Arabic legal and medical translation

Arabic legal and medical translation is fed by two different worlds: the business and healthcare of the Gulf countries, where Georgian specialists work and Georgian companies look for partners, and the everyday needs of Arabic-speaking families and students living in Georgia. In both an error has serious consequences: the Arabic version of a contract prevails for a court in the UAE, one inconsistency in a licensing package stops verification, and a wrong dose in a discharge summary harms the patient. This page describes how we work on Arabic legal and medical text, which legal systems we rely on and which traps we avoid.

The law of the Arab countries: one language, several systems

The law of the Arabic-speaking countries is not uniform. The civil codes of the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are based on the Egyptian model, which in turn is a fusion of French codification and Islamic law; in Saudi Arabia, until 2023, there was no codified civil law and the law relied directly on Sharia, while the new Civil Transactions Law turns this tradition into a codified form. The law of the Maghreb countries carries French influence more clearly. The same Arabic term may carry different content in these systems, so in translation we first establish which country's law applies, and then choose the Georgian equivalent. Concepts of Islamic law (mahr, waqf, Islamic inheritance shares, Islamic finance instruments) have no Georgian analogue and are conveyed by transcription and a short explanation, clearly separated from the text.

Institutions that require explanation

• Mahr: the property promised to the wife in the marriage contract, which may be important for a Georgian court in divorce cases
• Wakala and wakil: power of attorney and representative, where the list of powers in Arabic practice is more detailed than in Georgian
• Sijil tijari: the commercial register, which belongs to different authorities depending on the country
• Kafil and kafala: the sponsorship system, which is the basis of employment and residence in the Gulf countries and is not a concept of Georgian law
• Islamic inheritance shares, where the share of the heirs is fixed by law according to sex and degree of kinship
• Murabaha, ijara, sukuk, takaful: Islamic finance instruments that perform the function of interest, leasing, bonds and insurance in banking contracts, but are legally built differently

The bilingual contract and the statutory precedence of Arabic

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia a contract in Arabic and English in parallel columns is the standard, and in many jurisdictions the Arabic version prevails by law in a court dispute, regardless of what the contract's "prevailing language" clause says. For a Georgian company this means that the Arabic version is not the "accompanying" but the main text, and its quality is decisive in case of a dispute. Our bilingual contract is checked by two native-speaking editors, a lawyer draws up a terminology consistency table where every key term, deadline and amount is identical in both columns, and we pay special attention to the dispute venue clause: in the UAE, apart from the local courts, there are the courts of the international financial centres (DIFC, ADGM), which are English-language and work with common law logic, and the language strategy of the contract follows this choice.

Corporate documents: free zones and the mainland

Company registration in the UAE comes in two forms: in a free zone (DMCC, JAFZA, ADGM, DIFC and dozens of others) or on the mainland, with a licence from the Department of Economic Development, and each form has its own document templates. When a Georgian company establishes a subsidiary or branch in the UAE, the extract from the register of entrepreneurs, the charter, the partners' resolution and the power of attorney go in Arabic and English, with legalisation; in the opposite direction, the trade licence, sijil tijari and shareholder list of a Gulf investor's UAE or Saudi company are translated into Georgian for the Public Registry of Georgia, where the company form (LLC, FZE, FZCO, joint-stock company) must be recognisable through its Georgian equivalent. In Saudi Arabia the licence of the Ministry of Investment and the commercial register come with separate terminology, and in Egypt the forms of the Investment Law and the Companies Law.

Court judgments and family cases

Marriage and divorce between Georgian and Arabic-speaking citizens are registered in both countries, and a divorce judgment of an Arab country's court requires recognition in Georgia. Such a ruling is particularly difficult for a Georgian judge: the types of divorce under Islamic law, the conditions of mahr payment, the rules of child custody (hadana), which differ according to age and sex, and the maintenance (nafaqa) obligations. In translation these concepts are conveyed by transcription and explanation, the reasoning part is translated in full, because in a recognition case the Georgian court evaluates precisely that. In the opposite direction a Georgian judgment goes for recognition in an Arab country with legalisation and an Arabic translation, and for a UAE court it is transferred onto the letterhead of a licensed translator, for which we prepare the working version.

Employment relations and the kafala system

The employment of Georgian specialists in the Gulf countries takes place within the sponsorship (kafala) system, where the employer is the sponsor of residence and the employment contract follows the standard form of the Ministry of Labour, in Arabic and English. The Arabic version of the contract, just as of a commercial contract, prevails, and it is important for a Georgian worker that working hours, the probation period, termination conditions, end-of-service compensation (a separate institution in the Gulf countries, calculated differently from the Georgian Labour Code) and the rules of sponsorship transfer are understood exactly. We translate the employment contract into Georgian with notes where a Gulf institution differs in substance from the Georgian one, and we advise reading both versions together with a lawyer before signing. In the opposite direction the contracts of Arabic-speaking specialists working in Georgia are translated into Arabic.

Medical licensing in the Gulf countries

The licensing of Georgian doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists with the health regulators of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia includes three stages: primary verification of documents, where the university and the employer directly confirm the diploma and experience; the qualification exam; and the issue of the licence. The document package (diploma, transcript, specialisation certificate, internship certificate, work experience certificate, certificate of good standing from the licensing body, criminal record certificate) goes from Georgian into English and Arabic, with an apostille for Saudi Arabia or legalisation for the UAE and Qatar. Here the names of the speciality and subjects must correspond to the terminology of the regulator's classifier, the work periods in the experience certificate must match to the day, and the candidate's name must be written identically in every document. We prepare this package with one transliteration table and one terminology and advise starting verification in parallel with the translation, because it takes months.

