Testimonial by Thomas Jurczyk

For me as PhD student of history and religious studies who is interested in early Christianity, the ASPIRANTUM Summer School 2016 was the perfect opportunity to get to know Armenia as well as Armenian culture and language from both a scholarly and a cultural perspective. The almost four weeks lasting summer school provided everything I was looking for: a visit to many of the important historical and contemporary sites of Armenia (in and outside of Yerevan), intensive language classes on Modern Eastern Armenian (6+ hours/day), academic lectures on various topics held by established scholars from the field of Armenian studies, and not least the opportunity to get in touch with other scholars from the field of Armenian/Oriental studies among the participants, organizers, and lecturers.

I can honestly say that the ASPIRANTUM language classes were among the best I have ever attended. As a PhD student of history and religious studies who did only have some basic training in Grabar, the three weeks of the language classes provided the perfect opportunity to acquire a profound insight into Modern Eastern Armenian. Even though I started from zero (with regard to Modern Eastern Armenian), I am now, after the summer school, able to fluidly read simple texts in Modern Eastern Armenian, express myself in basic situations of everyday life, and most important: I have obtained the skills to keep working on Modern Eastern Armenian myself as well as to attend advanced courses of Modern Eastern Armenian in my home university. In sum, the ASPIRANTUM language classes do not only provide the perfect conditions for those who do already have a certain level of Modern Eastern Armenian, but do also enable people who have just started learning the language to advance very quickly. Therefore, I would like to encourage everyone (beginners as well as advanced learners) who is interested in Modern Eastern Armenian to attend the ASPIRANTUM language classes.

The ARMACAD summer school 2016 was a great experience in several respects and I can highly recommend the participation to everybody who is interested in Armenia and Armenian culture (students, scholars, people who are generally interested in Armenia and Armenian culture without an academic background etc.).