Language dork....

I am such a big one.

Ma ei räägu eesti keelt!

In November 2004 I was with my friend Jon in Tallinn, Estonia and we decided to go to the Lutheran mass at the cathedral. We were given a program of the readings and music. Since i didn't know much estonian, and i didn't want to be disruptive during the service. i figured out where the Lord's Prayer was in the program based on the repetition patterns, and began isolating all kinds of Estonian morphemes out of the data. I figured out I would say about 8 sets of case endings, the verbal morphology, the pronomial system, the main christian vocabulary, and by the end of the mass i had a pretty good idea what we were singing about in the responsive choruses in Estonian.

Now i am making little flash cards to start learning the basics of one of the most difficult languages in the world: Georgian (Kartuli)

Georgian has not one, but 6 ejective consonants! It has cases i have never heard of before! i am such a dork. I love learning these new squiggly words beginning with impossible consonant combinations. I kid you not, mtvshkhra is a possible Georgian word.

ბამარჯოგად ერდი შაშლიჩ დუ შეიკლეგა! gamarjobat erti shashlyk tu sheidzleba

I can now order a shashlyk politely in Kartuli. I am ready to go.

Thanks for all of the people who have had to put up with me talking about vowel shifts, bantu gender systems and aboriginal languages over the last 5 years. Thanks for feigning interest.

Its nice to know that there is something you are good at. :)

ბმათლოგდ tänan kiitos paldies ačiū danke merci gracias grazi multumesc спасибо дякую hvala zdravo dekuji дзякуй takk obrigado faleminderit teşekürler