The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times (books in English)

After my terrible mistake that I made in one of my previous language videos (where by mistake I gave the wrong etymology of the Armenian word and thus confuse my dear viewers), I decided to read as much as possible about the Armenian language and Armenian customs and traditions. Read and learn, and try not to make such huge mistakes again. Of course, all mistakes cannot be avoided, but I want to stop making stupid mistakes.

I found several books about Armenia (written in English) and today I’d like to tell you about these two:

The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times (Volume I and Volume II) by Richard G. Hovannisian (Editor)

These are excellent books, detailed and very interesting. I highly recommend these books to anyone who is interested in Armenia.

My favorite chapter was “Armenian literary culture through the eleventh century” written by Robert Thompson. It was about the invention of the Armenian Script, the first translations and many more.

“The history of the Armenian people is long, complex, and in many ways epic and heroic.”
– Richard G. Hovannisian

Армянские волшебные сказки, адаптированные по методу Ильи Франка

Прочитала первую книжку на армянском:
Армянские волшебные сказки /Пособие подг. Карине Арзуманян. – М.: Школа иностранных языков Ильи Франка, Восточная книга, 2009. – 128 с.

Эта тоненькая книжка научила меня читать по-армянски. Именно благодаря ей буквы в моей голове обрели связь с … их звуками. Мне еще трудно понять прочитанное, почти каждое слово надо смотреть в словаре, но уметь правильно прочитать слово вслух – это уже полдела. Остальное – практика, практика и еще раз практика. Упереться и не сдаваться!

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey

I’ve read only two books on writing so far. The first one was On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, which I read a year ago. Just now I finished reading the second one and I absolutely loved it!

The book called How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling by James N. Frey.

I think, it’s an excellent read, especially for those who want to write novels. The book is very well written and it contains many clear explanations, various examples and interesting techniques that might be helpful for beginner writers.

P.S. I managed to find this book only in the Russian translation (Как написать гениальный роман – Джеймс Н. Фрэй), and I want to say that the translation was really good. Nevertheless, I would like to read (re-read 😊 ) this book again someday in it’s original language (English).

Started Reading – 21 February 2022
Finished Reading – 4 March 2022
My Rating: 5 Stars ★★★★★

The Fireman by Joe Hill (book in English)

Just finished reading The Fireman by Joe Hill. I liked the beginning of the story, it was super interesting and gripping. Unfortunately, the rest of the book wasn’t so good and slightly disappointed me.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of words in this book that I found really interesting. Here are some of them:
🇺🇲 (En) 👉👉👉 🇷🇺 (Ru)

🔹 hopscotch = детская игра «классики» (… occasional hopscotch grid);
🔹 premonition = предчувствие (She had a premonition she would never return to her office…);
🔹 limey = a British person;
🔹 C-section = c/sec = cesarean section = кесарево сечение (“I can deliver by C-section next March”).

I also liked that the main character (Harper) “…associated English accents with singing teapots, schools for witchcraft, and science of deduction”. I totally agree. I absolutely love British accent!

Started Reading – 10 February 2022
Finished Reading – 25 February 2022

Curiosity and language learning – How our curiosity helps us learn languages

Hey friends! Today I’d like to talk to you about our curiosity and also about our ability to notice; and how they both help us learn foreign languages more effectively and stay motivated all the time.

Read more...

This is going to be quite a short video, using the 🇦🇲 Armenian language as an example to illustrate how my curiosity helps me learn Armenian day after day, and never get bored in the process.

Thank you so much for watching! ❤️

📖 Russian book mentioned in this video 🇷🇺
Ваганян Г. А., Ваганян В. Г. “Каменная летопись цивилизации”. – Ер., Нжар, 2006

Please check out my other videos:
▶ My 2022 Language Learning Goals and Reading Plans – Results of 2021 and new realistic goals for 2022 https://youtu.be/Oycggm1VfGc
▶ My relationship with the Armenian language – How Bad First Impressions Turned into a Big Love [CC] https://youtu.be/dha7tMm56LU
▶ My language learning journey in 5 languages (eng subs) – Learning Languages by Reading Books https://youtu.be/k4BqrxmmsrA
▶ I Took the Same English Test 10 Years Later! / Results of my English vocabulary size 2011 – 2021 https://youtu.be/DiPCW3bREDQ
▶ I’ve read Harry Potter in 3 languages RUS-ENG-POL / Learning languages by reading Harry Potter books https://youtu.be/HhIwlCpS8Ck
▶ Learning Vocabulary in a New Language – What words to learn after the Survival Phrases? https://youtu.be/WR8I8UFr0IA


I want to say a BIG thank you to my English teacher Mrs. Rebecah Propst for her support and for correcting my mistakes. ▶ Rebecah’s Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtL…

Note: this is not a sponsored video. As always, I am just sharing with you some of my favorite YouTube channels, books and other resources that I find interesting and helpful for language learning.


