German → Georgian
Georgian uses 33 sounds. You already own 14 of them from German. The other 19 are the work — and 17 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
Georgian: magazine · written "ჟ"
Your /z/ is the one in Sonne (sun).
the move: velar → uvular
Georgian: hand · written "ხ"
Uvular — rougher than German ach.
Your /x/ is the one in Bach (stream).
the move: near-close → close
Georgian: he / she / it · written "ი"
Your /ɪ/ is the one in Kind (child).
the move: near-close → close
Georgian: night · written "უ"
Example for u: უნივერსიტეტი /univɛrsitʼɛtʼi/.
Your /ʊ/ is the one in Mutter (mother).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: money · written "ფ"
Aspirated — a puff of air, like English p in 'pin'.
Your /p/ is the one in Papier (paper).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: fish · written "თ"
Aspirated.
Your /t/ is the one in Tag (day).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: woman · written "ქ"
Aspirated. ქართული /kʰartʰuli/ = Georgian.
Your /k/ is the one in Kind (child).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: sky · written "ც"
Aspirated.
Your /t͡s/ is the one in Zeit (time).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: tea · written "ჩ"
Aspirated.
Your /t͡ʃ/ is the one in Deutsch (German).
the move: voiced
Georgian: wine · written "ღ"
Voiced — like a French r but further forward; the partner of ხ.
Your /x/ is the one in Bach (stream).
the move: voiced
Georgian: army · written "ჯ"
Your /t͡ʃ/ is the one in Deutsch (German).
the move: ejective
Georgian: bread · written "პ"
Ejective — no air from the lungs; close the glottis and pop.
Your /p/ is the one in Papier (paper).
the move: ejective
Georgian: lake · written "ტ"
Ejective.
Your /t/ is the one in Tag (day).
the move: ejective
Georgian: man · written "კ"
Ejective.
Your /k/ is the one in Kind (child).
the move: ejective
Georgian: water · written "წ"
Ejective. წყალი opens with two ejectives in a row.
Your /t͡s/ is the one in Zeit (time).
Words you may say identically
Two or more Georgian sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in German sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| German | Georgian | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Stress-timed | Syllable-timed, heavy clusters |
| Stress | Contrastive in a very German way: with separable-vs-inseparable prefix verbs, the stress tells you which grammar you are in — and therefore what the sentence means. Otherwise stress sits on the stem syllable, and the unstressed prefixes (be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-) never take it. | Weak and non-contrastive. Two-syllable words take it on the first syllable; longer words tend toward the third-from-last. No pair of Georgian words is distinguished by stress alone, which is why dictionaries do not mark it. To an English ear Georgian can sound evenly stressed, almost flat — that is correct, not a lack of expression. |
What you have that Georgian doesn't
29 sounds with no job in Georgian. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your German has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned Georgian from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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