Learning Georgian
Is Georgian related to any other language?
The short answer
Only to its close neighbours. Georgian belongs to the small Kartvelian family, with Megrelian, Laz and Svan, all spoken in and around Georgia. It isn’t related to Russian, Armenian, Turkish or Azerbaijani, or to any European language, which is why so little of it looks familiar.
The Kartvelian family
Georgian is by far the largest, with about four million speakers. Megrelian is spoken in western Georgia, Svan in the mountains of Svaneti, and Laz mostly along Turkey’s Black Sea coast. They share grammar and roots, but speakers of one don’t simply understand the others.
Borrowed words
Unrelated doesn’t mean no shared words. Georgian has borrowed from Persian, Arabic, Greek, Turkish and Russian over the centuries, and from English recently: მეტრო (metro), ტაქსი (taxi), კომპიუტერი (computer). Those are the first words most learners read.
Words to hear
Checked October 2026.