Why should you learn Georgian?

Since you are on my website, I assume you’ve already developed some interest on Georgian, or at least, are curious!

That’s great! Curiosity is what makes you smart!

Nonetheless, I want to give you some concrete reasons why you should invest some time in learning Georgian. I am trying to share my experience here with you as a foreigner who has been living in Tblisi for more than 5 years.

So here we go…

Reason #1 : You want to work in Georgia or make money

Maybe you want to become employed or you want to start your own business in Georgia. You need to learn Georgian!

But most foreigners think they don't. Here is how they (wrongly) reach that conclusion:

Let’s imagine that you are coming here to open your own business, maybe a retail shop. You probably have some arrangements with someone who is already in Georgia to help you with the set-up. It could be a friend or someone that you have hired professionally to assist you with the business.

You meet that person and they speak your language. You feel comfortable communicating with them. Then you proceed to the House of Justice to incorporate your business. You find out that all the employees there speak English and Russian. They do things very efficiently and in a few minutes you are all done! You cannot believe how easy that was…

But that’s the good part of the story. Once you establish your business, it’s certain that you will need to communicate with other Georgians for other services. For example, you want to do some small renovation in your shop. Maybe you need to find a plumber. Well… good luck with that!

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mean there aren't any plumbers in Georgia. There are some good ones actually that I know and work with. But how could you find a plumber if you don’t know the word “khelosani”?

I can bet that you cannot even pronounce that word correctly in order to be understood by Georgians.

And once you find the “khelosani”, how will you explain to him what you want him to do? How can you negotiate the price?

I think you are getting the picture already. For all these tiny jobs, you will need to ask your assistant for help. But if it happens over and over, you cannot expect them to keep doing it for free. You have to hire them on as your assistant.

So little by little, you are going to begin to feel frustrated and trapped. You won't be able to focus your attention on more important things.

I have seen many foreigners who have started to feel frustrated when this happens, especially those who are coming from countries like UAE (where everybody speaks English).

But other people are flexible and try to learn Georgian as much as they can.

I believe this is the right way to go, and this is who I have created the audio course for.

Reason #2 : You don’t want to be lonely and isolated

Get this: when you start to speak Georgian, Georgians open their hearts to you!

I cannot count how many times Georgians have complemented me on how well I speak Georgian.

I know for a fact that I am not perfect at all, but most Georgians also know that the intricacies of their language are hard to master for a non-native speaker.

So when you show that you are trying your best, they respect that. They do everything they can to encourage you. That’s a very natural reaction.

And thus, you will be treated very nicely. Georgians will love to spend time with you, invite you to their place or parties and so forth.

That’s how you do social networking in Georgia! Forget about all the business cards you are giving out and start to learn some basic language skills, NOW! That would serve you a lot more… guaranteed.

I have to pause a moment here and share something: if you are a native English-speaker, it would be hard for you to get the point.

As English is widely-spoken as a second language by most people in the world, when you meet a non-native who speaks English, it's no big deal.

I have spent a lot of time learning English. I have also met a lot of British and Americans…, none of them have complimented me on how well I speak.

I am angry with these guys! Please compliment me ;)

I hope you get the point here. When you have a close-knit society like Georgia (there are roughly 4 million Georgians), the value of knowing their language substantially increases when you meet them. They will be more welcoming and trusting, whereas generally, this is not the case with languages that are widely-spoken.

That’s why I say:  when you start to speak Georgian, Georgians open their hearts to you!

Reason #3 : A twist on Reason#1

Remember how I explained the frustrations of a foreigner who doesn’t speak the language, but wants to do business here?

Well, you could be that person who knows the language and gets paid handsomely for their service!

You would probably think that it is a very ambitious idea, since you would need to know Georgian very well to do that…

That’s wrong, mate! As the famous saying goes “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!”

If Georgian seems hard to speak for you, that means it’s hard for most everyone else, too.

If you have enough passion to delve a little bit deeper in it, your efforts will be rewarded handsomely because you will be a rarity in the eyes of your clients who do not have the time or passion to learn Georgian.

And don’t be intimidated by Georgian. I am here to help. When you sign up for my course below, I will be emailing you 5 audio lessons, absolutely FREE. Once you start to listen to them, in less than a week, you will start to see how Georgians compliment you generously. You will be  highly encouraged and motivated to continue studying.

Some people say that I do a disservice to you by sending these lessons for free. We tend to not value things that are free or cheap. I hope you wouldn’t think so. Take advantage of this opportunity and start to learn something new, something exotic… let the adventure begin!

Have fun!

Mehdi

PS. Did you had other reasons to study learning Georgian? Share them below in commenting section.