Tbilisi

Tbilisi (Georgian თბილისი) — formerly known by its old Turkish name Tiflis — is the capital city of the country Georgia, located on the shore of Kura (Mtkvari) river, at {{coor dm|41|43|N|44|47|E|}}. The city covers an area of 350 km² (135 square miles) and has more than 1.345 million inhabitants.

Miscellaneous

How to pronounce

Georgians pronounce Tbilisi with a barely-spoken 't', so that it almost sounds like "Bill-EE-see"; English speakers often mispronounce it like "Tib-LEE-see", but that is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is T*-bi-li-si. The "i" is pronounced as in machine. The "t*" is pronounced as english "t", but aspirated--with a puff of breath after the consonant sound. There is no voiced sound between the "t" and "b" in Tbilisi. Moreover, the Georgian language is unstressed. To approximate the correct pronunciation, English speakers should say t*-BI-li-si, with a light emphasis on the first syllable "BI."

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