The elder woman’s loud voice can be heard from behind the closed door. Her pronunciation is good and the words form a neat string, so we can figure out she is trying to put aside her half-eaten dinner and come out to welcome us, her guests.

She had asked for several days to prepare for the meeting properly and we guess that now she doesn’t want to make us wait any longer. A woman comes out of the room and we ask her to pass a message, “Please, don’t worry and finish your meal, Ms. Manush.”

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

The director of “Hospice” where the woman lives tells us with sparkling eyes how much they love and enjoy having this respectable old woman with them and how proud of her they are.

-  Her students visited her once and were really surprised to hear that we were calling her grandma, since they couldn’t imagine somebody ever addressing her by anything other than her name and patronymic name. Her colleagues often visit with her too. Her hearing is weak, but she can read lips, so if you articulate the words clearly she will understand you. She reads books every day, and always asks me to bring her new ones,- the head of the facility says.

We are interrupted by the old woman’s caregiver who informs us that we can go in. We follow her into a brightly lit room and are greeted by a white-haired, old woman in armchair, who quickly extends her little hand to greet us. I try to articulate each word slowly so that she can read my lips. Manush Harutyunian is 96 years old but looking at her wrinkled face, you just know that she must have been a flirt once. She carefully chooses the most delicate Armenian words while speaking and even if you know nothing about her by the way she pronounces Armenian words you’d immediately guess that she is a linguist.

I sit as close to her as possible so that she could hear me better. A few minutes later Manush Nazarethovna closes her light blue eyes and begins her story, mentally taking us to her childhood, to the village of Hovtashen of Shirak province where she was born.

The 5-year old’s battle

My first experience with school was quite a strange one. A new school was opening for the children of railway employees, and my mother was teaching me to write so that I could attend school. The most difficult letter to learn was “Ճ” [tʃɛː] and I was practicing it all the time. But unfortunately, all the other kids were admitted to school except for me, because I was still little. I came home crying and wondering why they wouldn’t allow me to go to school. I could write and thought it was enough. Apparently, it was not.

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

My father was a telegrapher at the railway station and was very respected. He talked to the school administration and I was allowed to join school but only temporarily. However, a month later, I fell sick with scarlet fever. The healing took a long time. The guests who were visiting me entertained me a lot and eventually by the time I went to school I knew much more than the 2d graders (laughing,- author).

My mother never finished school but she loved to read. She was a carpet weaver and always used to read while working. I had three siblings and we were taught to share everything. I am forever grateful to my parents. Everything I have, good or bad, I inherited from my parents. 

The lack of language knowledge and the persistence of the future candidate

Having an education was always a priority in our family. My sister was studying at a graduate school in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), my brother was a Stalin’s scholarship holder. I was a brilliant pupil and finished school with excellence, so I was accepted to the Faculty of Foreign Literature of the Yerevan State University without exams, but I received my passport only when I was already a second-year student. We were learning languages in order to be able to read books, and that was enough. I was a very good student, an excellence scholarship holder and later I also received the Mayakovski scholarship.

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

After graduation, one of my relatives offered me to teach German. I was so excited that on my first workday I spent hours trying on different outfits. I wanted to look serious and mature.

Choosing German was by mere chance. I was sent to the foreign languages postgraduate program of the Moscow State University, though I spoke neither Russian nor German.

Self-esteem and the desire to be respected because I was Armenian compelled me to succeed and learn these languages excellently. My supervisor always praised me as a hard worker and suggested the history of German language for my dissertation. In order to defend my thesis and pass the exams I not only had to study the history of the language but I also had to learn ancient Germanic languages: Saxon, Old High German, etc. I read, studied, took in the material and then took my exams, nothing extraordinary. My first two exams were in German philology and Gothic language, and I got two 5s. 

