice, how do you manage to do so with self-paced online classes?
I tend to divide the weekly homework throughout the week. This allows me to get consistent study practice rather than finishing the homework in one day, then having a week-long gap with no Armenian reading or writing practice until next week's homework assignment.
What would you advise parents and children who want to keep the Armenian language alive in their homes?
I think the most important thing parents can do to keep the language alive is to be comfortable speaking it all the time around the children. If a parent starts to use a little bit of their host country's language, the children will begin gravitating toward that language instead. Next would be to enroll their children in Armenian day school or extracurricular activities such as Saturday/Sunday school, dance groups, music classes, or choir. This way, they learn and retain the language through environments outside of the home as well. It would be ideal if the instructor speaks Armenian because I feel that really helped me while growing up.
Razmig also added that the Armenian communities in Lebanon or Syria could be a good example of how to pass the language to children while living in the diaspora. “Even 100 years after the genocide, they’ve maintained their identity and language by creating communities with schools, shops, restaurants, and theatres that all operated in Armenian. When you partake in communities such as theirs, it would be difficult to forget how to speak Armenian!” he said.
Razmig’s family roots trace back to Aintab and Urfa. Both of his parents immigrated to the U.S. in the ’80s—his dad's family from Aleppo, Syria, and his mom's family from Beirut, Lebanon—due to the instability of the Lebanese civil war.
