Georgian → Hindi
Hindi uses 41 sounds. You already own 13 of them from Georgian. The other 28 are the work — and 24 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: close → near-close
Hindi: day · written "i", "इ"
Your /i/ is the one in ის (he / she / it).
the move: close → near-close
Hindi: something · written "u", "उ"
Your /u/ is the one in ღამე (night).
the move: without the aspirated part
Hindi: work · written "k", "क"
Your /kʰ/ is the one in ქალი (woman).
the move: close, but not identical
Hindi: house · written "gh", "घ"
Breathy, not aspirated — voicing carries on through the breath.
Your /ɡ/ is the one in გული (heart).
the move: without the aspirated part
Hindi: you · written "t", "त"
DENTAL: tongue flat against the back of the teeth, softer than English t.
Your /tʰ/ is the one in თევზი (fish).
the move: without the aspirated part
Hindi: water · written "p", "प"
Your /pʰ/ is the one in ფული (money).
the move: close, but not identical
Hindi: brother · written "bh", "भ"
Your /b/ is the one in ბავშვი (child).
the move: without the aspirated part
Hindi: tea · written "c", "ch", "च"
The word the whole world borrowed — chai, çay, chá.
Your /t͡ʃʰ/ is the one in ჩაი (tea).
the move: close, but not identical
Hindi: a lie · written "jh", "झ"
Your /d͡ʒ/ is the one in ჯარი (army).
the move: longer
Hindi: mango · written "aa", "आ", "ा"
Your /a/ is the one in კარი (door).
the move: longer
Hindi: lamp · written "ii", "ई"
Your /i/ is the one in ის (he / she / it).
the move: longer
Hindi: is · written "ai", "ऐ"
Not a diphthong in standard Hindi — one open vowel.
Your /ɛ/ is the one in ერთი (one).
the move: velar → retroflex
Hindi: cold · written "ṭh", "ठ"
Your /kʰ/ is the one in ქალი (woman).
the move: velar → retroflex
Hindi: fear · written "ḍ", "ड"
Your /ɡ/ is the one in გული (heart).
the move: alveolar → dental
Hindi: sunshine · written "dh", "ध"
Your /d/ is the one in დედა (mother).
the move: alveolar → retroflex
Hindi: Ganesh · written "ṇ", "ण"
Retroflex n.
Your /n/ is the one in ნინო (Nino (name)).
the move: trill → tap
Hindi: night · written "r", "र"
A tap, as in Spanish pero.
Your /r/ is the one in რძე (milk).
the move: fricative → approximant
Hindi: he, she, that · written "v", "w", "व"
Between English v and w and genuinely neither — which is why Hindi speakers of English swap the two.
Your /v/ is the one in ვაშლი (apple).
the move: open-mid → mid, front → central
Hindi: yesterday/tomorrow · written "a", "अ"
The default vowel, built into every consonant letter unless something removes it.
Your /ɛ/ is the one in ერთი (one).
the move: velar → retroflex, without the aspirated part
Hindi: tomato · written "ṭ", "ट"
RETROFLEX: tongue curled back. This is the one English speakers substitute for both — English t sits between the two and sounds foreign either way.
Your /kʰ/ is the one in ქალი (woman).
the move: velar → retroflex
Hindi: drum · written "ḍh", "ढ"
Your /ɡ/ is the one in გული (heart).
Words you may say identically
Two or more Hindi sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
- k = kʰ = ʈ = ʈʰ → your kʰ vs vs vs train this pair →
- ɡ = ɡʱ = ɖ = ɖʱ → your ɡ vs vs vs
- t = tʰ → your tʰ vs
- d = dʱ → your d vs
- p = pʰ → your pʰ vs
- b = bʱ → your b vs
- t͡ʃ = t͡ʃʰ → your t͡ʃʰ vs
- d͡ʒ = d͡ʒʱ → your d͡ʒ vs
- n = ɳ → your n vs
- ə = ɛː → your ɛ vs
- ɪ = iː → your i vs train this pair →
- ʊ = uː → your u vs
Genuinely new
Nothing in Georgian 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.
this
Closest thing you own: — but plosive → approximant, velar → palatal.
one
Closest thing you own: — but open-mid → close-mid, longer.
two
Closest thing you own: — but open-mid → close-mid, longer.
tree
The tongue flicks forward off the roof of the mouth. A single quick beat.
Closest thing you own: — but plosive → flap, velar → retroflex.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Georgian | Hindi | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed, heavy clusters | Syllable-timed, with deletion |
| Stress | 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. | Not contrastive and not written. Stress falls on the heaviest syllable — a long vowel or a closed syllable outweighs a short open one — and where several are equal it goes to the last of them. No two Hindi words are told apart by stress alone, which makes it the least stressful stress system here. |
What you have that Hindi doesn't
20 sounds with no job in Hindi. 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 Georgian has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned Hindi 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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