Intermediate Uzbek Week 3 Quick Review Guide: Uzbek City Transportation & Local Sights

Assalomu alaykum!

Here is my week #3 quick review guide for Intermediate Uzbek at CLI. This week's topics included describing city life, transportation methods, getting around a new location, seeing important sights in a city (e.g. Tashkent), and more having to do with anything city-related. Take a look below or feel free to view and print at this link. Enjoy!



Xayr,
Brian

Uzbek Film 'Dada' (2010) Quick Movie Review & Watch Free Online

Assalomu alaykum!

Brian here with a quick post on an interesting film we watched on a Friday class here at CLI Intermediate Uzbek. In addition to posting a link to the video to show an authentic sample of Uzbek film, I wanted to share a very brief review of this movie after seeing it and being able to understand the gist of most parts.

This introduction aside, this post will be in Uzbek, sorry everyone back at home! I like to include a few text posts with some of my Uzbek writings to help the blog reach more visitors particularly in Uzbekistan, as most of my homework documents are in Google Docs and will not really help much with search engine visits.

Essentially, the premise has to do with the story of a young man about to be married who has gained fame from his boxing/strength skills (Rocky-esque) — but everything in his life when he comes across a woman one day in the streets who is in labor with an illegitimate child (very stigmatized in Uzbek culture), with whose life he ends up entangled and caring for the child when she leaves unexpectedly one day to return to home to her future spouse as well. Interesting!

That's a very basic overview, sorry I am not the best on recounting story details. Regardless, the social dynamics and language use in this movie are pretty cool to view. And here is my Uzbek mini-review that I submitted for homework on Monday:

Aktyorlar (Cast) ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

Ertak (Story) ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

Dialog (Dialogue) ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3/5)

Kino Sifati (Film Quality) ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3/5)

Dizayn (Design) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5)

Kichkina ko‘rik: Menimcha biz juma kuni ko‘rgan o‘zbekcha bir film juda qiziqarli edi.

Bu film juda ma’noli va balki haqiqiy mavzu haqida bol’di, ya’ni oila va bolalar bor bo‘lish.

Asosiy shaxs (ismi Zafar) qiyin vaziyatida jalb qildi, u haqida jiddiy qaror chiqarishi kerak edi.

Afsuski, Hanifa — Zafarning topgan bolaning onasi — aslida niyati yaxshi emas edi. Nimaga?

o‘zbekiston madaniyati va axloqi haqida o‘rganishni xohlasangiz, albatta bu filmda mumkin.

Mana bu internetda ko'rish uchun Vimeodagi video:



That's all for this post. Hi from Uzbekistan if you're reading/watching, thanks for stopping by!

Xayr,
Brian

Day 41: Trip to Golden Valley Uzbek Restaurant in Phoenix! Photos & Videos from Uzbek Club Outing

Assalomu alaykum!

Fun day today! Regular class in the morning continuing our unit on food and restaurant etiquette, which came in handy this afternoon on our trip to Golden Valley Uzbek Restaurant! For Uzbek Club this week our teachers and administration treated us tonight at an unassuming yet cool-to-visit center of Uzbek culture and cuisine right here in Phoenix. Good times had by all. And an awesome dinner! Feasted on delicious melon (a variety from the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan) grown locally. What a treat, thank you so much!

Here is a video with fun clips and pictures from tonight:



And another one, speaking Uzbek featuring the local melons:



And of course pictures for sharing and viewing:

With the Uzbek teachers

Har kishiga katta rahmat! Thank you everyone! See you tomorrow.

Xayr,
Brian

Day 39: Uzbek Menu! Brianning Restorani (Brian's Restaurant)

Assalomu alaykum!

It's Sunday! For today's post I'd like to share a homework piece I did for tomorrow's class. Behold, my Uzbek menu! We were assigned to make a menu in Uzbek to go along with our unit on food and restaurants. Mine has a bit of a spin! Needed to practice regular cuisine vocabulary so I made it a vegetarian restaurant, didn't want the likes of mutton and horse on the menu. :)

But fret not, the entire bottom section is for fruit eaters like myself. 1/2 kilo of your choice of fruit at an awesome price! Currency is the Uzbek so'm (UZS), and as the cost of living is so cheap in Uzbekistan, nothing on this menu would even come out to more than $4. Check it out below or here in PDF format at Google Docs. Click to enlarge.

BRIAN'S RESTAURANT
Welcome to our restaurant! Please come in!
Brian's Restaurant has only the most delicious vegetarian dishes.
For fruitarians we also have a ton of sweet and fresh fruits to choose from.

