When I say I work as a Georgian teacher, the next question is am I Georgian? So no, I am not. So how it happened that I learned Georgian in the first place? What helped me when learning Georgian? And how I ended up as a not only Georgian teacher, but also author of Georgian study books?
Once upon a time there was a nation that decided to organize revolution and took a rose as it’s symbol. I feel like my beginnings with Caucasus are just ages ago and, almost like a legend or myth. So today I thought I would answer at least some of the questions I get about studying in Georgian, studying Georgian and teaching Georgian.
How to study in Georgia?
Long story short I was studying political science in Poland and decided to focus on the democratization processes in the South Caucasus as my specialization. For my Masters I had to choose one country, so decided Georgia. I remembered how few years ago I saw on the news Mikheil Saakashvili leading people into the Georgian Parliament and drinking Eduard Shevardnadze’s tea. That was the moment I thought this region has to be fascinating. When deciding on the Master thesis topic I went for Georgia. I also thought you cannot write it just sitting in Poland.
Then via a friend of a friend I was contacted with Ilia Chavchavadze University and they let me study there for a year. There were no exchange programs or study programs for foreigners. That is why the only case was to study with other Georgian students in Georgian. The other option was on Tbilisi State University to study in English, but it was so expensive there was no way I could pay for it. So the money I invested into Georgian language lessons which I needed to take privately on my own.
To be honest sometimes I wonder if now I would still go for it. But then I thought I will learn in between and manage somehow. And I did. As far as I know now there are several programs for foreigners as well as more exchange programs. So if you want to study in Georgia for a semester or two you may choose one of those.
How to study Georgian language in Georgia?
What I have not mentioned is that when I came to Georgia 2 weeks before the beginning of my academic year I knew just Good morning and good bye in Georgian. The faculty employes were so surprised I showed up and wanted to actually study there, but please remember it had been September 2008, so just after war, and being a foreigner not really speaking Georgian. But I have to say this. Till this day I have nothing but positive experience from Ilia Chavchavadze University. I studied on some in between and that was the best from the perspective of approach to students.
As fast as studying Georgian was concerned, I had individual lessons 4 hours a day 5 days a week. Then I studied at home a bit and of course trying to understand at least a bit from the lectures. What would I change in my Georgian learning process? I would have had less lessons, but studied more at home on my own. And repat and revise new Georgian lessons. I would have studied more with apps like Memrise. Keep in mind it was over 15 years ago, so there was no Memrise and apps and smartphones were not so popular.
What helped me a lot and I talk about it in our course “How to study Georgian?” is that my Georgian teacher after 3 months started reading with me the original texts connected with my field of study. It was not easy at start, but I noticed I much faster can understand and speak during classes. As a result after 6 months being in Georgia I was able to prepare a half an hour presentation in Georgian and lead the Q&A afterwards (also in Georgian).
The course I mentioned – How to study Georgian? – you can take part in just by signing up on our website. In 5 lessons I teach you methods and ways how to study Georgian. The link you will find in the episode description.
One of the ways to learn much faster was to be surrounded by Georgian language. I watched TV in Georgian, listened to radio whenever I could. I tried to communicate with everyone in Georgian and was all the time asking the grocery shop owner what are the names of different fruits and vegetables.
How to find a good Georgian teacher?
It may sound a bit crazy that fast forward over 15 years and I work also as a Georgian teacher. Firstly, I need to give a shoutout to my first Georgian teacher, Rusiko. She no longer teaches Georgian, but was one of the best Georgian teachers I had. I learned not only language, but also a lot about culture, history and she with her husband Archil helped me a lot and advised me on some of mu field research. By the way Rusiko was the first person ever to tell me that I should try teaching basics of Georgian to my other Polish friends as a way to revise the knowledge. So it all started like that.
The good Georgian teacher is someone who leads you through study process, not just gives you different study materials to memorize on your own. Not every native speaker can be a good Georgian teacher. I would say that very few can. That is why if I were choosing the Georgian teacher for me now I would always ask what is their experience in explaining grammar and teaching adults. There are already studies for future teachers of Georgian as a foreign language. I met many Georgian teachers along the way and the ones I study with now are the best ones. Because yes, I still study Georgian to become a sworn translator and interpreter.
How it was with me working as a Georgian teacher?
Sometime after coming back to Poland I was getting questions from time to time if I can teach Georgian from basics. The word spread out and I started preparing my own additional study materials. In the meantime I started working in financial sector and IT, got experience as a manager, trainer and business coach and it helped me a lot in transferring those modern methods of teaching adults into my study programs. It may be that my journalist and PR specialist experience helped as well. This I do not know, but I got many positive feedbacks over the years that I can teach Georgian almost anybody.
It may sound cheesy, but the reason I decided to focus more on growing Languages of the Caucasus is I wanted you to have a better start in learning Georgian language. Even already more than 15 years passed since I wanted to find my first Georgian study book (there was only one good and modern available called Biliki), not that much has changed. Especially if you want to study Georgian not being in Georgia that time. That is why I teamed up with experienced Georgian teachers and experts from the region – shoutout to everyone cooperating with Języki Kaukazu – Languages of the Caucasus – so we can bring Georgia and soon the whole Caucasus to your home and phone.
I can talk for hours about my experience with learning Georgian, also how I learn now, which is quite different from how I studied Georgian at the beginning or about living in Georgia for almost 2 years and also working there.
But let’s do like that – if you have any questions, let us know in the comments or drop me a DM on our Facebook or Instagram. You can also send me an e-mail if you are signed up on our newsletter the Caucasian mail and mention all the questions. If you are not yet recipient of weekly Caucasian Mail, link to join is in the description. So send me any question you have and I can answer and maybe have another episode with some personal stories. Also let me know if you like episodes like that as well, more personal ones?
To sum up, thanks for listening to the today’s episode and the story of my life. I hope you enjoyed it. For me it was a nice trip in time, especially that I am recording it exactly 20 years after Rose Revolution from which it all started. Remember to follow us, subscribe and share it with one friend who is also interested in the Caucasus.
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