For the Issue of Language as Relationships, Culture and National Awareness
05/07/2020 14:07:15
   Author : ბექა ხოჯავა.

Professor Nana Shavtvaladze

Head of Department of Georgian Philology

University of Georgia

Why Study a Foreign Language? There are a few answers: I want to communicate in that language; I want to work in that language or to live in a specific country where that language is spoken; I want to learn because my hobby is learning languages and so forth. The reasons are varied, and therefore the demand is defined based on this.

When teaching Georgian as a foreign language, not only the Georgian alphabet, morphological-syntactic language, style, or vocabulary issues will be taught, but important details of the nation's consciousness will be absorbed. The details are one integral factor that defines the character, habits, traditions, and actions of a nation. You will agree that it is extremely difficult and almost impossible to determine the purity of the water in which we swim. Everything that is ours is engulfed in us and it is virtually impossible to separate, perceive, or distinguish it.

In fact, globalization, the unification of countries in some respects, is an inner alarm for small countries, a warning bell. It is also everyone's desire and ancestry for their ancestors to be able to maintain their originality and remain on the map. Immediately after a first encounter, a foreigner tries to absorb as much information as possible, to understand a country's internal movements, human actions, to explain the reactions they see visually. In order to learn about a country and a nation, they learn the language that is the code of the nation's thinking and cultural vision of the world.

It is not disputed in linguistics that the time has come to explore the links between linguistic and thought-provoking phenomena. Despite language as a psychological phenomenon, language and speech remain the object of study; It's just a changed aspect of research. For sociolinguists, the internal structure of a language is not important, but rather how humans consume language, how it is used by representatives of a particular society, in short, the communicative situation (language and ethnicity). There are sociolinguistics studies on the social differences in the functioning and development of language, and psycholinguistics - the mental processes of human speech activity.

For modern linguistics, not the language, but the person, or the person with a definite identity, is essential. The concepts of "individual" and "personality" are also used and different. The individual is born and the person creates their outside world. Contemporary scholars view  socio-psycholinguistics as a sub-discipline of psycholinguistics as it is focused on researching the actual processes of speech creation and understanding. It is not the language and the person or the person, but the person/person in the language (Benvinist, E.). The study of socio-psycholinguistics is caused by practical necessity and is perceived in the whole society.

This is a linguistic approach to the country. However, many people are interested in what the whole cultural makeup of one or another nation is. It is especially relevant when representatives of different cultures and nationalities are active in different countries of the world today. That is why today's world life has brought this demand. American Erin Meyer responded to this challenge with a book, The Cultural Map. With a practical perspective here, many nations are represented by their cultural approach.

Georgia's place on this cultural map is very interesting. My nearly twenty years of experience independently set me on the same approach. What do I mean? By this I mean, our actions with the world, the country, the issues, the things and with each other. But language helps us to express all this. Language - a means of expressing culture. The cultural map should include our nation's consciousness, beliefs, traditions, habits, historical past, art, sport, society today, language, Ilia`s "Homeland - Language - Faith" etc.

The interest of a newly arrived student's in a country is paramount despite all the differences in age, position, and language learning, requiring the same answers as soon as the first attempt is made. The most important thing for them is to recognize the common cultural vision; Recognizing Georgian approaches; Perceptions of rituals and parties; Nominating a family institution; The conscious readiness of Georgians to marry; Education and quality of employment; Georgians' attitude towards health; Understanding the rules of acquaintance and hospitality, in general, understanding the intellectual level and awareness of the community.

Language School has been serving the Georgian language since 2005 and has been teaching foreigners Georgian as a foreign language. They offer several programs: "Georgian Folk"; "Everyday Georgian"; "Communication Georgian"; "Traditional Georgian". According to the methodological approach of the school, when referring to the Georgian language, we immediately explain the language group, language system as far as possible, the principle of agglutination, if linguistic, we spend more on information, otherwise, we only present functions. Of course, it is crucial which program you are a part of as a student; It is important to define vocabulary in the context of etymology. It is clear that vocabulary and vocabulary are the results of the nation's cultural vision.

