Fabrika - Place to be

I already mentioned Fabrika, the multifunctional space located a brief walk from Marjanishvili metro station. Since a few days, I moved here, as there is air conditioning, which is essential in this heat, but I had no idea how awesome this place is.

 

 

The place is an old Soviet sewing factory (hence the name, Fabrika), transformed in such a way that it brims with pop culture and urban mood (graffiti and wall art), but keeping the old style alive (concrete, pipes and industrial furniture).

 

 

 

 

 

The rooms are amazing, spacious, clean and cool. The toilets and the showers are directly out of a 80's American teen movie and the breakfast just amazing. If I wasn't going to rent an apartment, I'd probably try to bargain a long-term private room for my entire stay, beat style.

 

 

 

 

 

To this you have to add the yard, where anyone can gather, where you can drink, eat and socialise. And attend gigs to, like the Tbilisi-based Iranian duo NUM, who will play here tonight. 

 

First week

The first week of Georgian lessons are over. I am enjoying them very much, although they are difficult, but the teacher is also very patient!

Maybe the biggest nightmare I faced until now are numbers. From 1 to 10 they are OK, and also from 11 to 29 they are relatively OK. It's from 30 that the folly begins. Like in French, some numbers are obtained by sum or multiplication, or both. So, for 30 we have 20+10. 20 is ოცი (otsi), 10 is ათი (ati), 30 is ოცდაათი (otsdaati).

It gets worse of course especially if you think about their inordinate love for consonant orgies. 76? სამოცდათექვსმეტი (samotsdatekvsmet'i), which literally means "sixty and sixteen" (60+16=76). You must do bloody math! 159?. ას ორმოცდაცხრამეტი, transliterated is "as ormotsdatskhramet'i", which is a wonderful [100+(2x20)+19]=159.

After this, the ergative case and the aorist tense are a breeze...

 

Am I doing any progress, anyway? Yes, I am. My biggest personal task is to strenghten and expand my vocabulary. I am able to buy things in shops, answer to some (very) basic questions but real conversations are yet a thing to come. I am slightly faster in reading Georgian characters, although when words start to be a bit long, I slow down considerably.

 

But I am not in any hurry...

 

Georgian lessons - 1

პირვეი ქართული გაყვეთლი, დღეს! (First Georgian lesson, today!)

We didn't start from the very beginning, as I'm already OK with alphabet, pronunciation and some other basics, but we didn't entirely skip those. I got some long-standing questions answered, learned new words (გუშინწინ, "the day before yesterday", აღარ, "not anymore"). Nino, the teacher is really good, she also explained me that I will hear a lot of mistakes in everyday spoken Georgian, but I should strive to avoid them. I was about to explain her about congiuntivo, but I passed...

And I got homework! It's really back to school!

 

 

 

Learning Georgian

As far as I remember, this is why I am here. Learning Georgian. So today I had my first contact with my future teachers, at the Tbilisi Technical University. I had a very good impression of them, they asked me a lot of questions about what I aim to achieve, what were my studies, etc.

The director was particularly pleased to know I studied Latin, as it's surely closer to Georgian in structure (case-based grammar, lack of articles, etc) than Italian. They also seemed surprised I could already pronounce ყ, but they can't know my past struggles... 

Anyway, the plan is to do a semi-intensive private course. Five days per week, two hours per day, from 09:00 to 11:00, so to be free afterwards to work (11:00 in Georgia is 09:00 in Italy). Two days with a teacher and three with another, with different tasks. It starts next Monday.

I am ready!

Some info on Georgian courses

On August the 1st I will finally land in Tbilisi (seriously, I can't wait!), then I will take contact with the language school. The courses are as follows:

• Georgian language traditional full course, presented in an easy way with case studies, role play, simulations
• Survival Georgian course -26 hours. Just learn Alphabet and Basic Conversational Georgian
• Everyday Georgian course -28 hours. Study and go out with teacher to practice and activate your knowledge
• Conversational Georgian with a focus on communicative skills – 110 hours
• Trad. Georgian course - 45 hours. European Language Scale – A1/American -1 
• Trad. Georgian course - 45 hours. European Language Scale – A2/American -1 + 
• Trad. Georgian course - 70 hours. European Language Scale – B1/American -2 
• Trad. Georgian course - 80 hours. European Language Scale – B2/American – 3 
• Trad. Georgian course - 90 hours. European Language Scale – C1/American – 4 
• Preparation for Georgian language exam at FSI (Foreign Service Institute)
• Course on technical and Georgian.

I don't really need a C1, so I might focus on getting a B1, which is described as the intermediate level:

"Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."

Once I get there I'll see what best suits me. There is more than one language school in Tbilisi, although this is the arguably the best, as diplomats study here once they get to Georgia. Look at the short but impressive speech given by Justin McKenzie, the new British ambassador to Georgia. Sure, there are some pauses and incertainties, but hey...

Georgian? Is it like Russian?

Georgian (ქართული) is a non-indoeuropean language, the main member of the Kartvelian language branch. It’s spoken mainly in Georgia and it’s the official language of the Republic of Georgia. Other languages belonging to this family are Mingrelian (მეგრული), Svan (სვანური) and Laz (ლაზური). Needless to say, it has *nothing* to do with Russian.

During its long history, Georgian has been written using three different scripts. Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli (the last one is used for everyday matters, while the first two are only used by the Georgian Orthodox Church).

The Mkhedruli script (meaning “military”) is composed of 33 characters, with a strict grapheme-phoneme correspondence. It has 28 consonants and 5 vowels, and it’s unicameral (no uppercase-lowercase differences). It’s written from left to right.

Notable characteristics of Georgian are the lack of gender, a case-system grammar and an inordinate love for overwhelming consonant clusters.

It’s surely a challenge, but one I am willing to take.