Customer Reviews

Georgian: A Learner's Grammar (Essential Grammars)

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Professor George Hewitt obviously did not condescend to have his manuscript checked by a native speaker. probably having assumed his knowledge of Georgian is flawless. BUT GEORGIANS DO NOT SPEAK THE WAY MR. HEWITT ASSUMES THEY DO! Besides numerous grammatical mistakes, many syntactically clumsy sentences can be understood only if they are translated verbatim back into English. The author constantly mixes different speech styles, polite formulas with rude or substandard expressions. Here is a piece of "friendly" conversation among two students: "Oh dear, what are those boils (that have) popped out on your face?!", asked one student. "There are no pimples (on my face), you good for nothing", retaliates the latter. The Georgian equivalent of "good for nothing" is far more insulting and far less expected to be used among friends than in English.

The book also contains a number of thoroughly politicized dialogues that refer to extremely complex and sensitive political and ethnic problems plaguing contemporary Georgia. The author, however, has no problem finding the "right" answers and never hesitates to offer (through the mouth of his fictional characters) "wise" advise to Georgians, who are invariably presented as obnoxious, servile, and vulgar. On page 172, a Georgian congratulates his British acquaintance who "has guessed the Georgians' boastfulness. In another dialogue a speaker asks his friend: "Was it our obnoxious character that caused the mistakes we made?" (page 334) A certain Paata is telling his interlocutor (his boss or someone his senior) that he, just like every Georgian, "doesn't give a damn" what the words on his T-shirt mean, as long as it is foreign made (page 191) The Georgian equivalent of the expression "don't give a damn" (literally "it's hanging on my legs") is much ruder than the English, and nobody would use it while speaking to his superior, unless one would want to be intentionally rude.

In order to demonstrate a certain type of verb conjugation, Professor Hewitt found it admissible to use the obscenities "you pee" and "you take a crap", which he translates as "you urinate" and "you defecate" respectively (page 52). One can imagine how embarrassed a person would find himself if he were to use these words in a conversation with a doctor, for instance. Professor Hewitt must have decide to "improve" even Georgian folklore and has transformed a humorous tongue twister: " A frog is croaking in the water" into " A frog is croaking in the putrid water" (page 5). An English speaker would certainly be surprised to read something like: " Peter Piper Picked a peck of putrid peppers". Professor Hewitt is known as a talented linguist and it is a pity that he has disgraced himself by writing a textbook which is insulting and humiliating the people whose language he is supposed to be teaching to unsuspecting students. Furthermore, Georgian a Learner's Grammar should be subtitled "Hate the Georgians!" Such a title would best reflect the sense of venom which permeates the entire book. Sincerely, Professor Dodona Kiziria Indiana University

Hewitt's book may be considered useful as long as you need only an exhaustive and detailed description of Georgian grammar but you will never learn Gerogian with it. The book completely lacks an effective and efficient language teaching method and is very poor didactically for many reasons, among which the following, that immediately catch the eyes: a) the texts and the words in the first lessons are given in latin transliteration only - a very confusing transliteration indeed! - without the corresponding Georgian; switching to Georgian in further lessons is almost shocking. b) The abundant and complex grammar information (nouns, verbs, declensions...) are cumulated without the clarity necessary for learning (no tables, no schemes). c) The dialogues, translated only in the first lessons, are pointless, even sensless, and abstract from real conversation topics; you come out with the impressions that Goergians can't do anything but sitting on the grass! In complete desperation, I have quitted reading Hewitt's grammar after the very second lesson and I've switched to a very good grammar in Russian edition Hewitt's grammar is definitively neither optimized for self-learning neither a practical language tutorial! I do not recommend it!

If you are interested in learning Georgian, avoid this book! I lived in Tbilisi for two years and studied Georgian with a tutor, who (mercifully) used a locally-produced book that was infinitely more accessible. I already owned the Hewitt text and for awhile I attempted to use it on the side, hoping to flesh out my understanding of Georgian grammar. But I quickly realized just how bad this book was.

I found Hewitt's explanations of grammar to be difficult and unhelpful -- perhaps a trained linguist would find this text easier to use, but I (who have no such training) found it merely frustrating. Along the same lines, the transcription he uses for Georgian was confusing in comparison with the way Georgian is "normally" transcribed (why use an "x" for the unvoiced velar fricative, which is much more commonly transcribed as "kh," for instance?).

But by far the most annoying thing about this book is the author's choice of examples. Unlike one of the other reviewers, I am in no position to comment on the authenticity or correctness of the grammar, syntax, registers, etc. But I have formally studied a number of other languages, and the sample sentences chosen here are simply some of the worst I have ever seen. For instance, here are a few representative sentences from his "English-Georgian phrase list" at the back of the book:

"I don't fancy tripe today."

"Without so much as a by-your-leave that woman got up and ran out hell-for-leather -- what's going on?"

"Let's gather together the relevant documents."

"A fish-bone apparently got stuck in her throat."

I understand that perhaps Hewitt was trying to illustrate very specific grammatical points here, but couldn't he have made more of an effort to provide examples that are based in the real world of everyday life?

If you want to learn Georgian, I would recommend anything BUT this textbook. Howard Aronson's "Georgian: A Reading Grammar" from Slavica Press is much better than this "tripe" which I did not fancy at all.

