Read a new alphabet by tonight.
A new script looks like a wall of squiggles. Give every letter a picture you already know, and the wall turns into words in an evening.
Drag the globe to spin it
ქართული33 letters · 3.8M native speakers
Georgia: the official language·Also spoken in Türkiye, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, and United States
Kartvelian. Its only relatives are Mingrelian, Laz and Svan; it is not related to Russian, Turkish or any European language.
A short history
5th c.
The first Georgian inscriptions, in the Asomtavruli script: Bir el Qutt near Jerusalem, around 430, and Bolnisi, around 494.
9th c.
Nuskhuri, a script for church books. Its earliest inscription is from 835.
10th c.
Mkhedruli appears, first carved in 982. It is the script on every sign in Georgia today, and the one you learn here.
12th c.
Shota Rustaveli writes The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, still the national epic.
2016
UNESCO lists the living culture of Georgia’s three scripts as intangible cultural heritage.
Հայերեն38 letters · 5.3M native speakers
Armenia: the official language·Also spoken in Georgia, Iran, Türkiye, Russia, France, Lebanon, Syria, United States, and Argentina
Indo-European, but a branch of its own: no other living language is a close relative.
A short history
405
Mesrop Mashtots creates the alphabet: 36 letters.
5th c.
The Bible is translated into Armenian, the oldest Armenian text that survives.
Middle Ages
Two letters join, օ and ֆ, for sounds from other languages: 38 in all.
1922–24
Soviet Armenia reforms the spelling. Western Armenian, and Armenians in Iran, keep the classical one.
2019
UNESCO lists Armenian letter art and its cultural expressions as intangible cultural heritage.
We are writing and checking its hooks. The course opens here once they are ready.
The Armenian language →One letter, two hooks
Hooks are written for the language you think in. An English speaker and a Russian speaker learn the same letter through different words, each one a word that speaker already has.
gong
გ is a gong hanging from its hook — round disc, curved hanger above. Gong — G.
гиря
გ — гиря: круглый чугунный шар и дуга ручки сверху. Гиря — Г.
How it works
- 1
Picture it
Each letter arrives with its sound and a hook: a word you know, drawn into the letter’s shape. Take your time, then tap when you can see it.
- 2
Recognise it
Pick its sound out of four. A miss just brings the picture back.
- 3
Keep it
Three right in a row and the letter is yours. It leaves the deck for good.
Then words
Once you can read Georgian, the 250 words people actually say open up, each read letter by letter in the script you just learned.
Progress only goes up
No streaks to break, no hearts to lose. Miss a week and everything you learned is still there.
Read Georgian by tonight.
Start the alphabetFree · no signup · one or two evenings