Georgian Language and Me

Three and a half years ago some Georgian friends told me that I would never learn Georgian since it was too difficult a language for most foreigners (that is the Republic of Georgia…). At the time I said, “Bullshit, I can learn Georgian!”

After about a year I gave up. Sorry. My friends were correct.

Lately I have found that the previously tolerant and understanding Georgians, those same people who told me laughingly that I would never learn Georgian, are now getting very angry at me. If I speak in English I am being disrespectful, and if I try to speak in Georgian I am being rude because of my poor pronunciation. I am damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

Over the last few weeks I finally confirmed exactly why I cannot learn Georgian: I cannot hear the sounds. Not only can I not correctly hear the variety of ‘k’ sounds, but I cannot distinguish between the various ‘g’ and ‘j’ sounds. I am also incapable hearing the differences between the ‘t’, ‘s’ and ‘z’ sounds. They all just sound the same to me. Also, many of the vowel sounds are beyond my range of hearing. For instance I try to say ‘sami’ (three) and I cannot get the ‘a’ sound correct. I try a hard ‘a’, a soft ‘a’, a mixture of ‘a’ and ‘o’ or some other vowels. What ever I end up saying it incorrect.