Customer Reviews

Georgian: A Reading Grammar

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This course assumes considerable familiarity with linguistic and grammatical terminology, which makes it concise but challenging for someone who is new to learning foreign languages. The chapters are large and present a lot of information at one time, and the vocabularies for each chapter are extensive (two or three pages of new words per chapter). Starting in the fifth chapter, there are unedited reading samples from original Georgian sources, some of which make for interesting reading. No familiarity with the Georgian alphabet is assumed, so the book begins by introducing the alphabet letter-by-letter, with a description of the sound and (very helpfully) a stroke-by-stroke depiction of how to write it. There is a Georgian-English glossary (which is very complete--you will find every word used in the text without recourse to a dictionary) but no English-Georgian. There are lots of exercises to work (each chapter offers about forty sentences or paragraphs) and there is a key for all the exercises. The grammar is well organized, and has a very progressive, linear feel to it. The typesetting is good and the Georgian script is quite legible except in the reading excerpts, some of which are difficult to make out at times. The pictures and illustrations are not clear at all, and don't add much. The recordings are not impressive either. There is only one voice, and she reads all the exercises and readings. There's lots of material to hear, but the recording quality is bad; the levels are low and you can hear extraneous noises at times (page turns, other voices). If you're interested in Georgian and willing to work, this is an important reference to have. But for the casual learner or someone who wants to learn conversational skills, I can't advise it. Conversational phrases are relegated to a two-page appendix and there is very little dialogue in the rest of the book.

Standard reference works are seldom the best place for getting started with a language, and Aronson's widespread manual is no exception. While providing a wealth of grammatical information and unvaluable guidelines for verb-conjugation (georgian verbs being notorious for their dazzling difficulty), the book somehow fails to guide the student to a linear and progressive acquisition of the language. No would-be autodidact may hope to survive such a mercyless straightforward approach without the help of a teacher. The typesetting is, far from clear, frankly awful: chaotic and far better suited for cheap lecture notes. The tables and schemes are so ridiculously spartan that one has to write everything out by himself to make some sense of the tangle (imagine an english verb being explained as "I/you/he [will/is going to/would] write(s)). Professor Hewitt's big grammar being unfortunately a masterpiece of chaos, Aronson's work may well aspire to the rank of best linguistic reference for the georgian language in english: any advanced student will wish to have it at hand for comparison. Beginners, however, ought to look elsewhere. Proficient in russian will find an excellent starting point in G. I. Zibakhashvili's "Samouchitel' gruzinskogo yazyka" (Balavari 1991), while readers with good command of german will surely enjoy Lascha Bakradse's "Georgisch Wort für Wort" (Peter Rump Verlag 1994). Further material of interest will be wound in Tschenkeli and Fähnrich. I wish good luck to every aspiring kartvelologist out there, because he will need much!

I agree that it is a "slow read." But I think it is well worth it. When you work your way through the exercises at the end of each chapter you will be amazed how much you have learned. The really terrific thing is there are answer keys to all exercises as well. It is rare to find answer keys these days so that really adds to the value of the book for a self-starter.

Howard's I. Aronson's book is very useful especially to those who are able to make use of the detailed information provided in linguistic terminology. As I am a professional linguist, I find the book excellent for my studies of Georgian. It is a good supplement to Dodona Kiziria's Beginner's Georgian (which on the contrary approaches the reader as one unaware of linguistics). Aronson's grammar is structured logically, the exercises are valuable and it leads one to substantial progress. I recommend the book to those whose intention is to learn the Gerogian language above the level of everyday conversation.

It would be absolutely wrong to judge this book by what it isn't- a course to develop conversational skills. But with little or no wasted space, it breaks down the many difficult aspects of this extraordinarily complicated language and provides a wealth of examples and exercises. The proofing of the work is meticulous too: you simply do not find words used in the text that are not glossed- a standard very few language texts nowadays come close to meeting. The tapes are a necessary adjunct, and although they certainly would benefit from digitalization, they are still quite usable. Readers should be warned that linguistic terminology is out in force, so this book might be a steep hill for someone learning a foreign language for the first time. Original materials work their way into the picture as well, and fairly early, but thanks to the care taken by the author in glossing, they aren't an impossibly difficult challenge. Pull up a seat and stay awhile.

