First Video Blog Entirely in Uzbek! (Birinchi Faqat O'zbek Tilida Gapirgan Video Blog!)

Assalomu alaykum!

We're almost to the end of the program! I know I've been not so consistent with posts so I wanted to share a video blog I made last night as a little culmination/documentation of what I've learned here at CLI Uzbek this year and last. With our final and closing ceremony tomorrow, I'll be saying goodbye to Arizona but definitely not to my language learning journey.

Check out the video below (or at this link), it's my first video entirely spoken in Uzbek for the site. Subtitles included for English speakers, don't worry! Let me know what you think in the comments below and I look forward to posting a final reflection before being on my way on Saturday. Thanks for following along this summer and for the nice emails readers have sent!

Xayr, Brian

Intermediate Uzbek Weeks 4 & 5 In Review: Academic Life & Student Activities Plus Tempe Fireworks, Scottsdale Shopping & More

Assalomu alaykum!

Hi everyone! I'm back... Sorry I haven't posted at Uzbek Brian in a bit, it's been quite busy but a great two weeks here in Arizona at CLI. This post will cover a "week in review" for both weeks 4 and 5, which in some ways felt like one giant week (no excuses, though...!). Here we go:

The sunset from A mountain is always more beautiful each time! 

Outlook: Past two weeks have been great. I continue to love being here and at this point feel like I am in the normal life here as if I've lived here for years and do not want to leave!

The weather has been extremely hot (I think it's a record for June/July in Phoenix), usually over 115 each day, and with way more cloud coverage than last year—but still nothing near the miserable humidity I'm hearing about in many places over the East coast.

I've been feeling very productive and on track most of the time here and going through a lot of new ideas about how I want my life to unfold, whether it just be for the rest of the day or the week or summer for over the course of the next five years.

This week's workstation! Lots of computer stuff done

Class: This week was the turning point of our halfway mark so we have gotten through a lot of material as we finished our first "semester" (3.5 week) section and are now in our next semester.  Our focus of topic has been on student life, education systems (comparing UZ to US), and general university and academic vocabulary, which is quite relevant to us here.

I've been happy with results on the past three tests, all A+s, and know that what I'm learning is stuff I can actually apply and use especially if I do a study abroad in the region when in college. We did have a 6-day week due to our Friday postponed for Fourth of July weekend, but now having had the four days off, I'm grateful we got the work in early and were able to enjoy the holiday!

Enjoyed seeing the fireworks with the Uzbek crew at Tempe Town Lake!

Sat right by the water -- great view of the show

Free time: The first half of these two weeks was quite packed with homework, client work (launched a new website!), Uzbek Night (see presentations below), and even some other events like a luncheon with Uzbek classmates, but I was very excited to enjoy a luxurious 4 days off to myself for Independence Day.

The main highlight of free time these past weeks besides the fireworks and general hangout/time to get my thoughts and items together was making a trip to the Scottsdale Fashion Plaza, which is a destination mall with really excellent store selection reminiscent, if not better, than KOP.

Took a trip up there on Friday for the day and was thrilled to see what was there and always enjoy visiting my favorite luxury brands and chatting with sales associates to learn about the company and products. I visited Louis Vuitton, Prada (first standalone Prada visit), Bottega Veneta (same thing), Cartier, Barney's New York, Neiman's, Michael Kors, David Yurman, Tourneau and some others.

Visited the Scottsdale Vuitton store! 2 down, like 700+ to go! This was one was 2x the size of KOP

Trying on a watch at Cartier — this is the entry-level Tank I think I want to save up for  

Beautiful wallets and organizers with the classic woven style of Bottega Veneta

This week: This week I'd like to keep up with a good pace of learning and finishing work for class and really take in the last normal-schedule week I have here at CLI. Don't want the program to pass too fast without having really soaked it all in!

Also I want to keep up with fitness (have barely missed a day, very happy), and work on building up some business plans and finding some new clients for when I get home, particularly targeting local businesses in my area.

My three favorite foods... good avocados, mango kombucha and Evian! 

Resources:

Here are resources for this week, quite a few!

Uy Ishi June 27: "-ish" "-la" va "-lik"li Gaplar
Homework June 27: Sentences with "-ish", "-la", and "-lik"


Uy Ishi June 28: O’zbekistondagi 3ta Asosiy Universitet Haqida
Homework June 28: About 3 Prominent Universities in Uzbekistan


Uy Ishi June 29: Akademik Yili Vaqtidagi Jadvalim
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B50OtgK4oOsgcFd0TWRSNVhwRjg/preview

Uy Ishi June 29: Uzoq O'tgan Zamon Felili Gaplar
Homework June 29: Sentences with the Distant Past Verb Form


Konestoga Gimnaziyasi Prezentatsiya
Conestoga High School Presentation


Welcome to Uzbek Night Presentation


Thanks for reading, everyone! Be sure to subscribe at your right for email updates if you aren't already. Also, exciting news... Uzbek Brian has reached over 10,000 visitors! Check out this graph in my stats control panel for the distribution of visitors:

Hi if you're reading from Russia, UK, Latvia, Uzbekistan or wherever you are! :)

Xayr,
Brian

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

Intermediate Uzbek Week 3 In Review: Uzbek Cities & Transportation, Homework Practice, & Figs!