Medical documentation in both directions

Clinics of the Gulf countries (and the clinics of Egypt and Jordan, where Arabic-speaking patients from the region are treated) often issue documentation in English or bilingually, though the papers, certificates and expert opinions of insurance and state clinics are in Arabic. The medical history of Arabic-speaking families and students living in Georgia is translated into Georgian for the Georgian doctor, while a Georgian discharge summary and test results are translated into Arabic or English if the patient continues treatment in an Arab country or claims insurance reimbursement. Terminology in an Arabic medical document is often two-layered: the diagnosis in English or Latin, the explanation in Arabic, and Arabic medical terminology differs by country (French influence in the Maghreb, English in the east). In translation the diagnosis goes into Georgian clinical terminology, the ICD code stays unchanged, the trade name of the drug is kept and the international non-proprietary name is added beside it.

Dates, doses and reference values

In Saudi medical documents the date is often in the Hijri calendar, and part of the treatment logic (the date of the operation, the interval of chemotherapy cycles, the date of the last test) requires algorithmically exact conversion, otherwise the Georgian doctor will read the intervals wrongly. Doses, units, laboratory values and reference ranges, which differ between laboratories, are checked one to one against the original, and Arabic numerals are converted into usual numerals. This check is done by an editor with a medical education, who also reads the translation from the point of view of the logic of the diagnosis: if the drug does not match the diagnosis, this is a signal of a translation error, which we check against the original.

Types of medical documents we work with

• Discharge summaries from clinics in the Gulf, Egypt and Jordan
• Operation report, anaesthesia record and pathology conclusion
• Radiology reports and laboratory tests with reference values
• IVF protocol and embryology report
• Doctor's certificate, medical examination certificate for residence and employment, certificate of incapacity for work
• Vaccination card and paediatric history for enrolling a child in school
• Insurance policy and cost reimbursement documentation
• Psychiatric and forensic medical conclusions for legal capacity or court cases

Pharmaceutical documentation and halal certification

Georgian food, not wine, but mineral water, hazelnuts and agricultural products are exported to the Gulf market, and this export needs an Arabic translation of halal certification, quality certificates and labels, where the terminology must meet the requirements of the Gulf standardisation bodies. Pharmaceutical documentation (summary of product characteristics, patient leaflet, registration dossier) is translated with strict terminological consistency, where the same term must look identical across hundreds of pages; for this we first build the term base, then translate.

Arbitration and the dispute venue

In Georgian-Arab commercial contracts the choice of the dispute venue is part of the language strategy: the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration and the Qatar International Centre allow both English-language and Arabic-language proceedings, while the local courts only Arabic. The translation of the arbitration agreement, the claim, the statement of defence and the arbitral award requires exact procedural terminology in both languages, where the Arabic and English versions must coincide legally; for the enforcement of an arbitral award in Georgia under the New York Convention, a notarised Georgian translation and the appropriate certification are needed. An editor with a legal education works on these documents, and the terminology table is agreed with the client's lawyer.

Expert opinions and forensic medicine

The legal and medical directions merge in forensic medical examination: a work injury in a Gulf country whose compensation case continues in Georgia; a road accident conclusion for an insurance dispute; a psychiatric examination in a legal capacity case. Such a document requires the terminology of both fields, is always notarised and sent with an apostille or legalisation, and two editors work on the translation: a medical one for the description of the injury, a legal one for the legal qualification of the conclusion.

Real estate: a Georgian buyer in the UAE, a Gulf investor in Georgia

Real estate transactions are regular in both directions: Georgians buy flats in Dubai, Gulf investors in Tbilisi and Batumi. In Dubai property is registered with the Land Department, the title deed and the sale contract are Arabic-English, while the Georgian buyer's power of attorney or marital status paper goes with legalisation and an Arabic translation. In Georgia, for a Gulf investor, the Public Registry extract, the sale contract and the notarial deed are translated into Arabic or English so that the type of ownership right, the restrictive conditions and the mortgage are recognisable for the Arab investor's lawyer. In Saudi Arabia and Egypt there are restrictions on foreign ownership, and this also changes the structure of the contract, which the translation must reflect exactly; the lawyer gives the legal advice, and we ensure that the translation is exact enough for that advice.

Telemedicine and second opinion

Gulf clinics and the medical centres of Egypt and Jordan offer a second opinion online, and a Georgian patient often takes the treatment decision before travelling, through a remote consultation; in the opposite direction an Arabic-speaking patient living in Georgia sends the conclusions of a Georgian clinic to the family doctor at home. At this stage the quality of the translation determines the decision, because the doctor sees only the translation. We prepare the package of tests in Arabic, English or Georgian within 1-2 days, with agency certification, which is enough for this stage, and at the online consultation, when needed, our medical interpreter also joins orally, with knowledge of the patient's dialect.

Confidentiality and deadlines

A medical and legal document is strictly personal. We work under a signed confidentiality agreement, keep the files in encrypted channels and, at the client's request, delete them after the order is completed; only one translator and one editor work on one document. A standard volume of a medical discharge summary and a contract is ready within 1-2 working days, in urgent cases on the same day. Notarisation is needed for court, corporate, licensing and insurance documents, while for clinics, as a rule, agency certification is enough; which form is needed in your case, we clarify when taking the order.

Frequently asked questions