How to start speaking Georgian, even if you only know a few words? What about when you try to speak and Georgians answer you in English or Russian? We will talk about this in today’s episode of the Georgian For Beginners series.
How to learn Georgian so that you can actually communicate?
You learn Georgian, you go to classes, or learn on your own with a self-study book. You devote time and energy to study and then the moment comes when you try – you want to talk to a Georgian person. You say a learned sentence, feel joy and pride and… you don’t understand the answer.
One of the common mistakes when learning Georgian is learning phrases that you want to say, not what other person would respond. For example, you learn how to ask for a bill or ask how much something costs. But you don’t learn what the answer might be.
The first way to learn to speak Georgian is to learn both questions and answers, i.e. practicing entire dialogues. One of the opinions we hear most often about our materials, is that they actually teach you how to speak Georgian. You are able not only to say something, but also to carry on a conversation from the very beginning of learning.
Therefore, if you learn a new phrase, also learn the question related to it or the answer to it. For example, if you learn „nice to meet you”, you should also learn „likewise”.
How to start speaking Georgian so that people actually understand you?
Let’s go back to our scenario. You learn Georgian, you know the phrases and you decide to speak Georgian to the Georgian person you meet and they give you this look. They look at you with a mixture of surprise and incomprehension. And they answer you in Russian or English.
And now this thought – they didn’t understand me. I said it incorrectly.
Well, no. There is a very high probability that you said everything correctly, but your interlocutor is not used to non-Georgians speaking Georgian. It also happens to me quite often, when I speak Georgian. Sometimes it takes a while before I can convince my interlocutor that I actually understand the answer.
What to do when Georgians answer you in Russian or English?
Start by not getting discouraged. This does not mean that your Georgian is incomprehensible. Keep speaking in Georgian, until you know the words of course. This can only mean, that your interlocutor has not yet met a non-Georgian who speaks Georgian and is not confident that you will understand the answer.
Say in Georgian that you are learning Georgian and speak some Georgian. There is a good chance that your interlocutor will be very pleased and will start asking you why and the conversation will get heated.
If this doesn’t help either, it’s worth adding that, for example, you don’t know Russian or you don’t want to speak another language, because you’re learning Georgian and want to practice Georgian. And continue to say all this in Georgian, regardless of the language of your interlocutor’s response. It works for me and our students as well.
It is worth preparing and practicing these phrases in advance so that you can use them freely in such situations. We also practice it with our students during Georgian classes and self-paced courses. Simply put, if you want to start speaking Georgian in a daily life situations, it is worth practicing it in a test setting, e.g. during a Georgian lesson with us.
How to start speaking Georgian from the first day of learning?
This is also the secret of speaking Georgian and speaking it fluently. From the first lesson, when you learn new phrases, it is worth starting to speak Georgian.
Let me give you an example from our Georgian curriculum. You start learning, you learn your first words and the verb to be. Already with this you can create simple sentences and name objects in your environment – This is a computer, that is not a lamp.
Overcoming a potential language barrier at the very beginning is a huge help in actually starting to speak Georgian. Then, during each lesson, you learn and practice phrases, expand your sentences with adjectives, question words such as what or where, and you can conduct such a piece of dialogue and start speaking Georgian.
Even adding single Georgian words helps you practice the language, pronunciation and familiarizes both you and your interlocutor with the fact that you know Georgian. Even if only a little. And you already start speaking Georgian.
Now it’s time for you. Choose one or two ways to start speaking Georgian and try to implement them in your everyday learning. Let me know in the comments, which one you have chosen. Or maybe you have your own methods – share them with us.