Armenian in Armenian letters

Open any social feed or a chat with friends: «barev, inchpes es?», «барев, инчпес ес?». The Armenian language, written in someone else’s letters. Not because people do not love their alphabet, but because on the phone Armenian letters were for too long the slowest way to write Armenian.

Why people write that way

The reasons are simple and very human. The iPhone’s standard keyboard offers Armenian no autocorrection, no next-word suggestions and no swipe: every letter is a separate tap, every typo stays in the text. The English and Russian keyboards, meanwhile, correct, suggest and understand gestures. Add to that a habit from the days of old phones without Armenian letters, and the keyboard of the country you live in: English, Russian, French.

That is how transliteration is born: quick, convenient, and each time a little less Armenian in Armenian.

What is lost

Armenian in Latin or Cyrillic letters has no rules. One person writes «ch», another «4», a third «tsh»; the same word looks different from every friend. Such text is harder to read, search finds it badly, and no spellchecker can help it.

But the greatest loss is not in the text, it is in people. Mesrop Mashtots’ alphabet is more than sixteen centuries old, and it has lived all that time because it was used every day. Children who write to their friends in transliteration see Armenian letters less and less. A language that is not written in its own letters slowly stops living in them.

How Armath brings Armenian letters back

Armath does not persuade and does not shame. It simply makes Armenian letters the fastest way to write Armenian.

• Swipe (Armath Full). A whole word in one movement of a finger, a whole sentence in one stroke through the space bar. That is faster than typing transliteration letter by letter.
• Corrections with sense. A typo is fixed at the space bar with the words before it in mind, so you can type fast without fear of missing a key.
• The next word, suggested. Armath’s own language model knows how Armenian sentences go on and offers a word before you type it.
• Everything Armenian at hand. «ու» is one key, and the Armenian «։», «՝», «՛», «՞» and «՜» are a hold away on one key. Latin and Cyrillic letters have none of them.
• A familiar layout. The letters are where an iPhone user expects them, so there is almost nothing to relearn.
• Wherever you write. Social networks, messengers, mail, notes: Armath works where you write every day, on the iPhone.

A small habit, a big change

Every message written in Armenian letters is a little more living Armenian on the internet: friends see it, search finds it, and the technologies of tomorrow learn Armenian from it. The more Armenian is written in Armenian, the stronger the language is in the digital world.

Write your next «Բարև» in Armenian letters. And if you would like to do more for Armenian, here is how.