In between all my Turkish studies and media consumption, I've begun some of my Georgian lessons. I've now completed two lessons from Dodona Kiziria's "Beginning Georgian", as well as the first three lessons in the Peace Corps Georgian language Beginner Program.
Both courses start off with the alphabet. I'm pretty comfortable with it by now. In fact, I remembered quite a bit of it from my look at it last April. I've set my laptop up to be able to use the Georgian keyboard layout, and I've also got a soft Georgian keyboard for my Android tablet. I don't really plan on doing to much handwriting, but I also have Genial Writing that I can use.
In the following two lessons of each course, they go over basic introductions, the present tense for "to be", etc. Interestingly, Georgian does not have an infinitive form for verbs, so all verbs are noted in an active form. The Kiziria book always uses the second person singular form. It'll be interesting to see how useful dictionaries are when I get to the point of needing them. I know that there are a couple dictionaries out there that list every person and conjugation of a verb. That seems like overkill to me, but when the time comes, we'll see.
One of my goals I've listed over on accompl.sh for Georgian this year is to learn the words to one popular song every month. I've found a pretty great Georgian music site here that I think will help a lot for that. It's going to take me a while to settle on which songs I want to learn, but the characteristics that I'm looking for are something that will aid in my pronunciation and a good, singable melody.
Speaking of accompl.sh, I've also joined a fairly active challenge over there to complete 8 lessons of a language course within 30 days. I'm using the Kiziria course for that.
I initially thought that it would be difficult finding resources to learn Georgian, but I'm finding plenty. Certainly enough to keep me busy.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Infomercials
Infomercials. I generally hate them. They don't add anything positive to my life, and what they're usually peddling isn't something I would want, much less need.
So last night in between my usual Turkish shows "Yabancı Damat" and "Günaydın" on Kanal D there was about a ten minute gap that they sometimes use to show music videos or other random things. Last night it happened to be an infomercial. I've seen the infomercial before, or at least when it starts, but I usually switch away before I even know what the product is that they're selling. Out of laziness, I kept the infomercial running, figuring it would only be ten minutes before the news came on. The product they were selling was four jars of honey, and included a free sample of pollen.
I learned a couple words I had no use for before, but now I can't forget them. Why? These infomercials tend to repeat and repeat and repeat the product and testimonials. I counted ten times that the words "kavanoz" and "balı" ("jar" and "honey") were used within a ten minute period, each time clearly showing and using the product. I didn't know these words before. I do now. They were drilled into my head. Had I not already known what the testimonials were saying, I would have also learned those too (there were many, many "çok güzel"s and "süper"s).
After watching the news last night, before going to bed I thought about blogging about the infomercial right then, but decided I wanted to test how ingrained these new words were. Well, they're as fresh as when they were drilled into my brain last night.
So now I've got a new tool in my arsenal of learning materials. The next time I see an infomercial come on, I won't switch away. I'll probably learn a thing or two.
So last night in between my usual Turkish shows "Yabancı Damat" and "Günaydın" on Kanal D there was about a ten minute gap that they sometimes use to show music videos or other random things. Last night it happened to be an infomercial. I've seen the infomercial before, or at least when it starts, but I usually switch away before I even know what the product is that they're selling. Out of laziness, I kept the infomercial running, figuring it would only be ten minutes before the news came on. The product they were selling was four jars of honey, and included a free sample of pollen.
I learned a couple words I had no use for before, but now I can't forget them. Why? These infomercials tend to repeat and repeat and repeat the product and testimonials. I counted ten times that the words "kavanoz" and "balı" ("jar" and "honey") were used within a ten minute period, each time clearly showing and using the product. I didn't know these words before. I do now. They were drilled into my head. Had I not already known what the testimonials were saying, I would have also learned those too (there were many, many "çok güzel"s and "süper"s).
After watching the news last night, before going to bed I thought about blogging about the infomercial right then, but decided I wanted to test how ingrained these new words were. Well, they're as fresh as when they were drilled into my brain last night.
So now I've got a new tool in my arsenal of learning materials. The next time I see an infomercial come on, I won't switch away. I'll probably learn a thing or two.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
And 2012 begins...
2012 is already off to a good start!
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to really be concentrating on improving my Turkish. That means I need to increase my vocabulary. I'll be continuing with Turkish TV and radio, using the usual Kanal D, CNNTürk and PowerTürk, as well as anything else that I can consume.
I also managed to get my hands on the complete set of Yeni Hitit. Amazon lists the full three-volume course at $260.00 USD. I paid $20 bucks for the used set, with the accompanying CDs. Only the first volume looks like it's been used at all - and not much at that, so I got a deal! I'll probably do a light review of volume 1 (I've already begun), then start in earnest on volume 2 and work my way through volume 3. Volume 2 supposedly takes you through B1 level, which is currently where I rank myself, albeit a low B1. Volume three claims a B2/C1 level.
My vocabulary is currently at close to 3000 words, and my plan is to double that number.
And I'm going to start to learn a little Georgian. I've already gathered all the learning materials I plan to use to hopefully get to an A2 level. I've got Dodona Kiziria's "Beginning Georgian"as well as George Hewitt's "Georgian: A Learner's Grammar". I'll probably be using the Learner's Grammar as a reference, nothing more. Later on in the year, I plan on adding is some real media to the mix in the form of music, movies and broadcast TV.
I've already slowly begun a couple Georgian lessons. I'm pleasantly surprised at the number of Turkish cognates I'm running into, and expect I'll be running into them all year long.
This year I hope to keep this blog's postings better tagged. Looking back over last year's entries, they were all overlapped, most having either two or three languages tagged in each, which defeats the purpose of having tags at all. So I'll try to post separately for each language instead.
And with that, 2012 Turkish/Georgian is under way!
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to really be concentrating on improving my Turkish. That means I need to increase my vocabulary. I'll be continuing with Turkish TV and radio, using the usual Kanal D, CNNTürk and PowerTürk, as well as anything else that I can consume.
I also managed to get my hands on the complete set of Yeni Hitit. Amazon lists the full three-volume course at $260.00 USD. I paid $20 bucks for the used set, with the accompanying CDs. Only the first volume looks like it's been used at all - and not much at that, so I got a deal! I'll probably do a light review of volume 1 (I've already begun), then start in earnest on volume 2 and work my way through volume 3. Volume 2 supposedly takes you through B1 level, which is currently where I rank myself, albeit a low B1. Volume three claims a B2/C1 level.
My vocabulary is currently at close to 3000 words, and my plan is to double that number.
And I'm going to start to learn a little Georgian. I've already gathered all the learning materials I plan to use to hopefully get to an A2 level. I've got Dodona Kiziria's "Beginning Georgian"as well as George Hewitt's "Georgian: A Learner's Grammar". I'll probably be using the Learner's Grammar as a reference, nothing more. Later on in the year, I plan on adding is some real media to the mix in the form of music, movies and broadcast TV.
I've already slowly begun a couple Georgian lessons. I'm pleasantly surprised at the number of Turkish cognates I'm running into, and expect I'll be running into them all year long.
This year I hope to keep this blog's postings better tagged. Looking back over last year's entries, they were all overlapped, most having either two or three languages tagged in each, which defeats the purpose of having tags at all. So I'll try to post separately for each language instead.
And with that, 2012 Turkish/Georgian is under way!
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