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Small Expectations | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| SuburbanGinger Newbie United States Joined 5033 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 145 of 431 09 August 2010 at 6:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks a lot, TixhiiDon and ellasevia. I can't wait to begin this very interesting language. And hopefully, I will
be able to read the Georgian side of your diary entries. 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 146 of 431 10 August 2010 at 1:09am | IP Logged | ||
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დილა მშვიდობისა მარი! ათი წუთის წინ გავიღვიძე და უკვე ვსწავლობ ქართულს. ძალიან
ბეჯითი ვარ, არა? ;) იმედია რომ საქმეები ქარგად მიდის შენთვის და შენი ოჯახისთვის საქართველოში. გუშინწინ აჭარის ტელევიზიას ვუყურებდი და ვნახე რომ სასახლეშები ყვავილებს ჩაიცვამდნენ. ამის მიერ ვიცოდი რომ ომოს დაწყების 2 წლისთავი იყო. შენი ოჯახი გორში ცხოვრობს? ვიცი რომ რუსი ჯარი გორში შევიდა ომოს დროს და დარწმუნებული ვარ რომ ეს დრო ძალიან შეშინებული იყო. რამდენიმე ქვირის წინ წავიკითხე სხვა სტატიას გორის შესახებ. ამ სტატიაში დაწერილი იყო, რომ სტალინის ძეგლი გორის ცენტრალური მოედნიდან აიღეს. ეს ძალიან საინტერესო ამბავი იყო ჩემთვის, მაგრამ არ ვოცოდი თუ ეს კარგი ამბავია თუ ცუდი. შენ როგორ ფიქრობ? დიახ, კერძო მასწავლებლის აყვანა გადავწყვიტე, მაგრამ ჯერ არ ვიცი როდის გაკვეთილები დაიწყება. ჩემი სკოლა მომწონს, მაგრამ ქართულად საუბარი უფრო მეტი მინდა გამოვიყენო უნდა დავიწყო მუშაობა და სულ ეს არის დღეს! დროებით. ფილ. ENGLISH: Good morning Mari! I woke up ten minutes ago and I'm already studying Georgian. I'm very conscientious right? I hope that things are going well for you and your family in Georgia. The day before yesterday I was watching Adjara TV and I saw that the presenters were wearing flowers. Because of this I learned that it was the second anniversary of the war. Does your family live in Gori?? I know that the Russian army entered Gori during the war and I'm sure that it was a very frightening time (I wanted to write "must have been" but unfortunately this is beyond my grammatical skills). A few weeks ago I read another article about Gori. It was written in this article that the Stalin monument has been taken down from the central square in Gori. This was very interesting news for me but I don't know if it is good news or bad. What do you think? Yes, I have decided to hire a private teacher, but I still don't know when the lessons will begin. I like my school but I want to practice speaking in Georgian more. I have to start work so that's all for today! Later. Phil Edited a few days later when I discovered a gratuitous error between future and past tense! Edited by TixhiiDon on 12 August 2010 at 1:52am 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 147 of 431 10 August 2010 at 1:10am | IP Logged | ||
Zhiguli, I wrote to the publisher and they said they are going to do a reprint very soon and it will be available within a few weeks. Good news! 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 148 of 431 11 August 2010 at 12:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Finally some news about the private lessons! I met Medea for coffee yesterday evening
after work and we discussed the format they're going to take and so on. It turns out that she is really keen to improve her English so we're going to do a language exchange, one hour of Georgian and one hour of English once a week. This is not exactly what I had in mind, but I'll go along with it. Really I should consider myself seriously lucky to have an hour of Georgian conversation every week with a native speaker in a city that probably contains less than fifty Georgians (wild stab in the dark there but there can't be that many Georgians in Tokyo surely). So we start tomorrow! I'm certain that my spoken Georgian will be pretty appalling at first, but I will be back with an update to let you all know just how appalling it was either tomorrow or the day after. 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 149 of 431 14 August 2010 at 3:33am | IP Logged | ||
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So I had my first private lesson with Medea. It was very enjoyable, but as I suspected
I struggled really badly with my spoken Georgian. I think she expected my level to be a little bit higher than it was so she asked me quite a lot of difficult questions that I couldn't answer very well, so I think I'll ask her to start from the basics next week - Where do you live? What do you like to do in your free time? etc. Probably my greatest success of the hour was თქვენ და თქვენი ქმარი ყოველთვის ქართულად ლაპარაკობთ? (Do you and your husband always speak Georgian?) Nothing exceptional about the sentence in itself, but it was the only one I managed to produce with any semblance of fluency. I also tried to explain that since my dog is a large hunting dog he tends to see very small dogs as prey. What I actually came out with was ჩემი ძაღლი საკმაოდ დიდია და