Georgian is unquestionably a difficult language for a lot of reasons. It would be good to have a book that teaches, say, the 1000 most important words, introduces verb conjugations gradually and simplifies a very complicated subject. Although the book does cover a lot of information, it isn't really all that suitable for learners. Perhaps in the next edition it could be revised to simplify the presentation of difficult grammar, to include more repetition of the vocabulary. It could be accompanied by a cassette of the vocabulary and the dialogues. That would make it much more valuable. However, Georgian is not an easy subject to teach and the author deserves commendation for at least making a brave effort. As to the comments of the other reviewers, perhaps they should be less sensitive to perceived slights. Why don't they write a book on Georgian language? Mr Hillary has made it possible for willing students to get a grasp of this fascinating language.

I agree with many, at least, of the criticisms already voiced of this book. The presentation is too often indigestible and confusing (for one thing, Hewitt apparently expects the student to learn whole lists of verbs or verbal phrases, including "you scratch your head", "you clean your ear", "you dye your hair" and "you wipe your nose", as examples of particular verb forms), and the dialogues generally seem more Martian than Georgian ("How green the grass is!", etc.). Could the author have been laughing up his sleeve?

I was utterly mystified and dismayed when I received my copy of Georgian: A Learner's Grammar. Georgian grammar is inherently difficult to learn, but Hewitt's way of explaining things will go over the heads of everyone except perhaps the most advanced linguist. I studied Georgian for two years before picking up the book and still couldn't make sense of what Hewitt was talking about.

What is worse, the vocabulary and phrases he uses as examples are utterly inappropriate for a beginning language textbook. Reading the sample sentences, you would get the impression that Georgians are a crude and violent people. I felt insulted reading this, and I'm not even Georgian! At any rate, there is no way you can use Hewitt to glean the kind of useful everday conversational language that an introductory book like this ought to provide.

Routledge, a respected academic publisher, really dropped the ball on this title. There appears to be absolutely no editorial oversight; any self-respecting editor would have refused to publish a book like this. Read Prof. Kiziria's critique below for more details--she really hits the nail on the head.

While I understand that Georgian textbooks are a small commodity, it does not mean that one should buy anything about Georgian. I do have a copy of 'Georgian: A Learner's Grammar,' as well as 'Beginner's Georgian,' 'Georgian: A Reading Grammar' and 'Georgian Language and Culture.' As far as this book is concerned, I was not aware of it's short-comings when I bought it. Though I do have the 2005 version as apposed to the earlier version. The 2005 version has been 'revised and corrected' and two Georgian speakers have proof-read the book, but I wouldn't know how much has changed between the two versions and if it has been improved to be a viable textbook. The grammar is comprehensive (though I don't know how correct it is, yet). The explanations are still a little dense and hard to follow. The book attempts to be very through with the grammar that is introduced. I think that is the books greatest flaw. It tries to present so much in such a short time. And the explanations are not the clearest for non-linguists. Also there is no audio for the book. Audio is essential for anyone learning another language, especially one this different from English.

I find it very compelling that Dodona Kiziria (a professor of Georgian language, and native speaker!), wrote a review herself, and pointed out the short-comings that us learners could never see ourselves. My thanks to her. Though she did write it about the '96 version, not the revised '05 version.

I would steer people towards the other books I cited in my review first, and then if they wish, to use this book (with caution) after getting a good foundation in the language. Georgian: A Reading Grammar, 'Georgian Language and Culture' (which is a bit hard to come-by now-a-days), and Beginner's Georgian are your best bet to start in Georgian.

I bought this book in hopes of learning Georgian when I was 18, and it was way, way, way over my head back then. Now, nearly 10 years later, this book still collects dust, and I've forgotten pretty much everything.

The book luckily starts with the alphabet and some easy phrases, but then drops you off in the deep end, introducing rather heavy topics that will go over the heads of anyone who is not extremely well versed in linguistic and grammatical terms (which I now am, yet still loathe this book). The pronunciation is all based on English English, and gives examples which are different in other forms of English, or just obscure.

The worst part is that a lot of the material here is not useful outside of the book. Just have a look at the "handy phrases" in the back of the book, if you need any more proof! The explaination of the grammar makes this already daunting language even more difficult, and I'm sure will turn many people off from learning Georgian if they start with this book.

One review stated that this "has no serious rival." I hope that will soon change, and some other book will knock this waste of paper off that pedestal. Just because it is the only book on the subject, does not mean that it is good. In fact, in this case, it just flat out sucks, to use the parlance of our times.

Trying to learn Georgian is like banging your head off the wall. It is an incredibly difficult language, the main problem being the verb, which frequently must agree with the subject, the direct object and the indirect object. Not only that, but verbs can take different cases depending on what tense they are in.

But if you still want to learn Georgian after all that, this is a good book to use. The dialogues are interesting, the vocabulary rich and varied, and the exercises are quite funny.

Learning Georgian is no lark, but this is a well designed book that can help the persistent learner on his way. I'm on chapter seven, but I still have a lot to learn.

jalian kargi cignia (It's a very good book)

I was looking over the other reviews for this book and I would have to say they're a bit over exaggerated. I'm not a native speaker of Georgian; however, I've been learning for 1 week already and I would have to say this book is very good. It sort of reminds me of the teach yourself series. What I would recommend anyone who uses this book to do, is to make sure they use this book along with other resources. It's a very good book, but I would advise you to use other resources along with it. I felt a bit bad for the reviews this book has received so I thought that I would put my two sense in. Thanks for writing this book for serious Georgian learners Mr. Hewitt.

best,

Moses M McCormick