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ACCORDING TO GAREGIN CHUGASZIAN, ARMENIAN AMONG ENDANGERED LANGUAGES OF WORLD
Noyan Tapan
April 18, 2008
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Since the use of mobile phones
in Armenia, Armenian written in Latin is more frequently used than
Armenian in letters invented by Mesrop Mashtots, which has not received
any response of political circles, the chairman of the IT Foundation
(ITF) Garegin Chugaszian stated at the April 17 press conference.
In his words, "languages and cultures disappear before our eyes"
under conditions of rapid change of new communication technologies,
"we are in a state of confusion, and Armenian is among the endangered
languages of the world". He expressed an opinion that if language is
not considered as the most important feature of the national identity,
all political talks in the outside world are a waste of time. "Those
nations that do not realize that the information society is a society
of new tools will not survive, however big they are," the ITF chairman
stated, adding that 50 million Belgians and their langugage are
more endangered than one million Estonians - due to steps taken by
Estonia for preservation of identity and creation of cultural dams
with information tools (in particular, the availability of Estonian
programs and programs translated from English in the Internet).
The head of the RA State Language Inspection Lavrenty Mirzoyan said
that although G. Chugaszian "a bit exaggerates", there are internal and
external causes for "alarm". In his opinion, in order to be competent
in electronic content, it is necessary to improve the quality of
teaching foreign languages but not at the expense of Armenian.
According to him, "several software and nearly two thousand computer
terms " have been translated into Armenian. The inspection has
done translation of these terms during a year in cooperation with
the RA IT Development Support Council, Microsoft RA company and
Bi Line company (Armenia) responsible for Armenian localization
of Microsoft software. The Armenian Terminological Council adjunct
to the Inspection will approve these terms after their discussion
with numerous interested sides, which will allow to put these terms
in use. He added that the Inspection has no opportunity yet to use
the Internet.
G. Chugaszian said that "little resistance offered by the State
Language Inspection to the phenomena of using Armenian written in
Latin in mobile phones is insuffiient, so this problem should be a
subject of concern of the first and second persons of the state".
He stated that Armenia has great potential for the creation of
electronic content in Armenian and for the creation and use of its
dissemination tools.
Particularly, 10 companies interested in these issues have founded
the Armenian E-Content Association, one of whose missions is to draw
attention of the state to the indicated problems, which have not
been reflected in the concept on development of the IT sector to be
approved at one of the upcoming sittings of the Armenian government.
Noyan Tapan
April 18, 2008
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Since the use of mobile phones
in Armenia, Armenian written in Latin is more frequently used than
Armenian in letters invented by Mesrop Mashtots, which has not received
any response of political circles, the chairman of the IT Foundation
(ITF) Garegin Chugaszian stated at the April 17 press conference.
In his words, "languages and cultures disappear before our eyes"
under conditions of rapid change of new communication technologies,
"we are in a state of confusion, and Armenian is among the endangered
languages of the world". He expressed an opinion that if language is
not considered as the most important feature of the national identity,
all political talks in the outside world are a waste of time. "Those
nations that do not realize that the information society is a society
of new tools will not survive, however big they are," the ITF chairman
stated, adding that 50 million Belgians and their langugage are
more endangered than one million Estonians - due to steps taken by
Estonia for preservation of identity and creation of cultural dams
with information tools (in particular, the availability of Estonian
programs and programs translated from English in the Internet).
The head of the RA State Language Inspection Lavrenty Mirzoyan said
that although G. Chugaszian "a bit exaggerates", there are internal and
external causes for "alarm". In his opinion, in order to be competent
in electronic content, it is necessary to improve the quality of
teaching foreign languages but not at the expense of Armenian.
According to him, "several software and nearly two thousand computer
terms " have been translated into Armenian. The inspection has
done translation of these terms during a year in cooperation with
the RA IT Development Support Council, Microsoft RA company and
Bi Line company (Armenia) responsible for Armenian localization
of Microsoft software. The Armenian Terminological Council adjunct
to the Inspection will approve these terms after their discussion
with numerous interested sides, which will allow to put these terms
in use. He added that the Inspection has no opportunity yet to use
the Internet.
G. Chugaszian said that "little resistance offered by the State
Language Inspection to the phenomena of using Armenian written in
Latin in mobile phones is insuffiient, so this problem should be a
subject of concern of the first and second persons of the state".
He stated that Armenia has great potential for the creation of
electronic content in Armenian and for the creation and use of its
dissemination tools.
Particularly, 10 companies interested in these issues have founded
the Armenian E-Content Association, one of whose missions is to draw
attention of the state to the indicated problems, which have not
been reflected in the concept on development of the IT sector to be
approved at one of the upcoming sittings of the Armenian government.