ის ფიკრობს რომ პატარა ძაღლები საჭმელი არიან. ("My dog is quite large and so he thinks small dogs are food") So she now has a terrible impression of my dog as a Chihuahua-eating beast... She also lent me a DVD of the Georgian version of Friends, which is called შუა ქალაქში (In the Middle of Town). I can only pick up odd sentences here and there but it's really nice to watch. A nice (albeit somewhat beatified) insight into modern life in Georgia too. No class today. Indeed no more classes until September due to Summer break. I have lots to be getting on with though. Edited by TixhiiDon on 14 August 2010 at 3:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| marich27 Triglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 5205 days ago 41 posts - 42 votes Speaks: Georgian*, EnglishC2, Dutch | Message 150 of 431 14 August 2010 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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გამარჯობა ფილ,
წავიკითხე შენი შთაბეჭდილებები პირველი ქართულენოვანო გაკვეთილის შესახებ. მგონია, არაა უცნაური რომ წინადადებების გამართვა ვერ შეძელი. შენ ხომ აქამდე ქართულად არ გისაუბრია?! მთავარია რომ შენ კმაყოფილი იყო გაკვეთილებით და შედეგიც მალე იქნება. "შუა ქალაქს" მეც ვუკურებ და ძალიან მიყვარს. მართლაც, ბევრი რამის გაგება შეიძლება სერიალიდან საქართველოში თანამედროვე ცხოვრების შესახებ. შენი ძაღლი მართლა ასეთი საშიშია? :) მე ჩიხუახუა მყავს საქართველოში... :) სულ ეს არის დღეს. ველოდები შემდეგი გაქვეთილის ამბებს! მარი 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 151 of 431 20 August 2010 at 6:34am | IP Logged | ||
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გუშინ მეორე გაკვეთილი მქონდა ქალბატონ მედეასთან ერთად. მგონი გუშინდელი
გაკვეთილი უფრო კარგად მოვიდა გასული ქვირის გაკვეთილზე იმიტომ, რომ რამდენიმე წინადადება ვთქვი ქართულად! ჩვენ სხვადასხვა თემაზე ვლაპარაკ ობდნენ,მაგალ� �თად გირის ცნობილი სტალინის მუზეუმის შესახებ და ასე შემდეგ. ჯერ კიდევ ძალიან ხშირად ვცდები, მაგრამ იმედია, რომ თანდათან გავაუმჯობესებ :) რამდენიმე დღის წინ ვიპოვნე ინტერნეტის მაღაზია სადაც შეიძლება ყიდვა ქართული წიგნები.შევუკვეთე სამი წინგი და დაახლოებით ორმოცი დოლარი ღირდა, მაგრამ საფოსტო გზავნილის ღირებულება იაპონიაში ოთხმოცდაათი დოლარი იყო!! ძალიან ძვირია, მაგრამ ძალიან მინდა წავიკითხო ესენი წიგნები და გადავიხადე. ჯანდაბას :) მარი, შენი ჩიხუახუა უვნებელია! ჩემი ძაღლი არ ასეთი საშიშია! სხვანაირად ის ძალიან მშვიდია, მაგრამ ის ნადირობის ძაღლია და ხანდახან ფიქრობს რომ პატარა ძაღლები ნადავლი არიან :) ჩემი ძაღლი სალუკია. იმაზე შეიძლება კითხვა აქ: http://site.vipanimals.ge/index.php?option=com_content&task= view&id=86&Itemid=1 ძალიან ლამაზი ძაღლია, არა? სულ ეს არის დღეს Phil ENGLISH. (For the first time I've tried to talk about my studies in Georgian rather than English, and it was unexpectedly difficult so please forgive the utter absence of any wit, insight, or considered reflection...) Yesterday I had my second lesson with Medea. I think that yesterday's lesson went better than last week's lesson because I said a few sentences in Georgian! We talked about various topics, for example the famous Stalin Museum in Gori and so on. I am still making mistakes very often but I hope I will improve gradually. A few days ago I found an Internet shop where it is possible to buy Georgian books. I ordered three books and they cost around 40 dollars, but the postage to Japan was 90 dollars!! It's very expensive but I really want to read these books so I paid it. しよ うがない！ (I've tried using some Georgian slang here that kind of means "What is to be done?" but is much more aptly translated by that old Japanese chestnut "shiyou ga nai". The slang itself is apparently the name of a town in India called Jandaba, which was considered so exotic and far away that it is now used to mean something along the lines of "I have no choice but to agree" - bizarre but quite funny. I hope I've used it correctly. Nothing worse than a foreigner using slang incorrectly). Mari, your Chihuahua is safe! My dog is not so dangerous! On the contrary he is very gentle, but he is a hunting dog so he sometimes thinks that small dogs are prey. My dog is a saluki. You can read about them here... They're beautiful dogs, don't you think? That's all for today. Phil Edited by TixhiiDon on 20 August 2010 at 6:36am 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 152 of 431 01 September 2010 at 8:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I've decided it's time for an overall summary of what I've done and what I think I've
