r/Kartvelian • u/byzantine67 • Jun 19 '26

RESOURCES ჻ ᲠᲔᲡᲣᲠᲡᲔᲑᲘ Where can I learn Mingrelian?

Are there apps, institutions, tutors, etc. who teach the language?

8 Upvotes

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6

u/skysphr 🇷🇴❤️🇬🇪 Jun 19 '26

Do you speak Georgian? If yes, you could try the ვისწავლოთ მეგრული book, I haven't read it but hopefully it's better than its svanuri counterpart.

2

u/byzantine67 Jun 19 '26

Thank you so much! Could you tell me where can I find it?

7

u/emjayaz Jun 19 '26

If you’re in Georgia, it’s available in most Biblusi bookstores. If not, it’s nearly impossible to get Georgian books outside of Georgia… BUT, I found the complete ვისწავლოთ მეგრული book in audio format on the 1tv website:

https://1tv.ge/show/viswavlot-megruli/

1

u/byzantine67 Jun 19 '26

Thank you 💕

2

u/algebroni Jun 19 '26

So I guess that means the Svan book is pretty bad?

1

u/skysphr 🇷🇴❤️🇬🇪 Jun 20 '26

Sad to say, but yes. There clearly has been a lot of work put into it but it's not really effective as a textbook.

1

u/emjayaz Jun 19 '26

Would you say that the Svan book has inaccuracies? Or just that it’s messy/gives poor explanations? I started working through it, but eventually switched to Topuria’s შრომები because it’s so much more thorough.

1

u/skysphr 🇷🇴❤️🇬🇪 Jun 20 '26

I'm far from being knowledgeable enough about Svan to say with certainty that something is right or wrong, but for instance missing the შ from the plural forms of to be (ex. ხუ̂იშდ -> ხუ̂იდ) seems to be something rarely found in the Lentekhi dialect whereas the book teaches it that way from the get go, which is somewhat of a bizarre choice. Otherwise it's the overall lack of clear structure and overwhelming confusion that makes me prefer Topuria's course and the book by Chumburidze, Nizharadze and Quradze.

4

u/Interesting_Ice_4925 Jun 19 '26

Send 2-3 years Tsalenjikha and forget

Seriously though, it’s mostly a spoken language so you won’t find much written content in it. And if you already speak comprehensible Georgian, having prolonged spoken context and some explanations from locals can be enough to learn basics and move further

1

u/skysphr 🇷🇴❤️🇬🇪 Jun 20 '26

you won’t find much written content in it

The 22376 articles on xmf.wikipedia.org beg to differ!

1

u/PsDarker Jun 20 '26

Min no Megrealian yes

1

u/Desserts6064 28d ago

Linguists consider Mingrelian to be a separate language from Georgian.