LAUNCHING OF DORA SAKAYAN’S TEXTBOOK "EASTERN ARMENIAN FOR THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD"
AZG Armenian Daily
22/07/2008
Education
The launch ceremony of "Eastern Armenian for the English-speaking
world"(EA), authored by Dr. Dora Sakayan, was held in California, at
the Glendale Public Library on Friday, May 16, 2008. The textbook was
published in Fall 2007 by the Yerevan State University (YSU) press upon
the recommendation of the Armenian Philology Faculty Senate of YSU. The
event was organized jointly by the Consulate General of the Republic
of Armenia and the Tekeyan Cultural Association, Los Angeles Chapter.
With an opening address on the importance of the preservation of
the Armenian language in the Diaspora, and particularly of Eastern
Armenian in the Greater Los Angeles area, Parsegh Kartalian, the Master
of Ceremonies, welcomed Dr. Sakayan and a great number of guests,
University faculty members, educators, teachers and representatives
of cultural and educational institutions to this unique presentation.
Armen Liloyan, Consul General of the Republic of Armenia, Los Angeles,
bestowed high praise on Dr. Sakayan for the fulfillment of a formidable
task, namely for making such a remarkable and long-awaited addition
to the tools of Armenian language instruction. Mr. Liloyan traced
Dr. Sakayan’s outstanding contributions to the teaching of foreign
languages in general, and Armenian (both Eastern and Western branches)
in particular.
Dr. Anahid Aramouni Keshishian, UCLA, presented a brief biography
of Dr. Dora Sakayan to the audience, outlining her most significant
scholarly achievements and the national and international rewards
she has received thus far. She went on to say that Sakayan’s name
is well known in scholarly circles in Armenia and abroad. Formerly
the long-standing Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at
Yerevan State University, Dr. Sakayan has been living in Montreal,
Canada since 1975, where, working as a Professor of German Studies
at McGill University, she has contributed immensely to the field of
Armenology. She is the author of "Modern Western Armenian for the
English- Speaking World", several monographs, articles and textbooks.
Sakayan defined her book as an introductory, yet complete first-year
course of Eastern Armenian for adults in the English-speaking
world, a handbook for both the prospective teacher and the student
of Armenian. The comprehensive guidance given in this textbook, as
well as in the accompanying CD, she maintained, would allow motivated
learners to use it for self -instruction as well. She indicated that
the book incorporates recent achievements of applied linguistics
into the instruction of Eastern Armenian, whereby Grammar is treated
not as a goal, but rather as an important aspect in mastering the
language. Other linguistic areas such as pragmatics, word formation,
pronunciation, orthography, etc., were also given due attention in
the book.
In response to the audience’s suggestion to speak also about
the appendix of the book, which is a book in itself for its rich
reference material, Dr. Sakayan described the various sections of
the appendix, singling out particularly the central part, which
represents an anthology of carefully collected samples of Eastern
Armenian folklore, prose and poetry, the latter entries appearing
always in English translation. Dora Sakayan then gave a reading of
her English translation of Sylva Kaputikian’s famous poem "Words to my
son", and concluded her speech with the words: "Eastern Armenian for
the English-speaking world– along with its counterpart for Western
Armenian — is the most important work of my life. The twin books
reflect my pedagogical and scholarly experience of 55 years and my
everlasting love for our magnificent language."
At the close of her speech, Dr. Sakayan responded to questions from
the audience. Some of her answers elicited enthusiastic applause. The
evening was concluded with a reception and book-signing.