On the german contribution to post-soviet ilfe in Georgia: In the early nineties television in Georgia took on the role that the internet has today: The number one source of information and guarantor of enlightenment.

All kinds of private channels went on air, buying their material in bulk from Leo Kirch in Munich (or simply playing illegal copies).

Opening a private station meant that video-cassettes were played around the clock on two or three recorders and only feature films were broadcast. The Russian dubbing artist who dubbed all of these films became famous for his linguistic mannerisms.

The program changed dramatically at midnight, when each and every night German-made softpornos were broadcasted. You know: those flicks whose storylines revolve around leaking pipes, broken household appliances and faulty power lines – let’s call this early phenomenon of private television “German handyman porn” for the sake of simplicity. It´s obvious that noone even bothered to subtitle or dub these films. Thus the adolescents, who had the opportunity to turn on the television secretly and under high excitement at night, were not only confronted with full scale nudity, but also and simultanously with the German language!

So don’t be surprised if a Georgian in his prime laughingly shouts “schneller, schneller!” at you. This is meant in a friendly way and we are in a region where German vocabulary was not brought over by the German military for a change. Another phrase which is widely used, not only in Georgia, but throughout the former Soviet Union:

„Ja, ja, das ist fantastisch!“

It has to be said, however, that this phrase has long since lost its original context, especially for younger people, and is used quite innocently. Language has a life of its own, terms wander, words take on a life of their own and only those who were socialized in the nineties know about the contribution of the German language to post-Soviet life – or rather nightlife.

(taken and translated from “111 Gründe, Georgien zu lieben)