Understanding the cultural vision of the nation explains much about our interest in family, relationships, civic beliefs, and our society at large. It is noted that our relationship with the family is special, but the modern look and approach are also evident here. Young people are trying to live independently and their views on this issue have changed. Our attitude towards the chief, the guest, is greatly appreciated. Our society, our civic beliefs, our education, our relationships with each other, our attitudes, our attitudes, our attitudes, our caring, our caring, our loud cries, our warm attitude towards children, etc. Like all nations, with our excitement and despair, we are represented in the consciousness of those who come. It is shocking to them that when our citizens are driving cars they are constantly yelling, aggressively speaking, and noisily honking. It is believed that we will have a unique taste and manner of attire, wherever possible. Also, beware of our attitude towards black.

It is interesting to think about what Georgians expect, what do we think, how do we expect them to be evaluated? In fact, almost everyone is choosing the form of reference - lady/sir, but we are moving to an informal address pretty quickly. This is explained by the fact that we are ready for close relations and support them; If we are dealing with the older generation, we are trying to keep using formal language here. It is traditional to come to visit with gifts - sweets or gifts; Georgian cuisine is recognized, it is also important that we are always ready for distribution of our gifts, with a knife fork, everyone is introduced to the new space and we like and love our country as much as we can.

Behavior in society is conditioned by status.

The intellectual community tries to govern itself by the mind, but at least part of this action is not perceived as part of the cultural integrity of the nation. How we behave in the street, that is how we behave in our everyday lives and in times of crises, this is part of it; We are warm and cordial towards the guest, though we do not meet strangers with a smile. Guest intellectuals try to be restrained, limited to general answers, mostly not talking about sex, religion, politics – it becomes awkward.

Language is learned because of relationships. Communication is determined by the cultural format - the cultural view of a nation's mentality - the nation's mentality - consciousness. A language is a tool for coding a nation. If there is no word in the language that indicates that the nation has never thought about it, it would not have taken. The etymological definition of lexical units speaks to our inner nature, mentality, and consciousness. Apply - Get it right! Rightly, Georgians wanted to be the winner; And in the morning the peace of mind - the peace of the little people who have endured much and are still on the map, is extremely important. It is difficult for us to wait as well as for others, but especially because it is perceived by Georgians as a waitlist, and this action is identified with gravity. Communication words - girl, boy - even at a young age are considered a compliment, not offensive. It is a common vocabulary - swindle, pestilence ... - is a form of pestilence, that is, we are ready to accept pestilence and any horror instead of a loved one. In the language, we have allergic-alert forms - Dedikuna, Mamiko, Likucha, etc. In fact, it is coded, codified at the root of the word, further developed and produced in the language. The community needs to be authentic; communication is done through language; language reveals the space of knowledge of human thought. Through this approach to language, socioeconomic and even sociocultural levels are determined. In principle, not only the vocabulary or the structure of the society is defined by society, but they are also defined by the family. The language of the family is based on pure communication, conversational Georgian, and economic vocabulary.

It is a vision, as well as a question. We need to create our own cultural map that encompasses many things. Unless we personally do many things as many Georgians do, that does not change the situation. Individuals, especially intellectuals, form an era, influencing offspring, but defining the nation's mentality is perceived by the masses and expressed through language. Tradition, rituals, habits are the determinants of self-existence, but our conscious action is Georgian and it is ours.

One notable example is gender. Fortunately, it is important for a man in Georgia - his relative production in just a few words in the language - to be an uncle; The defining words of a woman are aunt from mother`s side, aunt from father`s side, cousin. It's just for defining pattern dependencies.

Here's advice from people working in foreign lands, Erin Meyer: “Try to watch everything carefully, listen more, talk less; Before you talk, first listen and then think, then act! ”- (Erin Meyer, (2015) The Culture Map. The United States, Public Affairs, p. 27.)

Erin Meyer introduces an evaluation scheme in her work. This research is pretty impressive. According to the physio linguistic analysis, there are eight points that show the main attitudes of the nation or people. These traits are important for relationships, especially for new relationships. If a foreigner has information about a foreign country in this scheme, then it will be much easier for him to do business with people on a daily basis.

