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Small Expectations | ||
Tags: Georgian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| kidshomestunner Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6193 days ago 239 posts - 285 votes  Speaks: Japanese | Message 105 of 431 12 June 2010 at 4:04am | IP Logged | ||
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I have read through your log as well as trying to read other parts of this site which I find interesting.
Just as a quick question, how did you learn the Georgian 'Alphabet' and was it made significantly easier due to the fact that you know/have more than 4000 kanji? I ask as after learning kanji I studied Tibetan and I found the script to be significantly easier. Another quick question: When I started to learn Japanese I encountered many myths: Japanese is cvcvcvcvcvc and always is, Katakana is just for loan words, there are only two irregular verbs, women don't use boku, there are no swear words in Japanese, the jouyou kanji are the only kanji worth knowing etc etc etc. I encountered similar myths in the other languages I studied: Are there myths about georgian and have your studies shattered these myths? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5252 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 106 of 431 12 June 2010 at 4:16am | IP Logged | ||
The Georgian alphabet is actually pretty easy to learn. I basically got it down in a day or two. I suppose knowing kanji may have given me the confidence to learn the Georgian alphabet quickly, but it's not really comparable in terms of difficulty. As for myths about Georgian, I only wish I was good enough to know whether or not there are any, let alone whether or not there is any truth to them! I have heard that older people in Georgia intersperse their Georgian with Russian words and phrases, especially for talking about money matters, and I would be very curious to know whether this is true, but that would take a trip to Georgia, which is not on my agenda just now. I also heard a lot about how Georgian verbs are crazily difficult, and sadly enough that is turning out to be all too true. I remember in one of Captain Haddock's posts he said something along the lines of "Once you've learned Japanese, all the others are going to seem easy." I don't know if that's strictly true, but I thought it was cool and a nice boost for the old ego. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kidshomestunner Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6193 days ago 239 posts - 285 votes Speaks: Japanese | Message 107 of 431 12 June 2010 at 3:58pm | IP Logged | ||
I have found that if you believe it to be true it kind of becomes true. I think you are right about kanji giving you confidence. I learnt the Hebrew script in the day(my other Hebrew is appalling. Myths about language have always interested me, and it will be interesting to read more of your log. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5252 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 108 of 431 13 June 2010 at 2:06am | IP Logged | ||
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გამარჯობა მარი! ორი დღის წინ დავბრუნდე საფრანგეთიდან. მოგზავრობა საფრანგეთში
ძალიან სასიამოვნო იყო. პირველი სამი დღე პარიზში ვიყავი და პარიზის ცნობილი ადგილები ვნახე, და მერე წავედი მატარებლით ქალაქ პერპინიონში, რომელშიც ჩემს ძმას ბინა აქვს. ჩემი ძმა ცხოვრობს ინგლისში თავისი ცოლთან ერთად, და პერპინიონში ბინა აქვს. ვფიქრობ რომ ჩემი ძმა ჩემზე მდიდარია :) ჩემი ძმა და ჩემი ძმის ცოლი ორივე ფარმაცევტი არიან. პერპინიონი პატარა ქალაქია და იმ ქალაქს ბევრი საინტერესო ადგილი არა აქვს, მაგრამ ყოველდღე კარგი ამინდი იყო და ყოველდღე გემრიელი საჭმელი შევჭამეთ და გემრიელი ღვინო დავლიეთ, ამიტომ ბედნიერი ვიყავი :) მე ესპანეთში ნამყოფი ვარ, კი, მაგრამ ძალიან ახალგაზრდა ვიყავი და კარგად არ მახსოვს. ბევრი ინგლისელი მიდის ესპანეთში ზაფხულში იმიტომ რომ ამინდები კარგია და მგზავრობა იაფია. შენ სად ნამყოფი ხარ საქართველოსა და ჰოლანდიის გარდა? ვფიქრობ რომ შენ რასაკვირველია იცნობ ნოდარ დუმბაძეს? მისი რომანი "მზიანი ღამე" ვიყიდე ინგლისურად და ქართულად და ვაპირებ წავიკითხო ინგლისური ვერსია და ქართული ვერსია ერთად. შენ როგორ ფიქრობ ამ მწერალის შესახებ? აბა დროებით. Phil ENGLISH: Hi Mari! I returned from France two days ago. My holiday in France was really nice. For the first three days I was in Paris and saw the famous sites of Paris, and then I went by train to the city of Perpignan, where my brother has an apartment. My brother lives in England with his wife and has an apartment in Perpignan. I think that he is richer than me! My brother and his wife are both pharmacists. Perpignan is a small city and the city does not have many interesting sites, but it was good weather every day and every day we ate good food and drank good wine so I was happy. Yes, I've been to Spain, but I was very young and I don't remember much. Many English people go to Spain in summer because the weather is good and it is cheap to travel there. Where have you been other than Georgia and Holland? I think you of course have heard of Nodar Dumbadze? I bought his novel "Sunny Night" in English and Georgian and I'm going to read the English version and the Georgian version together. What do you think about this writer? Later, Phil Interesting news at my class yesterday. Our teacher is bringing in a real live Georgian for show and tell next week! Sarcasm aside, I'm really quite looking forward to it as a break from the usual grammar drills (although the amount of Georgian spoken in class does seem to be increasing slowly). We all have to prepare a question for her, and then we're going to go out for a coffee after class. I haven't decided on my question yet. I'm toing and froing between "Have you ever been to England?", "Is Japanese easy or difficult for Georgian people?" (she lives in Japan and speaks Japanese, apparently), or something heavy about post-Soviet life, which is probably wiser to avoid since it is likely to piss off my classmates and I probably wouldn't understand her reply anyway. Any inspired suggestions are welcome, keeping in mind that my conversational Georgian is still at a pitifully low level. Edited by TixhiiDon on 13 June 2010 at 2:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5252 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 109 of 431 13 June 2010 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
