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Small Expectations

  Tags: Georgian
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
431 messages over 54 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 35 ... 53 54 Next >>
orandajin
Tetraglot
Newbie
Japan
Joined 4499 days ago

3 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, Russian
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 273 of 431
07 December 2011 at 5:27pm | IP Logged 
TixhiiDon, how I would love to be in your shoes right now. You're in Tbilisi! You get to drink as much Saperavi and
eat as much badrijani nigvzit as you want! I would trade a view on Tokyo Tower for a view on Tbilisi's TV tower
anytime.

I guess we are a rare breed indeed. I wonder if Georgian beats Armenian in this case...

I just sent you a PM about the teacher.

Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



TixhiiDon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 5224 days ago

772 posts - 1474 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian
Studies: Georgian

 
 Message 274 of 431
09 December 2011 at 12:54pm | IP Logged 
After much running around and a few mangled phone calls in Georgian, I finally managed to meet my
teacher and start studying. We had a very pleasant two hours today ploughing through the present perfect,
which I thought I knew but, as it turns out, I hadn't even begun to master. If anyone can name me a
Georgian verb without any irregularities in any tenses, I'll buy them a natakhtari next time we're in Tbilisi.

Speaking of which, Tbilisi is bloody cold! However my hotel has over-compensated by cranking up the
central heating to such saharan proportions that I actually feel quite sick when I stay in my room too long.
Still, it forces me to go out and mingle with the masses.

I'm off to the theater tonight. I'm sure the concert will be great.

Oh, by the way, orandajin, I didn't receive your PM. Maybe you could try to send it again?



Edited by TixhiiDon on 09 December 2011 at 12:55pm

1 person has voted this message useful



TixhiiDon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 5224 days ago

772 posts - 1474 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian
Studies: Georgian

 
 Message 275 of 431
10 December 2011 at 1:45pm | IP Logged 
You know how it is when you've reached an intermediate level in your target language so you can say
straightforward things like where you're from, what you do, and why you decided to learn the language with
ease, in good grammatically correct sentences, and how when you have that introductory conversation with
a native speaker she showers you with compliments about your skills, and then you continue speaking and
your grammar falls apart, your vocabulary fails you, and pauses, uhms, errs, and words from your other
languages start to become more frequent than words in your target language, and you can see the face of
your native conversation partner gradually become slightly more serious and slightly less confident as she
realizes you are nowhere near as good as she initially thought you were?

Well, that has happened to me on three separate occasions during this trip, and it doesn't get any more
enjoyable with each time... I always say to people who want to learn languages that you have to be
prepared to look stupid, and I have been painfully reminded of my own advice here in Tbilisi this week.

Everyone still insists on speaking to me in Russian. Today I had to ask the metro attendant if I was going
the right way. She understood me perfectly well, but she wasn't sure where the place I wanted to go was
so she pulled over a passenger and got him to explain it to me. When he started speaking to me in
Georgian, she shouted at him to switch to Russian. It's so interesting here how Russian is the default
language for all tourists and visitors, as if the whole world was competent in Russian. There is also some
crossover with Japan, where people will often reply to perfectly good Japanese in dreadful English, simply
because they see a foreigner standing in front of them.

Anyway, the Rustavi concert was fantastic, and today after my lessons I went to the amazing bazaar at
Vagzlis Moedani (which appears to have had its name changed to Sadguris Moedani to remove the
Russian influence) for a bagful of churchkhela, and now I am off to the old town for ojakhuri and beer, so
life, dear reader, is good.
2 persons have voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5022 days ago

2237 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 276 of 431
10 December 2011 at 3:22pm | IP Logged 
@TixhiiDon, looks like you're having a helluva good time! I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy following your log. On the surface, one would think that there wouldn't be too much to glean from a minority language representing a relatively small population of speakers. You have found that there is indeed much beneath that stereotypical surface by seeking and finding the gems beneath. It just goes to show that you get out of life what you put into it. Hope all continues to go well for you.
3 persons have voted this message useful



TixhiiDon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 5224 days ago

772 posts - 1474 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian
Studies: Georgian

 
 Message 277 of 431
10 December 2011 at 7:04pm | IP Logged 
Iguanamon, thanks very much for your kind words. It's nice to think that even a few people may enjoy my
log. I think you make a great point about minority languages - there's so much to be discovered in small
countries such as Georgia, which has a long history and a unique and fascinating culture.

