Flag of Georgia. From Wikipedia.
Problem
Georgia? Where is it? I've been to Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA. But not Georgia over in Eurasia.
Answer
I had just finished an aqua class in London, in Harrow, a very cosmopolitan area. In previous centuries immigrants arrived by boat in the East End of London. Nowadays they arrive at Heathrow airport and live nearby in Harrow.
A dark-haired, brown-eyes lady accidentally bomped me on the head with a sponge noodle. "I apologise!" she said. We locked eyes and smiled several times. When the lesson ended, she and her friend were talking in the water and I went to join in.
She is originally from Iran and speaks Farsi. That language is also spoken in neighbouring Afghanistan.
She recently returned from a holiday in Georgia with family from the UK, USA and Iran. When some of the family can't get back to Iran, it's easy to meet up in Georgia, which was formerly part of Russia but now independent. Currently (November 2017) you can enjoy luxury hotels at low prices, she says. She stayed at the second best standard hotel, because her group wanted enough bedrooms for all of them in the same hotel, in summer, which is high season there as it is elsewhere in the world.
I asked, "What is a well-known landmark which everybody should see, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris?"
"The animated statue of the lovers," she said. "It's a giant statue. The boy and girl move backwards and forwards, towards each other, away, then back again. It's based on the (true?) story of lovers, Christian and non-Christian, who had to part.
"It's not in the centre of the capital city, but the seaside, very nearby."
The statue is called The Statue of Love, or Man and Woman, 8 meters tall, in the seaside of Batumi, inspired by the story of Ali and Nino.
"What about the Farsi language?" I asked. Now I know that it's useful in more than one country, I am more interested. I heard an amusing talk about the Iranian language, Persian, at a Toastmasters meeting in London. We have had two memorable members, charismatic characters, who were originally from Iran.
I thought I would start by learning a useful and an easy word, used in English, and universally. Taxi.
"Is taxi the same word in your language?"
"Yes, we say taxi in Farsi."
I told her that my third level of learning languages will be Arabic and other languages with 'difficult' script. I already speak English and fluent French as a second language. I am learned Latin at school so Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are relatively easy, just a matter of putting in the time. After that, German and Scandinavian languages and Dutch.
I am learning the Cyrillic alphabets for Russian and Bulgarian. I am also learning Greek, and Hebrew which is like Greek, with one of two letters reversed right to left such as the Gimel. (In Greek alpha beta gimel delta; in Hebrew alef, bet, gimel, dalit). The gimel looks like an r in Greek but like a 7 in Hebrew.
I told her that Romanian is similar to Italian (Romania means under the rule of the Romans) with a few French words, such as Mersi for thank you.
"Mersi is also thank you in Iranian!" she said.
My family and a group of friends are already planning a trip to either Madeira (for which I need to learn Portuguese) or Bulgaria (for which I need the Cyrillic).
So now I can say taxi and thank you in Farsi. So can you.
I now have my eyes on learning Farsi, and visiting Georgia. What was previously just a name on a map, is one step closer.
If you are interested in learning languages, a free ap is Duolingo.
Currently (nov 2016) you can learn:
Chinese (hatching - in preparation - maybe you or a friend can help
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English (for speakers of various other languages)
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
(Hindi - hatching ie in preparation, maybe you or a bilingual friend can help)
(Indonesian - hatching ie in preparation, maybe you or a bilingual friend can help)
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Portuguese
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian
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USEFUL WEBSITES
www.duolingo.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV9cNxfwfDQ Video of Man and Woman sculpture by Tamara in Batumi, seaside of Georgia.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages.
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