My supervisor refused to help me with the thesis, and I was on my own.  During the qualifying examination, the secretary of the commission had told me to cut my speech short because there was no time left. With my poor knowledge of the Russian language… well, it put a damper on my mood for sure, but his words kept repeating in my mind - “Do you realize that you are the youngest among all the candidates?” he asked.

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

There was this girl there, a friend of mine, who raised my spirits. She just told me not to cut my speech short but to make it really quick. It was funny how without the proper knowledge of Russian and Germanic languages I nevertheless made it to the graduate school and defended the dissertation with excellence. I was the first candidate in Armenia to earn a degree in foreign languages.

While studying at the graduate school I never gave any presents to my supervisor but after graduation, I bought her Armenian brandy, wine, candy and invited her family to Yerevan as a thank you for directing me and showing me my path in life.

A debt payed

I returned to Armenia. Although I was an YSU graduate, I chose to work at the State Linguistic University after V. Brusov (SLUB) because the primary focus there was on languages. I was appointed head of the Chair. At that time it happened so that both universities merged, and two years later when the time came to separate two institutions, the YSU vice-rector offered me a position as well as promised an apartment via their tutors’ program. I was a proud person and just couldn’t abandon my colleagues. So, I returned to the Linguistic University but a year later, I nevertheless joined YSU as the head of the Chair of Foreign Languages.  There has always been a special attitude towards me and together with the rector, the vice-rector and some others I received a reward.

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

Being a hard worker myself, I expected the same diligence from the others – I wrote various textbooks, made translations (I have overall 50 works), so I required that all the professors wrote a dictionary in the language they were teaching.

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

I was the co-author of the unique German-Armenian and Armenian-German dictionary, as well as the author of the German Grammar textbook, which strangely gained more interest in Germany than here in Armenia. I also wrote school textbooks for 7th, 8th and 9th grades, which were republished every year. I was also offered to write a German language manual so that the workers in Germany could communicate easily.

My pride

The work I pride myself in is the translation of “Armenian studies” by Heinrich Hübschmann, a prominent German philologist, scholar of Armenian and Iranian languages. It took me a long time to complete this book and it is a proof that my life was not in vain. The book was published with the assistance of the Gyulbenkyan Foundation.

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

Why was it so vital to translate this book? Heinrich Hübschmann’s language is complicated. He was a phenomenal philologist and linguist. He visited St. Lazarus Island in Italy where he spent an entire year studying Armenian.  Hübschmann was the first to show that the Armenian language was not a branch of Iranian languages but an entirely separate Indo-European branch in its own right. He used the comparative method to separate the Iranian loanwords, which make up the majority of Armenian words from an older layer of native Armenian words. I decided on this particular book because our students didn’t know German enough to be able to read Hübschmann and it was my duty to translate his book and make it available for Armenian readers.

An advice to read more

My native language is Armenian. Besides German and Russian, I also learned English and French, which were essential in my line of work. Russian was a necessity without which it was impossible to read world literature.

My only advice would be to read as much as possible and not to choose what exactly you are reading because it provides tremendous amount of information and there is always something new to learn. I have so many favorite authors- German, English, French…

Manush Harutyunian

Photo: Mediamax

I read a lot, even at this age. Without reading, I would have gone crazy. I reread many books and perceived them differently, in a new light. Every author is unique and interesting in his own way, and if you are passionate about learning something new, you simply enjoy reading.

***

While reminiscing the story of her long life, Ms. Manush’s voice often trembled and her eyes filled with tears. Sometimes she would forget something, sit in silence, stare out the window and her mind would travel far, far away. Then she would come back and continue her story. “If I can help you with anything just ask. I can even teach you German,” she says after telling me the last chapter of her life.

- Thank you so much for listening to an old woman so patiently, - she says taking a candy.

I smile, come closer to her and take her small, white hand in my own.

- It’s me who should thank you, Manush Nazarethovna.

- Come again, I will be happy to see you, - the old woman says following us to the door with her eyes, which quietly closes behind us.

Marie Taryan

Photos: Emin Aristakesyan