Assalomu alaykum!

Hey everyone! Here with my Week 3 review, not to fret! Sorry I didn't post yesterday, wasn't really in a writing mood. Doing well now and off to the start of Week 4 -- I canNOT believe it's gone by so quickly, even though I will say that every time I look back.

We have just about reached the half-way mark as of tomorrow and Wednesday and I can say that it's been a great experience thus far! I am reminded of last year when at about this time I felt like I really was living here and that life was normal in the context of Arizona and Uzbek and all the great stuff here. Not bad! So here we go:

Outlook: As of right now my outlook is pretty good for this program and in general for the summer. I am happy to be busy, even though the work can be tiring at times, especially with a language that I really do enjoy. I have gotten some great feedback on my language learning here through homework, tests, and a presentation (will describe below) and I feel like this is something worthwhile to be doing.

Other life-wise, I feel good because I've been almost 100% consistent with my daily exercise, at the very least walking extensively around campus and usually 20-35 minutes cardio with some strength. Aiming to keep up! Can't let oneself go in this world or else things get really bleak!

FIGS!!! Happy Brian

Class: Class has been good. I continue to enjoy the variation with formal learning in the morning and more dialogue and exercises in the afternoon. I have really gotten into the timing swing of things with the 10:30 start and usually do my larger meal and daily Ugly Betty episode viewing to unwind during the midday break (almost done season 4 -- what will I do when it's done?!). Homework has continued to be interesting, with lots of writing exercises (posted below).

As for Friday's test, it was a pretty tough one, but I am happy with how I did. Basically the test was a full presentation that we had an hour to prepare, including the speech, slides, photos, and a small written text. Mine was about the small Uzbek city of Navoiy, going along with our theme of cities and transport. Aaand--I am excited to say I got an A+ on the test, my first yet here. Seeing as I did put a lot of work into the assignment, I am proud of this score.

Beautiful Arizona sunset seen from top of A mountain

Free time: Free time has been relatively small in quantity but I've been enjoying walking around the campus, exercising, listening to music, getting my items organized both online and in real life as far as what I want to finish as well as keeping things neat and orderly. I am continuing to work on sites for clients and am looking forward to launching towards the end of the month for one client. Lastly, I have been enjoying shopping at the local markets with friends (thanks to those of you guys who have cars!) and the fruit has been GREAT!

What more does one need?

This week: This week I have two exams actually, my final tomorrow, and my regular weekly test on Friday. My goal is to really stay on track with preparing for these and continue to get as much as I can out of class. I also want to crack down on organizing some of my online files for ebooks I want to put out soon, and help get some more tasks done for clients. Lastly, I want to keep exercising, and maybe even get around to posting up those vocab flashcards. :)

Staples! 

Resources:

Quite a few resources today! Here they are:

Uy Ishi June 17: Transport Turlari Haqida
"Homework June 17: About Transport Methods"


Uy Ishi June 18: Men Qalamman
"Homework June 18: I Am a Pencil (Spoof Monologue)"


Uy Ishi June 19: “-gi + Kel(ma)”li Gaplar
"Homework June 19: Sentences with "-gi + Kel(ma)"


Uy Ishi June 19: Sevimli Shahar Haqida
"Homework June 19: About a Favorite City"


Thanks for reading! Be in touch soon. Be sure to subscribe by email if you're enjoying the blog! We have almost reached the 10,000 visitors mark... Shh, it'll be a celebration!

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

Uzbek Verb Form Complete Grammar Reference (O‘zbek Tilining Fe’l Shakllari)

Assalomu alaykum!

As a handy reference for Uzbek learners, here is a brief table I put together for CLI Intermediate Uzbek class that includes all the forms (past, present, and future systems) used in modern standard Uzbek. (More reference on verb and other grammatical element listings available at this link.)

Form	O‘zbek	English
infinitive	bormoq	to go
present/future simple	boraman	I go, I will go
present progressive	boryapman	I am going
imperfect/past indefinite	borganman	I have gone, I went
past definite	bordim	I went
past continuous	borayotgan edim	I was going
pluperfect/past perfect	borgan edim	I had gone
past intention	bormoqchi edim	I had intended to go
past habitual	borar edim	I used to go
past inferential	boribman	I supposedly went
past obligatory	boradigan bo’ldim	I had to go
future intention	bormoqchiman	I will go, I intend to go
future possibility	borarman	Maybe I will go

Feel free to download and print this reference list using this Google Doc. Enjoy!

Xayr,
Brian

Intermediate Uzbek Week 2 Quick Review Guide: Family Vocab & Household Descriptions

Assalomu alaykum!

Here is my week #2 quick review guide for Intermediate Uzbek at CLI. This week's topics included describing relatives and extended family members in Uzbek, as well as giving detailed descriptions (e.g. using intensive adjectives, more detailed past tense verb forms, etc.) of household scenes and other daily life scenarios. Take a look below or feel free to view and print at this link.



Xayr,
Brian