achieved since I started studying Georgian approximately nine months ago. This is really just for myself, to kind of tidy it all up in my brain and see where I should go next, so apologies in advance for boringness... I started with Byki. I have around 400 words learned on there, and although I don't use it so much now it was fantastic to make a start on the language. I then went through the whole of Beginner's Georgian by Dodona Kiziria very thoroughly. I think this is probably the first time I have ever gone through an entire language textbook from beginning to end, and it was utterly invaluable for getting to grips with the basics of the language and picking up some very useful vocabulary. Midway through the Kiziria book I started my Saturday class. The class has been a lot of fun and has taken me to quite a high level of grammar. However, the class is heavily focussed on just understanding the grammar rather than putting it to use. Another great thing about the class is that it has brought me into contact with Japanese people who are interested in Georgia, and my two teachers, Kojima-sensei, who I guess must be up there among the greatest scholars of Georgian in the world, and his wife Medea, with whom I'm now taking private lessons. After finishing Kiziria I moved onto Aronson's Reading Grammar. I went through the first few chapters very thoroughly, the next few a bit less thoroughly, and the last few very briefly. Aronson was useful for covering grammar points that are left out of Kiziria and that we haven't got to in our class yet, but it is very old-fashioned and not hugely practical. I also went through Lehrbuch der Georgischen Sprache by Abuladze and Ludden quite thoroughly. The long dialogues were very useful and the grammar explanations are clear and easy to understand. I kind of stalled when the dialogues changed to reading passages on the history of Georgia. Why do all the Georgian textbooks have such boring reading passages?? How about food and drink in Georgia, sport in Georgia, Georgian music, Georgian literature? Surely that would be more interesting to more people than "Georgia in the 12th and 13th Centuries". Other texts I have flirted with are the Newspaper Reader, which is actually very good and one which I really should go back to at some point, Georgian Language Intensive Course by Nikolaishvili, which is pretty awful really but has some long dialogues and three CDs so is useful for listening practice, and Georgian Language and Culture: A Continuing Course by Kiziria and Aronson, which looks excellent but is only available by illegal download at the moment so I am hanging on for a reprint supposedly coming out in a few weeks. For reading practice I started with small articles on the Radio Tavisupleba site. I then got hold of both English and Georgian versions of Mziani Ghame, a novel by Nodar Dumbadze. This was really too hard for me and I gave up around page 50. Recently I have been able to purchase English and Georgian versions of ჯინსების თეობა/Flight from USSR by David Turashvili and have found much more success with this novel - I'm picking up a lot of vocabulary from it and my Georgian reading speed is improving dramatically. For writing practice enormous thanks go to Mari on this site - writing short messages to her once or twice a week was an incredible help to me in forcing me to use my Georgian actively. Two weeks ago I started private lessons with Medea. This has finally allowed me to start speaking in Georgian, which I am finding horribly difficult at the moment. Hopefully this will improve over time. My lessons with Medea also introduced me to the Georgian comedy series შუა ქალაქში, a Georgian version of Friends. I've watched a few episodes passively and studied a few scenes in depth. I've also watched a little Georgian TV and a couple of Georgian films, which weren't particularly educational but enjoyable nonetheless. My immediate goals for the future are to continue reading Flight from USSR, continue to get as much speaking practice as possible with Medea, continue studying grammar in the Saturday lessons, and buy a copy of Georgian Language and Culture: A Continuing Course as soon as the reprint comes out and set to work on that. I have also ordered a textbook published in Georgia called Biliki which looks very interesting, so I will hopefully be using that too when it arrives. In practical terms, I need to study verbs much more carefully and get more comfortable with their numerous conjugations, and keep on adding to my vocabulary. I suppose reading should continue to be a priority for me as I don't, and probably will never, have opportunities to speak Georgian on an everyday basis. However, I am still intending to visit Georgia next year and I very much want to speak some Georgian there, even if it's only to order a beer or buy a train ticket. So in conclusion, I'm pretty happy with my progress - as I said in my very first post of this log, I don't have any concrete goals regarding CEFR levels or the like, and I still don't harbour expectations of greatness - who knows, I might get totally fed up with the whole thing and quit next week. However, I don't think that will happen as I really love my new hobby. Already I have discovered the music, food, and literature of a country I knew very little about, and met people from that country and others who are interested in the country. Language learning is great, kids! 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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