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Small Expectations | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5251 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 249 of 431 16 May 2011 at 5:20am | IP Logged | ||
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Oh the shame! I was tired yesterday after walking miles and decided to take the metro just one stop. By
amazing coincidence, on that very train and in the very same carriage as me was the guy who invited me to the wine festival. I explained that I had been sick and had spent the whole day in my hotel room. I guess this constitutes the first time I have lied to someone in Georgian. He was fine, although I'm sure he knew I was lying, and proceeded to invite me to his home village near Kutaisi next time I come to Georgia. I suppose this means I have been subjected to the famed Georgian hospitality. It is becoming clear to me that Georgian people are, on the whole, genuinely friendly and gregarious, and not just out to rip off unsuspecting foreigners. I should try to shake off some of my Old Europe cynicism. Anyway, the best thing about the whole encounter was that I looked like just any old regular Tbilisian bumping into a mate on the metro, shaking hands and having a natter. Yesterday was a great day on the whole. I feel like I am slowly getting to grips with this city, just as it is time for me to leave... As noted above, I figured out the metro yesterday. It's like any other Soviet metro - very deep, very dark, but brilliantly efficient. No amazing socialist realist frescos like Moscow, but very cool all the same. I adore all that Soviet grandiosity. I went to the big market by Tbilisi station and bought churchkhela, ajika, and suluguni. I managed to ask for everything, hand over the correct money, and even ask how long the cheese would stay fresh. It's my last day today, and the biggest adventure of them all. I'm going to take the metro to Didube bus station, find a marshrutka to Gori, get on it, get myself to Gori, and visit the Stalin museum. Edited by TixhiiDon on 16 May 2011 at 5:21am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5929 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 250 of 431 16 May 2011 at 5:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Have you managed to find any bookstores in Tbilisi so that you can stock up on reading material in Georgian?
Your trip sounds like it's great so far. Enjoy your last days in Tbilisi and good luck getting yourself to Gori and back! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Murdoc Triglot Senior Member Georgia Joined 5041 days ago 113 posts - 208 votes Speaks: Georgian*, English, Russian | Message 251 of 431 16 May 2011 at 5:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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TixhiiDon,
საქართველოშიც ჩასულხარ უკვე :) რამდენ ხანს რჩები? გორის შემდეგ კიდევ რის მონახულებას აპირებ? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5251 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 252 of 431 16 May 2011 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, my Georgian adventure is over. Sadly, Murdoc, I leave tomorrow morning, just as I was starting to get
the hang of this country. By the way, thanks for the bookshop recommendations. I went to several different branches of Parnassus and they always had what I was looking for. I made it to Gori and back in one piece. The Stalin museum was very interesting, and I had a lovely guide with whom I was able to speak a lot of Georgian. But to be honest, it was more fun getting to the bus station, getting on the marshrutka, and traveling through the beautiful Georgian countryside than wandering round the museum. I met my Armenian/Russian friend again this evening on Rustaveli so I was able to have another "look at me bumping into all my Georgian pals, aren't I cool?" moment :) After a final stroll up Rustaveli I'm now back in my hotel and preparing for an early departure in the morning. Philip, yes, I've bought tons of books. One Georgian textbook which looked quite good, a Georgian cookbook, and lots of modern Georgian literature which I researched before I came. I think I now have enough native materials to last around twenty years! So all in all it's been a fantastic trip. (Wouldn't it have been awful if I'd hated every minute of it?) No regrets about my choice of language, and there's plenty left to do for my next visit. Nakhvamdis! Edited by TixhiiDon on 17 May 2011 at 3:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5251 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 253 of 431 16 June 2011 at 8:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Although it may seem from the infrequency (non-existence, in fact) of my updates that I
have given up on Georgian, this is not the case, and although the intensity of my study has dropped a little, I'm still ploughing on. I was so enamoured with the country itself that I'm already working out when I can go back. At the moment I'm considering a two-week stay next Spring, this time with some Georgian lessons thrown in for good measure. Medea told me her husband has lots of contacts at Tbilisi University who would probably be willing to tutor me for the right price, and that sounds extremely tempting. Right now my study is almost completely focused on reading the works of დავით ქართველიშვილი. Keen followers of my log (are you out there??) will remember some months ago I mentioned a novel I had bought on the Internet called იყო საღამო იყო დილა, which is by the same author. He writes in a kind of declamatory style, with bold statements and frequent repetitions, which may not make the best literature the world has ever seen, but is a dream come true for the Georgian learner. I bought loads of books in Tbilisi by lots of different writers, but his works are the only ones that I can just sit down and read for pleasure. Even without a dictionary I can understand about 80%, I reckon, which is very satisfying and gives me a real sense of accomplishment. So at the moment I'm about half way through იყო საღამო იყო დილა, I've read most of a short story collection called 6 სიზმარი, and I've just started on a novel called ახალი წიგნი. The first is the most difficult, so I'm going through it very carefully with a dictionary. The second I'm using in my lessons with Medea, and the third is my commuting book for my days working outside home. There are lots of other things I could be doing. I really need listening practice, and since I recently rejoined the gym to lose some of the 10 kilos I've gained since I quit smoking, I could use those miserable minutes on the running machine and the stairmaster to listen to podcasts and radio broadcasts. The only thing is is my iPod is broken and I'm too lazy to organize buying a new one. I could also do with going through the perfect and pluperfect screeves, conditionals, participle formation, which remains a mystery to me, and causatives, which I've barely even touched. I tell myself I'm waiting for Dodona Kiziria's new textbook, but in reality I just can't be arsed to sit down and do some proper grammar study. And I haven't quite escaped the Goldlist's evil clutches, although I'm a much less frequent abuser these days. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| E}{pugnator Newbie Brazil Joined 4953 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 254 of 431 18 June 2011 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi TixhiiDon, what new Dodona Kiziria's textbook would that be?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5251 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 255 of 431 19 June 2011 at 12:42am | IP Logged | ||
I contacted Dodona Kiziria on Facebook about a year ago to tell her how much I liked "Beginner's Georgian", and she told me she was working on a new textbook with a working title of "Georgian Verbs Made Easy". I don't know when it will be finished, or published, but if it's as good as it sounds it will be a boon for us Georgian learners. How's your study going anyway? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| E}{pugnator Newbie Brazil Joined 4953 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 256 of 431 19 June 2011 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't studied Georgian for a long while. Luckily I found some friendly Georgian penpals through sharedtalk, hope I can start it over.
Now, Georgian Verbs Made Easy?! I wonder if it is possible, though I wish her all the best, that would be quite an achievement to have such book! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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