Russian → Georgian
Georgian uses 33 sounds. You already own 13 of them from Russian. The other 20 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 зуб (tooth).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
Georgian: child (son/daughter) · written "შ"
Your /s/ is the one in сон (sleep).
the move: velar → uvular
Georgian: hand · written "ხ"
Uvular — rougher than German ach.
Your /x/ is the one in хорошо́ (good, well).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: money · written "ფ"
Aspirated — a puff of air, like English p in 'pin'.
Your /p/ is the one in по́чта (post).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: fish · written "თ"
Aspirated.
Your /t/ is the one in там (there).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: woman · written "ქ"
Aspirated. ქართული /kʰartʰuli/ = Georgian.
Your /k/ is the one in кот (cat).
the move: aspirated
Georgian: sky · written "ც"
Aspirated.
Your /t͡s/ is the one in цена́ (price).
the move: retroflex → velar
Georgian: wine · written "ღ"
Voiced — like a French r but further forward; the partner of ხ.
Your /ʐ/ is the one in жена́ (wife).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar, aspirated
Georgian: tea · written "ჩ"
Aspirated.
Your /t͡s/ is the one in цена́ (price).
the move: open → open-mid
Georgian: one · written "ე"
Your /a/ is the one in мать (mother).
the move: close-mid → open-mid
Georgian: two · written "ო"
Your /o/ is the one in дом (house).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar, voiced
Georgian: army · written "ჯ"
Your /t͡s/ is the one in цена́ (price).
the move: ejective
Georgian: bread · written "პ"
Ejective — no air from the lungs; close the glottis and pop.
Your /p/ is the one in по́чта (post).
the move: ejective
Georgian: lake · written "ტ"
Ejective.
Your /t/ is the one in там (there).
the move: ejective
Georgian: man · written "კ"
Ejective.
Your /k/ is the one in кот (cat).
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 Russian 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.
air
Closest thing you own: — but labiodental → glottal.
coffee
Uvular ejective — made far back, a throaty pop. The hardest sound for learners; ბაყაყი 'frog' is the tongue-twister.
Closest thing you own: — but velar → uvular, ejective.
glass (drinking)
Ejective.
Closest thing you own: — but alveolar → postalveolar, ejective.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Russian | Georgian | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Stress-timed, heavily reduced | Syllable-timed, heavy clusters |
| Stress | Contrastive, and NOT written. За́мок is a castle and замо́к is a lock. Worse, it moves within a word’s own declension — рука́ but ру́ку, окно́ but о́кна — so knowing the word is not the same as knowing where to hit it. Dictionaries mark it; native writing does not. | 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
33 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 Russian 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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