Yerevan city officials could spend much of 2011 conjugating English verbs and putting up stickers with new English words on their computer screens. The Armenian capital's new mayor, 47-year-old Karen Karapetian, has ordered government employees to take part in on-the-job English-language classes, regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel reported.
The decision appears to dovetail with the mayor's earlier decision to prioritize attracting foreign investment to Yerevan.
Younger employees reportedly welcomed the initiative, but it caused grumblings amidst older staff, who claimed that they are too old to learn a new language. In an attempt at levity, Karapetian, a former business executive, joked that he will test employees' English skills once they finish their studies.
Like its ex-Soviet neighbors, Armenia increasingly faces a choice between English and Russian for its main second language. As regional Russian language skills become ever rustier, the odds are looking higher in favor of English.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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