P.S. I apologize for reading from a script. As some of you already know my story, I can read, write and understand but I still struggle to put my thoughts into words even in my own language – Russian. :)
Here is my story:
▶ I understand but I can’t SPEAK – my language learning problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVElN…
▶ I asked 5 native speaker teachers (EN, SP, PL) and one Russian therapist about my language problem https://youtu.be/hz1OVaoDyhE


Let’s learn languages together!
▶ Subscribe to my channel for more videos! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3LK…
▶ Mail: info@silentpolyglot.com

Thank you so much for watching and happy reading! 💕

Superchería by Leopoldo Alas “Clarín” (book in Spanish)

Terminé de leer el libro Superchería de Leopoldo Alas “Clarín” en Español.

Estuve leyendo este libro durante más de un mes. Era una novela corta, pero fue muy dificil leerla para mi. En el libro había muchas palabras desconocidas, oraciones largas que eran muy complejas, y tenía que usar mi diccionario casi todo el tiempo.

Pero al mismo tiempo este libro estaba escrito de manera tan hermosa, que no me importó que tuviera que buscar tantas palabras desconocidas en el diccionario. Simplemente disfruté el lenguaje maravilloso y el estilo del escritor Leopoldo Alas “Clarín” que sabía manejar las palabras tan bellamente y con mucha precision.

También en este libro encontré muchas palabras y expresiónes que me resultaron muy interesantes (a mi, a la Rusa) y me gustaría compartirlas con ustedes:
🇪🇦 (Es) 👉👉👉 🇷🇺 (Ru)

🔹 sobre manera (sobremanera) = чрезмерно, чрезвычайно (“…me impresionó sobre manera.”);
🔹 letra bastardilla = курсив (“… y en letra bastardilla estaban escritas…”);
🔹 naufragio = кораблекрушение (…como dos compañeros de naufragio…);
🔹 Santo Tomás = святой Фома, Фома неверующий (…aquel Santo Tomás del hipnotismo…”);
🔹 como Pedro por su casa = быть (вести себя) как у себя дома (…como Pedro en su casa se fue acercando, entre codazos discretos, al grupo de hombres…);
🔹 sacamuelas = болтун, шарлатан, мастер заговаривать зубы;
🔹 sabihondo = всезнайка (…si se le presentaba occasion, haría cualquer tontería para dejar corrido al sacamuelas elegante y sabihondo.);
🔹 as de oros = бубновый туз;
🔹 sexo fuerte = сильный пол (También el sexo fuerte tuvo que…);
🔹 para sus adentros = про себя, мысленно (“Caterina Porena”, pensó, hablándose en voz alta para sus adentros);
🔹 a tientas = на ощупь (A tientas llegó a la Puerta de la Academia vieja…);
🔹 quieras que no quieras = хочешь-не хочешь, волей-неволей (Ello fue que una hora después Nicolás Serrano, quieras que no quieras, era presentado en la recepción del alcalde prodigioso…);
🔹 por sistema = систематически постоянно (Aunque por sistema huía Serrano, mucho tiempo hacía, de toda clase de exaltaciones ideales…);
🔹 ver el cielo abierto = увидеть свет (в конце туннеля), возможность получить желаемое, выбраться из тупика (…Mijares vio el cielo abierto, y dio un abrazo al italiano, llamándole compañero, querido compañero.)

Y por ultimo mi frase favorita: “…siempre que la curiosidad me acerque a un objeto del cual deseo saber algo, que ofrece posibles consecuencias provechosas…, mi obligación es oír la voz de la curiosidad.” ❤️

Started Reading – 15 January 2022
Finished Reading – 16 February 2022
My Rating4 Stars ★★★★

Fahrenheit 451

I just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I read the book in just three and a half days and I really liked the story. Great read, very emotional! It’s definitely a must read for anyone who loves good social science fiction novels!

Two interesting words from this book:
🇺🇲 (En) 👉👉👉 🇷🇺 (Ru)

🔹 heresy = ересь;
🔹 pratfall = падение на зад (например, клоуна) нарочито неуклюжее и вызывающее смех; оплошность, провал (“Life becomes one big pratfall, Montag; everything bang; boff, and wow!”).

Some of my favorite quotes from Fahrenheit 451 are:

“Mr. Montag, you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing. I’m one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen to the ‘guilty,’ but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself. And when finally they set the structure to burn the books, using the firemen, I grunted a few times and subsided, for there were no others grunting or yelling with me, by then. Now, it’s too late.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451