So what is new with Georgian?
I got a basic handle on Georgian numbers. I heard from several people “oh, they’re soooo hard, they don’t make any sense”! It takes forever to learn Georgian numbers…
Bumpkus!
They are based on groups of (or base) 20 – sort of similar to French eg:
20 =ოცი = otsi = ( twenty )
40 = ორმოცი = ormotsi = ( 2 twenty)
60 = სამოცი = samotsi = ( 3 twenty )
80 = ოთხმოცი = otkhmotsi = (4 twenty )
SO, to form the numbers between 21 and 99 you just use : 20, 40, 60, or 80, drop the final i, add da ( which means and) and the number from 1 to 19; e.g.:
21 = ოცდაერთი = otsdaerti = (20 + 1)
30 = ოცდაათი otsdaati = (20 + 10)
38 = ოცდათვრამეტი = otsdatvrameti = (20 + 18)
47 = ორმოცდაშვიდი = ormotsdašvidi = (2 x 20 + 7)
99 = ოთხმოცდაცხრამეტი = otkhmotsdatskhrameti = (4 x 20 + 19)
100 = ასი = asi (hundred)
1000 = ათასი = at-asi ( ten – hundred) etc. etc.
:and that’s it! Sorry people, not that hard.
I have almost finished the Peace Corps booklet. I am on Unit 10 but it only goes up to 11. (feel free to insert your own Spinal Tap joke here) Unit 10 is the “food” unit and I am having a really hard time listening to it without becoming ravenously hungry. Georgian food sounds delicious! მშია = mshia = I’m hungry.
The big news is that on the Video #8 at exactly 1:02 … Keti SMILES!! (she even almost laughs!) … for about 3 seconds. I replayed it about 5 times to make sure I was seeing it right.
It is incredible how many times I have to play the Georgian phrases over before they “click”. Yeah, that’s right; Georgian is hard. OK, got it, must keep moving on!
I have also moved on to Unit 1 of Kiziria’s Beginners Georgian. It is not nearly as intimidating as it was a few weeks ago. I do think the Peace Corps Introduction is a great way to “get one’s feet wet” with Georgian. I would highly recommend the Peace Corps course to anyone starting out with Georgian. I’d say I know, perhaps 50-75 Georgian words now; up from zero two weeks ago.
Even though I am comfortable with the alphabet, it is still taking me a long time to read full sentences. I can really empathize with my 5 year old son who is learning to read. I feel like we are on about the same level (with my Georgian reading – I feel fairly comfortable reading English).
Moving forward this week, on to Kiziria Unit 2 where I learn how to have a Georgian phone conversation. I imagine this will be a very, very brief conversation with my 100 word vocabulary…