And why that’s not true? Georgian is a difficult language – you can’t learn Georgian. These are not true. And in today’s episode, I’ll tell you why I think so.
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In May, I was participating in a debate about Georgian literature, and the host, Natalia, quoted my Facebook post about Georgian not being a difficult language. By the way, I felt like a celebrity whose posts were being quoted – thank you for that, Natalia!
I had a chance to talk why I do not agree at all with this statement which was surprising for the audience. So I thought let’s talk about it in a podcast as well
Is Georgian is a difficult language truly, and why it’s a myth and untrue that Georgian is a difficult language?
Georgian seems difficult due to the scarcity of materials
It’s precisely the very small number of good materials, modern books, and simple and accessible studies that make Georgian seem difficult to us foreigners
Comparing the number of materials available to Spanish or German, and Georgian is like comparing an ocean to a glass of water
The most critical and scarce materials are those for beginners, namely those on the alphabet. This is one of the reasons I started preparing my own study materials – fast forward over 10 years and lots of iterations and the Georgian textbooks are available for you on our website.
For those of you unfamiliar with us, the Jezyki Kaukazu – Languages of the Caucasus, and the Caucasus podcast, I’ll just add that I learned Georgian as a foreigner; I have no Georgian roots; no one in my neighborhood or family speaks Georgian. I have no linguistic skills as such, as my parents, who tried to encourage me to learn English and German at a primary school, can confirm it. Cleaning my room was already more appealing to me. Oh! And let’s add that I hate learning by heart.
However, Georgian is the fourth language I’ve learned; I currently know eight in total, including Korean, and I’m learning two more. Therefore, let’s say I have some comparisons between languages and their difficulty.
Coming back to Georgian and its supposed complexity. If you’re initially confronted with a new alphabet, and then suddenly presented with various random sentences, more or less advanced, Georgian may seem difficult.
But if you’re presented with the alphabet, then simple sentences, and one rule to practice, and then another one only after you’ve mastered the first one, Georgian turns out to be not as difficult as they say.
As mentioned the lack of materials is one of the reasons I started creating my own exercises, programs, and ways to explain Georgian grammar. And it turns out it works, because over the last eight years, our dropout rate has dropped by over 70% precisely because of the language’s complexity.
Georgian seems difficult when you try to learn everything at once
Georgian is often said to be a difficult language by people who don’t fully measure their strength often not on purpose but the textbooks and study methods they get are not making it easy. Georgian, like most languages, requires regular learning over time. You won’t become fluent and understand everything you’re told after spending a dozen or so hours with a vocabulary app or just being in Georgia.
Except that’s also not the case with any other language. I can tell you that with English as well.
If you assume you’ll start with saying simple sentences, understanding separate words, and then building on this skill, then it turns out that language success in Georgian comes often and quickly.
Students who join our online courses thinking that Georgian is a difficult language, but let’s try, Asia, after some lessons ask us if it’s easy at first, will it continue to be that way? And after a few weeks and months, they’re surprised that it’s much easier than they expected.
Georgian seems difficult because it’s unlike anything else
This isn’t true. There are many similarities to many languages, just not always to those taught in school. Paradoxically, there are also some similarities with English because of the globalization among others. Georgian also has many international words, such as turisti, muzeumi, lampa.
But the fact is that, grammatically, Georgian has parts that are unlike many modern Indo-European languages. The key to success – tested on hundreds of students – is to mentally detach yourself from English or your mother tongue if it’s not English , detach from its grammar and open yourself to three or four rules that are unusual for these languages but fundamental to Georgian. And they’re incredibly logical, too.
Georgian is a difficult language and as a result so few foreigners speak it
Georgian was difficult to learn because there are very few available courses and good teachers. I deliberately use the past tense because, among other things, with the development of our courses, and our students and clients include people from six continents, this is gradually changing. And learning Georgian has never been so easy as it is right now. For example our students learn not only with our main textbooks also with comic books, crosswords, interactive exercises and many more. Of course we also tackle grammar when needed.
The reasons I mentioned above – the materials and learning methods – cause some people to give up, and others to avoid starting out of fear. The lack of Georgian philology anywhere outside of Georgia also doesn’t help.
For example, I put some of my own money, a lot of determination, and free time into my studies of Georgian language. I do this so that you don’t have to. I’m trying to make it easy for you. In Jezyki Kaukazu we’re creating the study programs using our knowledge of Georgian language, my expertise in teaching busy adults (I am also business trainer and cooperated with international corporations among others) and my perspective of foreigner learning Georgian.
Currently, more and more people outside Georgia speaks Georgian and learns it, even though we’re very scattered across the cities, countries and even continents. But the very fact that my lessons timetable is full, we have waiting lists for courses, already shows that more and more foreigners are learning Georgian.
Here are my arguments. I hope I’ve managed to show you the other side – that Georgian isn’t as difficult as they say. And it’s not much harder to learn it than other languages.
As with any other language, you don’t learn it in a week or a day. It takes time, practice, good materials, and a good teacher, and speaking Georgian with family and friends is completely within your capabilities.
You know my opinion, but of course, I invite you to the discussion – you can share your thoughts by email or in the comments on your podcast app. You may also join our newsletter community for free – each week I send a tested quick and easy method for 5-minute revision that you can do during coffee break, commuting to work or cooking dinner.
Also you can find our course and textbook offer on our website.