Beginner's Georgian with 2 Audio CDs (Hippocrene Beginner's) Bilingual Edition

This book is not a language survival tool but a basis for attaining a foundation in Georgian that would support more advanced study. In addition, it is suitable for self-study with answer keys provided for the exercises. Two audio CDs cover the text. This is especially important for listening to the dialogs.I visited Tbilisi in May 2019 and vowed that I would not return without substantial language skills in Georgian. While one can get by with Russian in Azerbaijan and Armenia, that is not the case with Georgia, where especially younger people regard the Russian as the language of the enemy. Speaking Russian sometimes elicited anger and hostility. I found that Turkish was more useful given all the Turks around in the restaurant sector in Tbilisi.While I have only worked through the first four chapters up to p. 94, I am impressed with this book as an effective learning tool for assimilating the Georgian language. However, several admittedly minor critical comments come to mind:1. Glossaries are not at the end but come before the appendices on grammar. This is annoying when you need to look up a word. Not all the words in the text appear in the glossary.2. The author does not show the reader how to write the letters of the alphabet in terms of strokes and lines. You will need to go to an alternate source for this.3. There are five Georgian consonants that are unaspirated with another five corresponding consonants that are aspirated. The unaspirated consonants are romanized with an apostrophe. I find the apostrophe quite annoying when trying to memorize words; the apostrophes create breaks in syllables. I would have preferred using capital letters for the romanization of these unaspirated Georgian consonants. In memorizing vocabulary orally, I prefer to use romanization. For that reason, I would have preferred that romanization be kept for the terms designated as "Idiomatic Expressions." In long or unusual consonant cluster strings, from the audio CDs, it is apparent that certain consonants get muted or assimilated or at least deemphasized so that a speaker can articulate words smoothly; the romanization might have reflected that by having muted, assimilated or deemphasized consonants italicized.4. It would be even better if the "Cultural Notes" appeared not only in English but in Georgian for supplemental reading purposes. More Georgian language content would have been a plus given the brevity of the text.5. There is no index. I learned how to count from 1-10 from the pre-dialog phase of the text. However, I would want to learn to count from 11-99 immediately. However, I cannot find on which page I can do that or even whether that is included in the text.6. Even more effort placed on distinguishing unaspirated from aspirated consonants would have been useful. I would recommend finding words that have both consonants contained therein like "sapirparesho," in which the first "p" is unaspirated and the second "p" is aspirated. [Regrettably, Google Translate does not have audio for Georgian.] In a single word, it would have been easier to distinguish the difference in sound.The actual text consists of 13 chapters over 217 pages. I shall give myself 4-6 months to thoroughly assimilate the material. There is a substantial amount of vocabulary to memorize.

This is a good book for people wanting to learn more than just tourist Georgian. It's not going to help much for a holiday in Georgia but that's due to the language having a steep learning curve not due to the material in the book. The dialogues are helpful and the format of the book is easy to study from. Good for basics of verb conjugation and some daily life stuff if you live in Georgia.

Georgian has been a very overlooked language. Though there are a few textbooks out there that are easy enough to find, they tend to be either inaccessible in someway or expensive. And there are even fewer textbooks that come with audio. In fact, only Aronson's Georgian Reading Grammar comes with audio (aside from this book). And audio is VERY important to learning this language.Now, to the actual text it self. The lessons are written in clear, conversational language. Whereas Aronson's text is for reading comprehension, this text it for speaking/listening comprehension. This is a much needed textbook and breath of fresh air to Georgian linguistics. The grammar sections are easy to understand and not bogged down with a lot of linguistic jargon. And the exercises have an answer key in the back of the book.Now, the audio. The audio is great. You can hear the speakers very well and clearly. The dialogues are repeated twice. Once at normal speed and then at a slower speed for you to repeat after. Even the vocabulary lists are spoken on the cd's. The only thing that is a shame is that there are no speaking/listening exercises on the cd's (thus a 4 out of 5 instead of 5 out of 5).Overall this is a great textbook though.

I am a reviewer who is neither linguist nor scholar, but nevertheless has a need to learn conversational Georgian. Since January 2009, I purchased whatever I could find available, and have these texts and tools for comparison: 1) Aronson's Georgian: A Reading Grammar (only available without CDs at the time); 2) book2 English-Georgian for beginners from Goethe-Verlag; 3) Talk Now! Georgian; 4) Byki Express and Byki Deluxe.Dodona Kiziria's Beginner's Georgian is far and away the BEST book to start with. Her introduction is easily readable, comprehensive, and incorporates current events, an absolute necessity for those learning at the high school level. Her system of pronunciation, unlike Aronson's, is simple, allowing learners to write transliterated Georgian on a standard English querty keyboard. I especially appreciated the lessons in polite behavior displayed in the conversational lessons and Culture Notes in each chapter.A teacher's true genius lies in order and pacing: Ms. Dodona's book is such a masterpiece. A difficulty I had, differentiating aspirated and unaspirated consonant sounds, was dealt with simply and at the very beginning. Useful words and expressions, including numbers, how to tell time and date, and how to address family members are up front in a separate chapter, allowing one to practice these on a daily basis as a language warmup.The other books, CDs, and programs I have all have something valuable to offer. But take my advice: start HERE!

I'm having a lot of trouble with this book because the typeface is so small I'm having a really hard time reading the Georgian text. I know the alphabet, and have been following the directions stated so clearly at the beginning of the book, but my inability to read the text easily has impeded my progress significantly and caused great frustration with a language that is the most difficult language I've ever attempted. (I'm facile with other alphabets and languages.)