The following issues are identified in the evaluation: Communication; Rate; Persuasion; Leadership; Solution; Trust; Refusal / disagreement; Planning.

Relationship – Relationship is defined here as the quality of a nation's relationship with each other and with its guests; how can it be evaluated? Low context or high context. Assessment – Georgians:  How do we value things, events, actions, and people? Do we refrain from saying our inner thoughts? That is, our evaluation is directly negative or indirect. Conviction – With our most important issues, do we adhere quietly to our own principles on certain issues or statements and instructions? Leadership - We operate with a team-based approach to management, with a consistent vision and approach or a hierarchical format. Solution - How do we make the decision?  Is it easy or difficult? agreed and consensual, as instructed, that is, from below? Trust - What are the issues of trust in general? We trust those we know, based on relationships, or on the basis of the assignment, the evidence of trust in man. In short, it`s based on the quality of the work done or the relationship. Denial / Disagreement – Do we have a mostly confrontational or non-confrontational attitude towards any issue, opinion, or action? We are ready to confront if we take it for granted. Planning - What is our lifestyle? Is it very carefully planned, calculated every minute of what the situation will bring, and what we will need? Appreciate scheduled time if you prefer flexible and leisure time in business and personal life.

It was decided with great interest to conduct research. Only fifty 18-21-year-olds were interviewed. Their evaluation table looked like this.

1. Relationship - a) Low context  b) High context

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

2. Evaluation - a) Directly negative; b) Indirect / evasive

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

3. Persuasion - a) Principles first; b) Reference, obedience

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

4. Leadership - a) Equal b) Hierarchical

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

5. Solution - a) Consensual  b) From top to bottom

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

6. Trust - a) On a case-by-case basis; b) On a relationship basis

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

7. Refusal / Disagreement - a) Confrontational; b) Non-confrontational

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

8. Planning - a) Scheduled time b) Flexible time

0 ------ 10 -------- 20 ------- 30 ------ 40 ------- 50 ------ 60 --- --- 70 ------ 80 ------- 90 --------- 100%

 

According to SPS, the data were categorized as Low: 0-20%; Below average - 21% -40%; Average - 41% -60%; Above average - 61% -80%; High -81% -100%.

The vision of the younger generation will not give us data about the whole mentality of the nation but will clarify in the approaches. This generation is really coming to terms with a more assertive and loud statement.

1.

Communication

High context

9% - low context

 

 

2.

Rate 19%

directly negative

31% - indirect

 

 

 

3.

Persuasion

31% - Principles First

19% - by reference

 

 

 

4.

Leadership

50% - equal

50% - hierarchical

 

 

 

5.

Solution

26% from top to bottom

24% - Consensual

 

 

 

6.

Trust

40% - Relationship-Based

10% on an assignment basis

 

 

 

7.

Refusal

36% - confrontational

14% - non-confrontational

 

 

 

 

8.

Planning

31% - Flexible Time

19% - scheduled time

 

 

 

 

Complete readiness for the relationship and the high-quality advantage was clearly demonstrated; In evaluating and rejecting, we still choose to act inappropriately because we refrain from harassing anyone; The principles are important, and at least from the top, that is to say, we make the decision; No leadership was identified, the percentage being exactly split between him and the hierarchical format. The trust factor important for the Georgian mentality does not betray tradition and expresses almost all trust on a relationship basis. Freedom depicts flexible time, thinking ahead, planning, allocating time. This is still an unusual fruit for us, but it is slowly becoming acceptable.

This is just an evaluation of young people. The medium will be very interesting

A vision of this for many ages is even more exciting for the older generation. Of course, this does not paint a perfect picture and will not answer the nation's readiness for these issues, but the way of approach and trends will certainly be obvious.

Used Literature

Андреева Г. М., (2009). Социальная психология,  Москва, Аспект пресс.

Meyer, E., (2015)The Culture Map. Unatides State, PublicAffairs.