Armenian Language Facts
Armenian has texts written in the language dating back to a fifth century translation of the Bible. The vocabulary has been influenced heavily by the various cultural groups it has come in contact with over the centuries, including Iranian languages, Greek, Latin, and Old French. Today there are also two main written dialects, Eastern and Western Armenian, although these are mutually intelligible. Western Armenian has been strongly influenced by the Turks and Arabic.
The Armenian language is believed to have about 6.4 million speakers, and is spoken widely throughout the Republic of Armenia and parts of the lower Caucasus. It is a distinct branch in the Indo-European Language family.