Georgia – language

Georgia is a country which every year wins new tourists’ hearts, thanks to the legendary Georgian hospitality, aromatic cuisine and spectacular views. It has a lot to offer, let it delight you!

There is only one small inconvenience that you may encounter during your travels: the language barrier. The population of Georgia speaks mainly Georgian, which is considered a difficult language to learn for an English speaker (source: Georgia Today). It may not be easy to get around knowing only English. If you know a bit of Russian, use it to your advantage and equip yourself with a phrasebook.

Georgia in a nutshell

Georgia is a small country located in the Southern Caucasus, sandwiched between Europe and Asia. It shares land borders with Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. A considerable part of its territory lies in the mountains. The highest peak is Shkhara (5193 metres above sea level). Georgia has access to the Black Sea, its coast spreads over 310 kilometres. The country’s capital is Tbilisi. Other significant cities are Kutaisi, Poti and Batumi.

Almost four million people are living in Georgia (source: worldometers.info). Most of them are Georgians (86.8%). Other numerous ethnic groups are Azeri (6.3%), Armenians (4.5%) and Russians (0.7%; source: Encyclopedia Britannica). From the religious perspective, the strongest position belongs to the Georgian Orthodox Church. Islam, the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholic Church and Judaism also gather a significant number of followers.

Languages in Georgia

There is only one language of state in the country: Georgian. Regionally, in Abkhazia, Abkhazian is in official use. The residents of Southern Ossetia have their mother tongue: Ossetian. The Russian language has been long-established in the region, however, most of its users aren’t native speakers. Among the popular languages of Georgia’s ethnic minorities, we can also mention Azeri and Armenian.

Georgian language

Georgian language, together with Svan, Judaeo-Georgian, Mingrelian and Laz, represents the Kartvelian language family. There are approximately 4.5 million Georgian speakers. They live in Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and the European Union (source: Study in Georgia). 

Georgian has been categorized as an agglutinative language. There are 18 regional dialects distinguished by the vocabulary, verb forms, presence of long and short vowels and use of “-n-” as the plural affix instead of the usual “-eb-”.

The Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik, written by Iakob Tsurtaveli, is considered the earliest surviving work of Georgian literature. It was created in the 5th century. Seven centuries later, Shota Rustaveli wrote The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, the most significant national poem. Nowadays, Georgian writers become more and more recognizable abroad; some of them, e.g. Nino Haratishvili, David “Dato” Turashvili and Giorgio Kekelidze, get translated into the most popular languages.

Georgian alphabet

The Georgian alphabet originated around the 4th century, probably from Syriac or Greek letters. Traditionally, its creation has been attributed to king Pharnavaz the Great. It is possible to differentiate three Georgian scripts: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. There are 33 letters in use, without distinction between small and great characters.

Let’s take a look at the letters of the most often used Georgian Script, Mkhedruli, and its transliteration: ა (a), ბ (b), გ (g), დ (d), ე (e), ვ (v), ზ (z), თ (th), ი (i), კ (k’), ლ (l), მ (m), ნ (n), ო (ɔ), პ (p’), ჟ (ʒ), რ (r), ს (s), ტ (t’), უ (u), ფ (ph), ქ (kh), ღ (ɣ), ყ (q’), შ (ʃ), ჩ (t͡ʃʰ), ც (t͡sʰ), ძ (d͡z), წ (t͡s’), ჭ (t͡ʃ’), ხ (x), ჯ (d͡ʒ), ჰ (h). The language experts assure that mastering the basics of the characters takes only between 2 and 3 hours (source: jezykikaukazu.pl).

Abkhazian language

Abkhazian is a popular language in Abkhazia, the region that officially belongs to Georgia, but in fact, it is an autonomous state not recognized by the international community (excluding Russia and a few other countries). It is also present in Adjara and Turkey. Around the world, there are 90 thousand Abkhazian speakers (source: Encyclopedia Britannica). Due to political reasons, despite the small number of users, the language holds an important place in the region, being the official tongue of the Republic of Abkhazia.

One of the most interesting facts about the Abkhazian language is the lack of vowels (there are only two letters: “а” and “ә”, which could be read in 6 different ways) and the abundance of consonants (58 in Abžu and 67 in Bzyp dialect). Nowadays, the Abkhazian script is based on Cyrillic.