DISHES: For a tasty breakfast, lunch or dinner
Meatless Pilaf (rice dish) - breakfast, 2000 so'm / lunch or dinner, 2500 so'm
Meatless Somsa (savory pastry) - 4, 1000 so'm / 8, 1800 so'm
Vegetable Soup - small bowl, 1500 so'm / large bowl, 2000 so'm
Vegetable Kabob - 4 kabobs, 1500 so'm / 8 kabobs, 2200 so'm
Vegetable Pasta - medium platter, 2500 so'm
Vegetarian Pizza - for 1-2 people, 3200 so'm
Eggs and Vegetables - 4 eggs, 2300 so'm
Vegetarian Salad - small platter, 2200 so'm / large platter 3000 so'm
Grapes and Bread - for 2 people, 2000 so'm / for a big group, 3000 so'm

FRUIT: we have only the best and sweetest fruit! 1/2 kilo: 2000 so'm
Apricots, Peaches, Plums, Grapes, Watermelon, Strawberries, Pears, Apples, Figs, Persimmons, Oranges, Quince, Pomegranates, Cherries

DRINKS: regular water (non-carbonated), mineral water, juice, tea, coffee

Thank you for coming!

***

And then some photos around campus:

Outside Hayden Library. Look at that sky!

View from my dorm

See you tomorrow!

Xayr,
Brian

Day 38: Common Fruit Names in Uzbek (Plus: Awesome Email From Uzbek Brian Reader)

Assalomu alaykum!

Happy Saturday! Had a much needed sleep and relaxed in the morning, working on some articles for other sites, catching up on my YouTube subscriptions, and chatting with friends. Then got some laundry and cleaning done for the week and by that point was already ready for my 4pm yoga class at Yoga Nirvana which I've really been enjoying. So sad to leave, will miss it! Afterwards stopped at Safeway for a snack and some food for tomorrow (gonna do a Sunflower run hopefully) and went back to the dorm and to the pool at the SRC with friends. Great day!

Didn't do much as far as Uzbek project work today (will include in tomorrow's posts) but I wanted to toss in a fun list to get myself going for my weekend homework, which is a menu in Uzbek. Though I think learning about cuisine is interesting, as a fruitarian I don't actually eat any of the food we learn about, except for the fruit obviously, so my menu will have a little bit of a twist. Check it out tomorrow. :)

Here are some common fruits in Uzbekistan and their names in Uzbek:

• apricot = o'rik
• peach = shaftoli
• plum = olxo'ri
• grape = uzum
• watermelon = tarvuz
• strawberry = qulupnay
• pear = nashvati
• apple = olma
• fig = anjir
• persimmon = xurmo*
• orange = apelisin
• quince = behi
• pomegranate = anor
• cherry = gilos

*Also apparently the word for date (the fruit). Cool!

Sadly there's not much in the way of tropicals like mangos or durian which would be grown in Central Asia, but there's a lot of Turkic/Mediterranean fruits, my favorites probably being peaches, nectarines, figs, and really really good sweet grapes. Oh and apricots too. And cherries... And... You can check out  mouthwatering pictures of Uzbek fruit at my post here: Fruit in Uzbekistan: Photo Collection from A Fruitarian's Perspective

Also found this cool resource about cuisine, including fruit, from Indiana University: Uzbek Cuisine.

One more thing for today: Shout out to Amy for the lovely email she sent me today as a new reader of UzbekBrian. It means a lot to me to hear positive feedback from anyone enjoying the site, so feel free to shoot me a hello at UzbekBrian at Gmail dot Com. I'd love to know what brings you, if you're studying Uzbek or another language, or anything really. Talk soon!

Xayr,
Brian

Day 30: Uzbek Music Club! Video Singing "Kerak Emas" & Uzbek Week 4 Program Reflection

Assalomu alaykum!

Busy and fun day today! In the morning we had our usual Friday quiz on this week's material. Today's quiz went well and incorporated a lot of the new adjectives and descriptive items as applied to a creative expository writing piece about America and the different kinds of people and activities in this great country.

Went to a great presentation at 1pm by a friend named Jaimee (studying Tajik, who starred in this video from Uzbek Club) that shared some really interesting insight on connections between art, Islam, Russian culture, language, and more. It was called “Bolshevik Brother or Islamic Other? Representations of Muslims in Early Soviet Posters, 1917-1930”.

Some more regular class in the afternoon and then advanced Uzbek student Anna shared a cool presentation on Uzbek, Russian, and Japanese transportation systems (featuring their taxis, metros, and trains respectively). Great to get more practice listening to Uzbek. After that, a fun Uzbek game called "Besh Tosh" (video below explains it all).

