David Turshyan, Librarian, International Languages Department

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3 drawings from Armenian artists

Armenian Portraits

April 02, 2025

Does every portrait tell a story? The origins of the English word "portrait" trace back to the French portraire, which comes from the phrase trait pour trait, meaning "line by line," describing the process of creating a likeness.


a collection of French books

French Bilingual Books

January 07, 2023

Here is a riddle in French:

  • Je parle toutes les langues et j'ai tout le temps la tête à l'envers. Qui suis-je?
  • I speak all languages, and I always have my head upside down. Who am I?

 Armenian Classical Writers header

Armenian Classical Writers

April 24, 2020

Here is a centuries-old Armenian riddle by Nerses Shnorhali.


No feathers and no wings it has,
Swifter than a bird it flies,
From land to land it tours and turns,
With companions it returns.


collection of Yiddish books

Yiddish: a Living Language

July 21, 2014

When in the second half of the last century Isaac Bashevich Singer was awarded a Noble Prize for Literature, he raised an interesting question: “People ask me often, ‘Why do you write in a dying language?’” And he tried to explain: “There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life… e


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