LingoflyHow to read in Georgian
Mkhedruli: 33 letters and not a single capital. The script is called “Mkhedruli” (written in itself as “მხედრული” (mkhedruli)). The writing course covers them all. The characters come a few per session — in two or three weeks a shop sign stops being a picture.
33 letters and not a single capital
The Georgian script is built simply. Three reasons:
- one letter — one sound, always. No combinations, no silent letters, no exceptions; - there are no capital letters at all. A name, the start of a sentence, the name of a country — all written alike; - letters do not join the way English handwriting joins them.
It reads left to right. You can read an unfamiliar word aloud from day one — understanding comes later, but that is a different job.
Sharp consonants: კ and ქ are different letters
Here begins the main difficulty of Georgian. Five pairs of consonants that an untrained ear hears as one sound and the Georgian ear hears as different words.
Ejectives (კ, ტ, პ, წ, ჭ) — sharp, with a catch in the throat and no puff of air. Hold your palm to your mouth — it will feel nothing.
Aspirated (ქ, თ, ფ, ც, ჩ) — the opposite, with a puff, just like English k, t, p at the start of a word. The palm feels the push of air.
The difference changes meaning: კარი (kari) — door, ქარი (kari) — wind. The transliteration of words does not mark it, or it would turn into a cipher. In the alphabet the sharp ones carry an apostrophe: k'. Listen to the audio.
| Ejective | With a puff | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| კ | ქ | k |
| ტ | თ | t |
| პ | ფ | p |
| წ | ც | ts |
| ჭ | ჩ | ch |
Mkhedruli in full
In this guide the letters came in order of usefulness for reading. Below is the traditional order, the one in which Mkhedruli stands in dictionaries.
მხედრული (mkhedruli) means 'of the cavalry' — it is the third Georgian script by count. Before it came Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri; they can still be seen on church inscriptions, but everyone writes in Mkhedruli.
Stress in Georgian is weak and usually falls on the first syllable; in long words, on the third syllable from the end. Getting it wrong is almost impossible: it does not affect understanding.
| Order | Letters |
|---|---|
| 1–9 | ა ბ გ დ ე ვ ზ თ ი |
| 10–18 | კ ლ მ ნ ო პ ჟ რ ს |
| 19–27 | ტ უ ფ ქ ღ ყ შ ჩ ც |
| 28–33 | ძ წ ჭ ხ ჯ ჰ |
What order to take the characters in
The writing course is split into 7 steps: one step is one lesson, a few characters at a time. Nobody takes the whole script at once out of mercy: 33 signs in an evening stay in memory for exactly that, an evening.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
Frequently asked
How many characters do you need to learn to read in Georgian?
33 signs. The writing course covers them all. After that a word stops being a picture — even when its meaning is still unknown.
What to learn first: letters or words?
Letters. A word in an unfamiliar script cannot be read at all, and a “word — translation” card tells you no more than a picture does.
How long does it take to learn to read in Georgian?
One step a day — 7 days. That is about recognizing characters, not understanding: you will start reading aloud before you understand what you read.