A Unique Language and Culture at Eurasia’s Crossroads

Georgian is one of the world’s most distinctive languages, belonging to the Kartvelian family with no close relatives beyond the South Caucasus. Spoken in a region long shaped by empires, trade routes, and cultural exchange, it offers a unique window into how language, identity, and history evolve together at the intersection of Europe, Russia, and the Middle East.

In this immersive program in Tbilisi, you will study Georgian through focused language instruction combined with structured cultural engagement. Classroom learning is reinforced through daily interaction, guided excursions, and exposure to local institutions and traditions that bring the language into lived context.

While Georgian is rarely studied outside the region, this program is designed to give you meaningful access to the language. You will build practical communication skills for everyday situations while gaining insight into how the language works and what it reflects about Georgian society and identity.

What You Will Study

Foundations of Communication

You will learn essential vocabulary and phrases for everyday situations such as greetings, ordering food, asking directions, and basic conversation. The focus is on building confidence using Georgian in real interactions.

Core Structures and Patterns

You will be introduced to key features of Georgian grammar, including how verbs and cases function. Rather than full mastery, the goal is to recognize patterns and begin understanding how meaning is constructed.

The Georgian Alphabet

You will learn to read and write the Georgian script, gaining familiarity with its unique visual system. This allows you to navigate signs, menus, and simple written materials in your daily environment.

Language and Identity

You will explore how the Georgian language has helped sustain national identity across centuries of external influence. Language becomes a lens for understanding continuity, culture, and social cohesion.

Culture Through Language

You will reinforce learning through daily exposure and guided cultural experiences in Tbilisi. Using Georgian in context helps connect language to social norms, hospitality traditions, and everyday life.

Who This Program Is For

If you are interested in languages that challenge familiar structures, Georgian offers a rare opportunity to engage with a linguistic system that developed outside the Indo-European tradition. This program is especially suited to those drawn to linguistic diversity and the relationship between language, culture, and identity.

You may come from linguistics, anthropology, or area studies, or simply have a strong personal interest in languages and cultures. It is equally well suited to those who want to engage more deeply with Georgia while gaining practical communication skills. No prior experience is required—only curiosity and a willingness to try something new.

Program Details

REES 190 Georgian Language & Culture

This introductory course provides a foundation in the Georgian language through focused study of basic vocabulary, grammar, and script within a cultural context. Emphasis is placed on developing practical communication skills for everyday interactions while introducing the structural features that make Georgian a unique linguistic system. Instruction is complemented by cultural engagement that reinforces language use in real-world settings. 4 credits

Students with prior knowledge of Georgian, contact us about options.
Contact us for course syllabi.

Travel and Cultural Program

This program is designed to be experiential, with excursions and activities integrated directly into your learning. In Tbilisi, you will explore markets, museums, and neighborhoods that reflect both the city’s historical layers and its contemporary cultural life.

Workshops in traditional cooking, dance, calligraphy, and polyphonic singing provide hands-on engagement with Georgian cultural practices. These experiences offer insight into how culture is expressed, preserved, and shared—often in ways closely tied to language and social interaction.

You will also travel beyond Tbilisi on guided day trips. In Kakheti, you will explore Georgia’s winemaking traditions, among the oldest in the world. In Kazbegi, you will experience the landscapes of the Greater Caucasus, gaining a deeper sense of the geography that has shaped the region’s history and identity.

Partner School

Novamova, a private language school founded in 2001, uses innovative and immersive teaching methods. The school actively combines intensive classroom training with hands-on, practical usage through conversation partners, various masterclasses, discussion groups, film and literature clubs, and more. Novamova has quickly developed a strong international reputation and partners directly with a number of well-known American universities and educational organizations. With schools in Kyiv and Tbilisi, NovaMova leads educational programming throughout Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. 

Experiential Learning and Excursions

This program is hosted by NovaMova Language School in cooperation with SRAS. The School of Record is Stetson University (Florida, USA). Credit transfer to your home institution is usually possible. A US School of Record means that your program is supported by and documented by an accredited US university, making credit transfer relatively routine.

Contact us for course syllabi.

In Tbilisi, you will stay with a host family and receive two meals per day. Homestays vary and may include families, couples, or single hosts, but all are experienced in welcoming international students and incorporating them into daily life.

Living with a host provides consistent exposure to Georgian outside the classroom and offers insight into everyday routines, communication styles, and social norms. It is one of the most effective ways to reinforce your language learning while gaining a deeper understanding of local culture.

Tbilisi is both enigmatic and approachable, with an Old Town that blends medieval, Persian, Soviet, and contemporary architecture. Set along historic trade routes, the city reflects layers of influence while maintaining a distinct cultural character.

Georgian cuisine—shaped by local, Turkic, and Persian traditions—is a central expression of that identity. Shared meals, wine, and hospitality are not simply social customs, but important cultural practices that structure daily life.

At the heart of this identity is the Georgian language and its unique alphabet, created in the 5th century and found nowhere else in the world. Its flowing script has evolved across three historical forms, yet has remained a consistent marker of cultural continuity. Used to record one of the world’s oldest Christian traditions and a long literary history, Georgian has played a central role in sustaining national identity across periods of external rule.

In Tbilisi, you will encounter the language everywhere—from street signs and storefronts to monuments and contemporary design—making it an immediate and visible part of the urban environment. Even basic familiarity with the alphabet quickly changes how you navigate and experience the city.

Find out more about:

Budget Breakdowns:

Budget Breakdown (summer 4 week)

SRAS Guide to Living in Tbilisi  (w/ weekly living expenses, etc.)

Scholarships and Grants:

  • Federal aid can help pay for your program if your university pre-approves credit transfer and agrees to manage payment. Check with SRAS and your university for details.
  • All Scholarships and Grants that we know of that can be applied to our programs are listed on our site.
  • SRAS Program Grants are stackable! 
  • SRAS Ambassadors can write while abroad or educate students at home after their return – and earn stipends!
  • SRAS Online Research Internships award partial scholarships for study abroad.

  1. Complete our application (press the “Apply Now” button to create your SRAS account — you will be able to return to the application later).
  2. Alert your home university (if you are currently a student).
    Some universities have deadlines for study abroad that are much earlier than SRAS deadlines -— so involve your home university’s study abroad office in the process as early as possible! They can help ensure that all goes smoothly with credit transfer and financial aid, and perhaps point you to additional funding sources.
  3. See our Planning Guide for more important information about academics, health and safety, and more.

If you are still unsure this is the right program for you, please join an SRAS Info Session or schedule an SRAS advising session to discuss how we can help fulfill your goals and needs!