For Karmun Khoo, living in different places and learning different languages is not something unusual. Born and raised in Singapore, Karmun moved to Australia for school. Here she learned to speak French fluently, and studied Spanish and German extensively. Currently focusing on Latin, she is getting ready for a move to the United Kingdom in order to study history.
As Karmun is very fond of learning languages, she discovered Armenian Virtual College (AVC) on a website that offers a list of available online language courses. Karmun contacted AVC, and found out more about AVC’s course structures and the wide range of support available from the instructors. She decided that if such a comprehensive and professional resource existed and was available, why not learn a new language belonging to a culture that she, at the time, knew nothing about?
Karmun had no previous exposure to anything related to Armenia or the Armenian language. Her first exposure to the language through the Beginner’s course in Eastern Armenian fascinated her: “I fell in love with the letter-forms, which is in my opinion one of the most beautiful writing systems on Earth.”
Karmun has tried many different online language schools for the various languages she speaks. She considers AVC to be the best option so far, and appreciates the College’s ability to “expose students all around the world to Armenian education.” She also spoke very fondly of the AVC staff, most notably her Online Instructor Marina Khatchaturyan, who introduced her to Armenian culture and customs, and who she considers highly skilled, warm, and welcoming.
Learning more about Armenia and the Armenian language has also inspired Karmun to conduct research in the future in order to prove that the Armenian language is an “unrivalled linguistic treasure.” By focusing on both the Armenian language and history, Karmun also wants the world to recognize and learn about the oftentimes underrepresented Armenian history. She states:
“In my opinion – an opinion I hope to back up with years of research, Armenia deserves to be recognized as one of the great civilizations of classical antiquity, on par with legends like Babylon, Persia, and Egypt. It is indeed a mystery to me why Armenia has been deprived of its rightful place in ancient history.”
As a result of her upcoming university course load, Karmun’s studies with AVC are currently on hold. However, as a result of the “virtual excursion to Yerevan that AVC organized”, Karmun is already planning a visit to Armenia in order to see everything for herself! Her list of “to-dos” for her trip includes a visit to Garni, updating herself on Armenian trends in music, trying the famous cuisine, and practicing her language skills!
You can watch Karmun speaking Armenian in this video for The Armenite below:
https://youtu.be/s5UN3HaSLdo?list=TLGGZPMBOVVv4q4xNzA1MjAyMg
By Lena Tashjian
