Georgian Transliterator

How to Use the Georgian Transliterator

1. 1. Choose a direction. Georgian → Latin shows all three systems side by side. Latin → Georgian reads one system, which you pick.
2. 2. Paste your text. Modern Georgian (Mkhedruli) is the main case. The older Nuskhuri and Asomtavruli letters and the modern capital forms are read too, and capital forms come out as capital letters.
3. 3. Set the option. Capitalize each word is for names. Georgian has no case of its own, and ISO 9984 has no capitals at all, so that card never changes.
4. 4. Copy the card you need. Each says which system it is and who uses it. The table below the results lists every letter.

Which Georgian Romanization Should You Use?

Georgia's national system, adopted in February 2002 by the State Department of Geodesy and Cartography and the Institute of Linguistics, is the usual choice for place names and everyday English writing. It also became the system of the US and British place-name boards (BGN/PCGN) in 2009. ISO 9984 (1996) gives every letter one Latin letter, with a caron, macron or comma-shaped sign for those English lacks, so it can be reversed exactly. ALA-LC is the Library of Congress table (2011), and library records use it. The three differ most in how they treat the ejective and aspirated stops.

Aspirates, Ejectives and the Apostrophe

Georgian has three sets of stops that English has only one of: a plain voiceless one, an aspirated one (თ ფ ქ ც ჩ) and an ejective one (ტ პ კ წ ჭ, plus ყ). The three systems answer the problem in different ways, so the same apostrophe means different things:

• National system. The ejectives take the apostrophe — კ k', პ p', ტ t', ყ q', წ ts', ჭ ch' — and the aspirated stops are plain: ქ k, ფ p, თ t. English writing often leaves the apostrophes out, so you will see Kakheti for კახეთი (k'akheti).
• ISO 9984. The reverse: the aspirates carry a small comma above the letter (U+0315) and the ejectives are plain, so თ is t̕ and ტ is t.
• ALA-LC. Also marks the aspirates, with the sign ʻ: თ tʻ, ტ t, ქ kʻ, კ k.
• Digraphs. The national system writes ჟ zh, შ sh, ღ gh, ხ kh, ძ dz, ჩ ch and ც ts; ISO 9984 and ALA-LC use single letters with carons (ž, š, č, x) instead.

Going Back to Georgian

ISO 9984 reverses exactly, because no two Georgian letters share a Latin form. The national system and ALA-LC do not: sh might be შ or ს followed by ჰ, and ts is ც but t then s could be ტს. The tool reads the longest match, so sh is შ; type a hyphen between two letters (s-h) to keep them apart. A missing apostrophe is read as the aspirated letter, so k is ქ, and the ejective კ needs k'.

Archaic and dialect letters (ჱ ჲ ჳ ჴ ჵ ჶ ჷ ჸ) have no value in the national system and are left unchanged there, with a notice. ISO 9984 and ALA-LC give most of them a value, as the table shows.

Georgian Names in Citations

A reference to a Georgian book or article usually gives the title in Georgian script with a romanization and, often, an English translation. Library catalogs follow ALA-LC; geographic and general-reader sources follow the national system. Pick one for the whole list. How to Cite a Source in Another Language shows where each part goes in APA, MLA and Chicago, and the Book Citation Generator formats the finished entry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official romanization of Georgian?

The national system adopted in 2002 by the State Department of Geodesy and Cartography and the Institute of Linguistics. It writes საქართველო as sakartvelo and uses apostrophes for the ejective consonants. The US and British place-name boards have used it since 2009.

What is the difference between the national system and ISO 9984?

The national system uses digraphs (sh, zh, kh, gh) and marks the ejectives with an apostrophe. ISO 9984 uses one letter per Georgian letter (š, ž, x, ḡ), marks the aspirates with a small comma above the letter, and can be reversed exactly. They are not interchangeable in a bibliography.

Why does Georgian have so many apostrophes?

Because the language has ejective stops, which English lacks. The apostrophe is the national system's way of telling კ (k', ejective) from ქ (k, aspirated). In everyday English the apostrophes are often dropped, as in Kakheti.

Does Georgian have capital letters?

Not in the traditional alphabet. The modern Mkhedruli script has one case. The Mtavruli forms, added to Unicode in 2018, are used for headings, and the older Asomtavruli letters are capitals in the Church script. The tool romanizes those capital forms as capital letters, except in ISO 9984, which has no capitals.

How do I type ʻ, ̕ and the other marks?

Copy them from the converter's output or its letter table. For Latin → Georgian the tool accepts a plain or curly apostrophe or a backtick in place of ʻ, and a straight or curly apostrophe for the national system.

Is the ALA-LC table the same as ISO 9984?

Almost. Both use š, ž, č and x, but ALA-LC marks the aspirates with ʻ rather than a combining comma, writes ღ as ġ rather than ḡ, ძ as ż rather than j, and ჯ as j rather than ǰ.

Can it transliterate Mingrelian, Svan or Laz?

It will convert the letters, but the extra letters used for those languages have no value in some of the systems, and the Library of Congress table assigns them in a separate table. Use the table for that language for catalog records.