Kate Hotgson born in Cambridge visited Gyumri and surprised everyone with her knowledge of the Armenian language. Aravot.am asked her to tell where she studied speaking Armenian so fluently. She said that she had studied Armenian in Thessaloniki. First, she studied Greek, and then making friends with an Armenian, she started studying also Armenian. Kate wrote a dissertation in Thessaloniki entitled “Alaverdi Greek dialects”. Many of Alaverdi residents have lived in Thessaloniki. She is a linguist by specialty. She studied theoretical linguistics at the Cambridge University, and being in contacts with Armenian students of the University, she deepened her knowledge of the Armenian language. Then, she moved to Armenia to develop the language.
According to her, about 1.5 years ago, moving to Yerevan, she was hired at the Sevan Seminary as an English teacher. Now, Kate is preparing a map of Armenian dialects, accordingly, she is traveling to various regions and cities of Armenia, she had been in Lori, Artik and surrounding villages, also in Artsakh, to study the dialects. Today, she was in Gyumri and asked the Gyumri people to speak in their language so that to understand the specifics of the language. She said that though she had come to Armenia to study the Armenian language, but she feels very well here and does not want to go back.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