Later in the evening got together with all the Uzbek students for a casual Music Club, practicing singing a well known favorite we have been listening to in class called "Kerak Emas". Video for that is below. Great time tonight, fun chats and laughs and good to hear some more Uzbek music as always. Check out the media for today below, and see you tomorrow for shopping at Sunflower!

First off, here's my Week 4 reflection video:



Next, clip of "Besh Tosh" this afternoon:



And of course, collection of clips from Music Club tonight:



And last but not least, today's photos:

This morning's workstation :P

Cool obtuse lime-like citrus growing outside Coor Hall here at ASU

Jaimee at her presentation

Nicole and Skaidra are experts already at Besh Tosh!

Learning from Saodat Opa

Started the Cyrillic alphabet this afternoon!

Singing at Music Club

Performance of Kerak Emas :P

Kerak Emas lyrics

Thank you Nick for your awesome music tonight !!

See you soon! Be sure to leave a comment if you're enjoying the blog!

Xayr,
Brian

Day 20: Uzbek Club! Videos, Photos, and Powerpoint Presentations

Assalomu alaykum!

Uzbek Club today! Here at the Critical Languages Institute each language group gets together for a fun evening of music, food, socializing, and practice to energize the language and culture in a real life setting. After class today we set up at the Hayden Hall lounge and kitchen for our event, preparing lots of Uzbek cuisine (and fruit!) as well as special presentations and videos on different sights around Uzbekistan. All to some awesome authentic Uzbek music, whether pop, rap, or traditional sounds.

Thank you to everyone for a fun night! Here are some photos and videos from the event. I also have embedded a PDF of my homework from this afternoon with some key dialogue and verb practice. Enjoy!

Cool presentation with the CIA during the noon break, on career opportunities with language and service

Hanging out at Uzbek Club

My fruit arrangement at the food table. I brought the grapes and oranges and honeydew, the peaches and watermelon were there :)

More fruit

Jaimee, Daniella, and Miriam. Love you guys! 

Matt, Ruth, and Liz

Keri and Skaidra

Hanging out

Watching students' presentations about Uzbek cities

Trying traditional Uzbek cuisine

Great pic, guys!

My presentation on Shahrisabz, a city in Uzbekistan

Uzbek dance party! Great music tonight, really authentic and catchy

My presentation:

Xayr,
Brian

Introduction to Uzbek and Uzbekistan

Assalomu alaykum!

Before beginning with lesson and resource posts I want to share some quick profile information on Uzbek and Uzbekistan, because most people are unfortunately not familiar with this country or its language.

Name: Republic of Uzbekistan

Population: 28 million

Capital: Tashkent

Area: 450,000 sq km

Major language: Uzbek

Currency: som (UZS)

PPP: $85 billion

GDP: $37 billion

Why Study Uzbek?

Why should someone learn Uzbek? What's the point? Why am I learning it?

Well, besides my general love of interesting languages, here's a couple reasons I thought of:

* Uzbekistan is one of the major developed countries in Central Asia, a region with a long and diverse history e.g. as part of the Silk Road. It holds many of this region's history's most dynamic cities, cultural sites, and natural landmarks.

* Uzbekistan has a growing importance in the world economy, especially for cotton, gas, coal, oil, and important minerals. Central Asia in general is a largely untapped region whose growth opportunity is excellent.

* Uzbekistan is largely a Muslim country, and Islam is a religion that is widely misunderstood and in need of people who can learn to respect it and also help promote basic freedoms in situations where fundamentalism has taken place.

* Uzbek is a Turkic language, which is one of my favorite language families for its creative grammar and lilting sound. Uzbek has the bonus of being all romanized as compared to languages like Kazakh and Kyrgyz which still use the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet.

* Uzbek is a rare and sort of obscure language with a cool "chic factor" (impress your friends!) and also opens you up to opportunity should the US government ever need to enlist translators or ambassadors etc to visit Uzbekistan.

* And many more reasons. You can find your own!

Here are two resources on reasons to study Uzbek:
* "Why Study Uzbek?" @ University of Chicago Central Eurasian Studies
* Uzbek FAQ @ Indiana University Center for Languages of Central Asia

More around the web:
* Uzbekistan: Wikipedia Entry
* Uzbekistan: CIA World Factbook

* Uzbekistan: Department of State
* Government Portal of Uzbekistan

* Uzbekistan: Lonely Planet Travel
* Uzbekistan: Wikitravel Guide

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

Xayr,
Brian