I does'nt agree very much with the other revievers. though a valuable grammar book, and probably the

best ever written on Georgian language grammar, I keep my own opinion that it is improvable. I mean that

a good book of Georgian grammar has been so far never written (in english).

Of course, we are concerned with a difficul topic:

differently than all other languages in the world,

which are explained tipically by splitting the grammar into two part, a first concerning nouns and adjectives and

a second one dealing with verbs, Georgian language has a particular verbal structure which does not allow such

perfect splitting. The Georgian verbal systems, besides very difficult and complex as to the morphology,

is indeed over-loaded in that the phrase's semantic is mostly carried on by the verb. Therefore it's practically

impossible to write down a grammar in a traditional way and the verbal system needs often to be partially

explained in advance.

With that being said, I found however the Aronson book very un-practical in that mixing verb's conjugation facts

with noun's declension and other topics. I guess that improvements are possible, even for this difficult language.

Besides all, this book has a value: it gives to readers a sense of how difficult Georgian is..

In fact, this book is very far from being a complete explaination of Georgian grammar.

The very difficulty of this language is indeed the notion itself of 'verb'.

What is A verb in Georgian (I mean ONE particular verb, the 'identity' of a 'single' verb) is far from being

clear, and Aronson's book does'nt clarify this point.

I point out to this purpose a lot of work (research work in linguistics) been carried out by Kevin Tuite

concerning the problem of 'Paradigm recruitment' for Georgian verbs. This is indeed the central point

which have to be clarified before writing a Georgian grammar book. Thus, the hope is that Kevin Tuite

could write down in the future such 'good' book of Georgian grammar, up to now non-existing.

This book, though the only textbook in the Georgian language available in English, is not for beginners, unless accompanied by a Georgian tutor with fluent English, as the explanations of grammar points are not at all coherent (granted, it would be truly difficult to explain Georgian manner coherently in English as it is). However, it is full of vocabulary and the ways to use words, and includes a somewhat useful dictionary at the end that includes a listing of verbs in third person singular present tense, an invaluable tool for any student of Georgian language at any level. I only wish that dictionary was more extensive, as it is somewhat limited, as it includes only vocabulary used in the book. An actual, usable English-Georgian dictionary has yet been written, though.

First off this is a textbook for learning how to READ Georgian. This is not a textbook for conversation. Thus the grammar is geared more toward reading, and a lot of vocabulary is introduced per chapter. However this is a great and through introduction to the Georgian language. It introduces grammar in a clear and concise manner. It doesn't try to introduce too much at once (as far as grammar is concerned). As far as the vocabulary is concerned, it is not meant to all be learned before you move on to the next lesson. The book is more concerned with a 'passive' vocabulary rather then an 'active' vocabulary. That means that you do not need to learn all of the words by heart, and be able to recall them and their usage in a second as you would with a conversation.

While I do not think this is the best beginner book for Georgian, it is quite possible to learn Georgian if you only used this book. In fact the grammar introduced in this book is quite comprehensive and through. I would recommend Beginner's Georgian by Dodona Kiziria for the beginning student, using this text either with Kiziria's book, or after finishing Kiziria's book. Still this book is an excellent introduction to Georgian grammar and vocabulary. It even has a great follow-up text, 'Georgian Language and Culture: A Continuing Course,' which unfortunately is a rare find now-a-days.

Professor Aronson's book is extremely detailed and thorogh. Considering Georgian's complexity, it is quite readable while going into every detail of the language (especially the mind-bending verbal system!). Together with Kita Tschenkeli's fundamental two-tome course and three-tome dictionary (both in German), this volume is a must for all serious students of the Georgian language.

I agree pretty much with the other reviewers. This is an excellent and thorough reference work on Georgian grammar. I prefer it to the Hewitt book on Georgian grammar. However as a book by which the beginning student can learn Georgian I have some reservations. This is in no way a "teach yourself Georgian" type book. Georgian grammar (particularly the verb) is quite complicated and to learn it one really needs a Georgian teacher with this book as a useful supplement. When I first got this book in 1999 it came with some cassettes. I don't know if those are still available.