In the theatre last night I was surrounded by hundreds of Georgians going crazy, whooping and whistling
and shouting, while watching a group of national folk singers and dancers. And there were loads of
teenagers and cool kids among the audience too, not just middle-class culture vultures. This is completely
unimaginable in all the supposedly sophisticated western European countries, including my own. And yet
most people would be hard-pushed to find Georgia on a map. I imagine it must be quite frustrating for the
Georgians to feel so ignored. Or perhaps I'm romanticizing a bit after three large bottles of natakhtari :)

Anyway, I certainly am having a great time!

Edited by TixhiiDon on 10 December 2011 at 7:05pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



zecchino1991
Senior Member
United States
facebook.com/amyybur
Joined 5018 days ago

778 posts - 885 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew, Russian, Arabic (Written), Romanian, Icelandic, Georgian

 
 Message 278 of 431
10 December 2011 at 11:44pm | IP Logged 
TixhiiDon wrote:
It's so interesting here how Russian is the default
language for all tourists and visitors, as if the whole world was competent in Russian.


This is exactly why I am learning Georgian AND Russian before I go to Georgia. Well,
actually I am going to Russia, too, but I would do it anyway. ;)

Edited by zecchino1991 on 10 December 2011 at 11:47pm

1 person has voted this message useful



orandajin
Tetraglot
Newbie
Japan
Joined 4499 days ago

3 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, Russian
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 279 of 431
12 December 2011 at 7:45am | IP Logged 
TixhiiDon, I just sent you another message. They both appear in my outbox. If you don't receive them, I don't know
what the problem could be...
1 person has voted this message useful



TixhiiDon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 5224 days ago

772 posts - 1474 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian
Studies: Georgian

 
 Message 280 of 431
14 December 2011 at 11:18am | IP Logged 
Well, I'm back in Japan, pretty exhausted but happy to be home. It's many years since
I've been out of my adopted country for such a long period.

My last day in Tbilisi was just as lovely as all the others: lessons, followed by
shopping, followed by eating and drinking. I had plenty of opportunities to use my
Georgian, not only in lessons but also on the streets with the ever-gregarious Georgian
people, and I really fell in love with the city of Tbilisi. Next time I should really
stay a little longer and see a bit more of the country.

I bought a few more books to add to my large collection of unread Georgian literature:
a new short novel by my favourite დავით ქართველიშვილი called მოცემულობა, which
apparently means "task/duty/function"; a relatively well known novel called Adibas, by
ზაზა ბურჭულაძე, and a collection of short stories by perhaps Georgia's most famous
contemporary writer, აკა მორჩილაძე. I've already started on მოცემულობა, and it is
thankfully as easy to read as all Kartvelishvili's other works, so I should get through
it quite quickly. It is so far about a detective who is always imagining he's the
president of Georgia, or that he can fly, or that he's a famous model.

In Amsterdam airport on my way back I just so happened to sit near some Georgians who
were returning to Tbilisi, presumably on the same plane that had just brought me to
Holland. At first they thought I was Georgian, just from my looks (I have a big nose
and I hadn't shaved for about a week, which makes me similar to about 80% of Georgian
men). When I explained, in Georgian, that I wasn't Georgian but could speak Georgian,
they looked completely baffled. Anyway, it was a funny coincidence. Perhaps I was
Georgian in my past life.

Orandajin, I think maybe my Inbox was full and that was why I couldn't receive your
message. If it's not too much trouble, could you send it one more time? დიდი
მადლობა!

Edited by TixhiiDon on 14 December 2011 at 11:21am



1 person has voted this message useful



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