The word ”ABRIS” is an Armenian word (in the Eastern Armenian dialect it is pronounced ”abres”) and means the equivalent of ”Bravo” in French or Latin languages. Yet, it has its own very special and peculiar connotation, because it is derived from the Armenian word “to live” and could be literally translated “have a long life” or more loosely “have a worthwhile life”. In any case, it is used to tell someone: “you have done well – you are not wasting your life!”. So, I adopted it as the name of my company and as a motto.

A glimpse of my background: I am genetically Armenian on my father´s side and Finnish on my mother´s side. I was born in Germany and we moved to my father´s hometown, East Jerusalem, where he was born in 1936, when I was three, and that is where I grew up, went to school and University. So, I was raised in a Palestinian environment, which was immensely multicultural.

At the age of six I spoke six languages quite fluently. My brother and sister who now also live in Finland were born in East Jerusalem before the Six-day War.

As for a quick overview of my credentials and current engagements, I have been enrolled in a Master´s Programme of Psychiatric Nursing in the United States in the 80s and have received a Master´s Degree from the Semitic Languages Department of the University of Helsinki in 2004. I have run my own translation and interpretation private company (toiminimi) in my free time, since I have been employed full-time as a lecturer in the Degree Programme of Nursing at the Stadia Polytechnic. My contract with Stadia ends on the 31st of July 2008, as Stadia and Evtech merge to form Metropolia.

Why have I constructed this web-page? The simple and most straightforward answer to the question “what does someone need a web-page for?” is: in order to communicate information about themselves.

First of all, my relatives and friends are dispersed around the globe and my means for travelling and meeting them are scarce, and I would first and foremost like to be able to share with them what I am doing with my life, because it is to them that I owe everything I have and everything I am able to manage to do.

Secondly, as an official translator and interpreter, I would like my clients to be able to contact me and be assured of high-quality services. Even though all the information on this page is not really necessary for prospective clients, I wanted a comprehensive page, rather than specific pages for different “audiences”. Some of the material may be a bit too personal and broad, but it can easily be skipped. The pages to focus on for potential clients is my c.v. and certificates as well as the Services page, which I am still working on, and my portfolio, maybe.

Thirdly, having worked as Polytechnic teacher for the past four years (2005-2008), I would like to post at least some of the material I have used for the courses I have taught. It serves as a record of substance that can be viewed by students, teachers and anyone interested. As one of my occupations, I have dedicated a lot of time to preparing and researching topics related to my area, and would like to share that material. May I add, that is has been the most rewarding and satisfying of my jobs and I have immensely fond memories of my times at Stadia. (Everyone who enters the site for a specific purpose is urged to skip irrelevant information, although being privy to it, I hope, it is in no way detrimental to my position or image as a serious and humble person!).

Fourthly, I still have ambitions in life and life can still take many turns, so I hope through this page to establish the necessary contacts and to present myself in a way that makes “speech redundant”… By this, I mean, that any future prospects, projects, employments or ventures are likely to be more easily realized the less papers and documents I need to forward and when there are concrete matters to discuss, based on already established facts and figures. Any engagement, correspondence or proposition can be more easily handled with a person who is familiar with the overall profile of me that I am presenting on this page.

And fifthly: I do fervently want to provide a forum for talented people I know to post their writings or other material on this site. Among my relatives and friends - and people I still hope to meet - are many remarkably gifted people whose talents are buried and known only to a limited circle. I wish to widen the circle that is aware that such rare souls exist.

Last but not least, during my life, I have done so many things and met so many people and lost contact with many and not asked for documents fromm everyone, so PLEASE, if you have anything relevant you find fits on this site, DO SEND IT TO ME FOR POSTING! So, this is a venue where I call for past colleagues, acquaintances, employers and whoever, to contact me and supply me with material from archives I have not ketp and that they may possess.... Finally, one never knows in advance what stepping out of anonymity and the restricted boundaries of one´s own daily routines may or may not lead to … Pasting oneself on the internet, so to say, has its advantages and disadvantages, but I hope that it will lead to positive, not negative prospects.

On this note, I hope that everyone who visits these pages utilizes the information with discretion and realizes that I am a private person who wants to share only those aspects of my life that my be inspiring, encouraging or beneficial to others and that at the risk of falling prey to misrepresentation and misinterpretation, I trustingly put at your disposal material that I hope nobody is tempted to use, quote or utilize out of context.

In closing, I would like to state that this web-page is meant to be trilingual: English, Arabic and Finnish, but that it will take a lot of time and effort and most probably not even be possible to have all the contents translated into all three languages. Since English is most widely understood, my main focus will be on writing and publishing in English and to the best of my ability, also providing the Arabic and Finnish readers with material in the respective languages.

Hoping you find something of interest to you in this website and wishing you all a long, healthy, happy and productive life!

Doris O. Aghazarian