This is the first post on the EasyGeorgian blog, which feels like the right moment to introduce ourselves properly.
I’m Lasse. I’m Danish. I moved from Copenhagen to Tbilisi in 2021. I’m now married to Tamar, who is Georgian, and somewhere along the way the two of us decided to do something about how bad Georgian-language learning is for the people moving here.
EasyGeorgian went live this week, after two years of work. I’ve been thinking about this post since the night of the launch. It’s the introduction the blog never had.
Why this exists
When I got to Tbilisi five years ago, I went looking for a way to actually learn Georgian. Not tourist Georgian. Not “hello, thank you, goodbye”. Enough Georgian to follow what people around me were saying, to speak with Tamar’s family, to travel the regions, and to stop feeling like a permanent guest.
I couldn’t find anything good. Old textbooks. A few apps that were really just word-and-translation lists. A couple of teachers who were lovely, and who taught me grammar I couldn’t yet use. The biggest language apps in the world have skipped Georgian entirely. Duolingo doesn’t support it. Neither does Memrise, Babbel, or Rosetta Stone. If you want to learn Georgian, the modern language-learning industry is largely not there for you.
I had learned other languages before. Danish growing up, English to native level, German in school, then Russian and Spanish through modern online tools. I knew what good tools felt like. The Georgian tools were not good.
So in early 2024 I asked Tamar to help me build the thing I wished had existed when I arrived. Two years and a long roster of Georgian teachers, voice actors, and developers later, here it is.
What’s on it
There are four products today.
Speak Georgian in 50 Days. A 50-lesson audio course that takes a complete beginner to short, real conversations. Audio-first, structured drills with prompted speech, spaced repetition. The point is to train your mouth, not your eyes. By the end you can hold simple conversations about real things, at real speed.
Advance to Georgian Mastery. A 100-episode podcast course built around comprehensible input. That’s a specific thing. The episodes are slow, ultra-clear Georgian, designed for the level of learner who has finished the audio course. Each episode follows the same structure: a short intro, a dialogue, a discussion of the key vocabulary (in Georgian), the same dialogue replayed slightly faster, and an outro. There’s a karaoke-style transcript that scrolls with the audio, plus multiple translation modes so you can dial the help up or down depending on how rough a day you’re having. Songs sit alongside, with lyrics that mirror the dialogue. The whole thing is meant to be listened to almost passively. You acquire Georgian by being inside it.
Flashcards. A web-based flashcard app, with the audio course (2,900 cards) and the podcast course (1,100 cards) bundled in. There’s also a free alphabet deck. Every card has an image to anchor the word and audio so you hear the word on every review. Proper spaced repetition, with multiple review modes: multiple choice, self-rated, written input. It’s the best of Anki and Memrise, dedicated to Georgian.
The free alphabet video. Fifty-six minutes, free in the app for anyone who signs up. It teaches the script through contextual learning. Georgian letters first appear inside English sentences, where you can guess what sound each one makes from context. By the end you’re reading real Georgian street signs. Fifty-six minutes in, you can read the alphabet. As far as I know it’s the only thing of its kind that exists for Georgian.
What’s actually different about it
The big language apps have decided Georgian isn’t worth the engineering. Most Georgian learners end up paying private teachers and grinding through grammar charts, or downloading “apps” that turn out to be word lists. People give up. We’ve heard the same story over and over.
EasyGeorgian is the modern stack, only for Georgian. Audio-first beginner course, comprehensible-input podcast that follows it, flashcard app that supports both, free alphabet video that gets you reading inside an hour. Beautiful interface, gamified, mobile, dark mode. None of it feels like school.
I built the version of it I wanted when I arrived, and used it as I built it. My Georgian is now at a level where I follow most of what’s said in the regions, speak with Tamar’s family, and don’t stand around at supras smiling and nodding while life happens in another language. The best part is that Georgians are wildly forgiving when you make the effort. Even a little Georgian changes how people receive you.
What this blog is
This is where we’ll write about Georgian, the language and the country. Method posts on what works for adults learning a hard language. Culture pieces from the village, from supras, from the bits of Georgia that don’t fit in a phrasebook. Behind-the-scenes notes on how the courses get made. Sometimes a short essay on something Tamar said in passing that I’ve been chewing on for a week.
If you’re learning Georgian, thinking about it, or just curious about how a small couple in Tbilisi has been spending the last two years, you’re in the right place.
That’s the introduction. More soon.