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And now for a little musing on cultural differences between the British and the
Japanese (or more specifically, me and my classmates). I thought that after 14 years here I was pretty much accustomed to the Japanese way of doing things and could fit in quite well, but joining this class has shown me that I am still very much a Westerner. When I was studying Japanese with other assorted Westerners, there was a spirit of friendly competition. Everyone was eager to show off what they knew and at the same time keen to learn what they didn't. If the teacher opened up the question to the entire class, people would be shouting out the answer like enthusiastic primary school kids. The downside of this is that my class contained a couple of annoying know-it- alls, but at least we were able to learn something from them. In my Georgian class, on the other hand, this is turned entirely on its head and everyone is desperately keen to show how terrible they are at Georgian to ensure that the required level of modesty is upheld. I can't help but think that progress would be so much faster if we all just gave the answer when we know it and said "I don't know. Please tell me" when we don't, but in fact it is apparently more Japanese to hum and hah for a while if you know the correct answer, just to make sure people don't think you are a show-off, hum and hah endlessly if you don't know it instead of admitting your lack of knowledge to the teacher, and remain silent when a question is asked to the entire class, regardless of whether you know the answer or not. I'm afraid I'm taking the Western route during the class, and possibly irritating my classmates in the process, but, well, I'm paying to study Georgian because I want to get as good at Georgian as possible in the shortest possible time. Anyway, I know this all sounds suspiciously similar to a typical clueless gaijin moaning over a pint in the Irish pub in Roppongi, but I had to get it off my chest. Edited by TixhiiDon on 13 June 2010 at 2:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5252 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 110 of 431 19 June 2010 at 9:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I just got back from my class. Unfortunately our Georgian guest had some "personal
problems" according to the teacher so she will be coming next week instead. I was quite disappointed. My class continues to provide me with both enjoyment and frustration, with the latter growing steadily, unfortunately. To be brutally honest, I think the class is actually having a negative effect on my Georgian in that it is holding me back. The pace is just sooooo slooooow. I don't get every single question correct every single time, and I still learn new things every lesson, but nowhere near enough and nowhere near quickly enough for my liking. Annoyingly, I just paid for the next semester before today's class, so I am now all paid up to the end of September. What I would really like is to have a private lesson every week with our teacher, whom I have come to like a lot, but I'm not sure how to approach that while keeping the all-important "wa" (harmony). I would also miss the social aspect of the class. I found a Georgian teacher on one of the language exchange websites who does lessons using Skype, and asked her if she would teach me, but I didn't receive a reply from her. Gaah! I hate dilemmas like this. What would you guys do in my situation? (i) Just relax and keep going to the lessons? (ii) Ask the teacher for private lessons and risk embarrassing him (which may sound weird to Westerners but is very possible here in Japan and a big no-no)? (iii) Quit the lessons altogether and just study on my own? (iv) Other... Mari, where are you? საქართველოში ხარ? ყველაფერი კარგად მიდის? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| marich27 Triglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 5205 days ago 41 posts - 42 votes Speaks: Georgian*, EnglishC2, Dutch | Message 111 of 431 19 June 2010 at 9:48am | IP Logged | ||
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გამარჯობა ფილ,
ბოდიში რომ ვერ გწერ. საქართველოში ჯერ არ ვერ, მაგრამ ალბათ მალე ჩავალ. არც კი ვიცი... მამაჩემია ძალინ ცუდად. ახლა ბევრი საფიქრებელი მაქვს და დაბნეული ვარ. წარმათებები ქართულში! დროებით, მარი 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kidshomestunner Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6193 days ago 239 posts - 285 votes Speaks: Japanese | Message 112 of 431 19 June 2010 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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. Edited by kidshomestunner on 20 June 2010 at 2:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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