Armenian
Its own alphabet, its own branch
Another one-language branch of Indo-European, with an alphabet designed for it and used by nobody else.
- The alphabet was made to order in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, and it is still in use, essentially unchanged.
- There is no grammatical gender anywhere, not even in the pronouns. One word covers he, she and it.
- It borrowed so heavily from Persian that early scholars filed it as an Iranian language for decades before the mistake was caught.
- Two standards, Eastern and Western, split by the border between the Russian and Ottoman empires and still apart today.
- Seven cases, and the definite article attaches to the end of the noun.
Its own alphabet since the year 405, invented in one lifetime by one monk, and still in daily use. A language that survived everything by writing itself down. The diaspora doubles the reward: from Los Angeles to Beirut, a few sentences of Armenian open doors, tables and family stories.
Where Armenian parts company with the languages closest to it, and what each one would cost you from here.
Armenian vs English → Armenian vs Hindi → Armenian vs Spanish →
Reading about a language is not speaking it. These are the places I would go to find someone to speak Armenian with.
The Armenian Passepartout is not out yet
Five printed pages that carry you through the arrival. Leave your address and you hear about it first, and nothing else.
Leaving takes one click.
Short stories written inside a measured vocabulary, with the word lists and nothing invented for a textbook.