On the Arabic direction the two flows resemble each other neither in volume nor in content. From Georgian into Arabic go mostly the documents of employment, medical licensing and business in the Gulf countries, while from Arabic into Georgian go the papers of Arabic-speaking students, Gulf investors and Arabic-speaking families living in Georgia. Each direction is served by a separate process: a translation into Arabic is checked by a native-speaking editor who knows the administrative terminology of the specific country, a translation into Georgian by a Georgian language editor. This page describes how the two directions differ, which document most often goes where and where typical errors appear.
From Georgian into Arabic: which country's reader
When translating from Georgian into Arabic, the first question is which country's authority will read the text. Standard Arabic is the same everywhere, but administrative terminology differs by country: a residence permit is designated by one term in the UAE, iqama in Saudi Arabia, something else again in Egypt; the commercial register, the notary, the civil status authority exist in each country under their own names. A translation written in UAE terminology reads as "foreign" in an Egyptian office. So when taking the order we clarify the destination country and prepare the translation in the administrative language of that country, and we engage a native-speaking specialist from the same region as editor.
Arabic official style follows a clear etiquette of courtesy: the forms of address, titles, the opening and closing of an official letter are standardised, and a Georgian original that does not contain this etiquette acquires it in the translation as the genre requires, without any change in content.
From Arabic into Georgian: completeness and structure
The reader in the opposite direction is the Public Service Hall of Georgia, the Public Registry, a university, a bank or a court, and their main requirement is completeness: every field of the Arabic document, the text of the seal, a handwritten note and the legalisation stamp are translated, without omission. An illegible fragment is marked with a note and is not filled in by guesswork. The structure of an Arabic document is often unusual for a Georgian official: the four-component name, Hijri dates, a separate field for the tribal or family name, the "family card" of the civil status records, which unites all members of the family in one document. The translation must be built so that the Georgian reader can find their way around the document: field names with the Georgian equivalent, the Arabic term in brackets at first mention, an institution without a Georgian analogue with a short note.
The certification route also follows the direction
A Georgian paper for an Arab country either receives an apostille at the Public Service Hall (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia), or passes legalisation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the respective embassy (UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq). An Arabic paper for Georgia comes by the same logic but in the reverse direction: with an apostille or with the certification of the issuing country's foreign ministry and the Georgian embassy. In both cases the translation must be in the right sequence with the certification: an Arabic document is first certified and then translated, while a Georgian one, as a rule, is first translated and then passes the legalisation chain. We plan the route according to the country and the receiving authority.
Typical documents by direction
From Georgian into Arabic most often go:
- Diploma, transcript and work experience certificate for employment in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Riyadh
- The licensing package of doctors, nurses and pharmacists for the Gulf health regulators
- Criminal record certificate, marriage and birth certificates for residence and family reunification
- Extract from the register of entrepreneurs, charter and power of attorney for company registration in a free zone or on the mainland
- Medical history and test results for planning treatment in Gulf clinics
- Marketing materials of Georgian wine, tourism and investment companies for the Gulf market
And from Arabic into Georgian:
- School certificates and university transcripts of Iraqi, Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian students
- Company papers, bank statements and powers of attorney of Gulf investors for business and real estate in Georgia
- Marriage, birth and divorce documents of Arabic-speaking families for residence and civil status registration
- Court judgments in family and commercial cases for recognition in Georgia
- Discharge summaries and test results from clinics in the Arab countries
- Bilingual (Arabic-English or Arabic-French) contracts with a Georgian partner
Transliteration in both directions
From Arabic into Georgian the name is written in Georgian transcription, with the Latin form of the passport in brackets, and the four-component name is distributed across the three Georgian fields by the logic of the passport. The traps are known: the absence of vowels in the Arabic script, which makes one surname readable in several ways; the elements "al-" and "bin", which are sometimes part of the surname and sometimes not; and the difference in Latin transliteration by country. From Georgian into Arabic the Georgian name goes into Arabic script so that an Arab official can link it to the Latin form in the passport; Georgian sounds that do not exist in Arabic (g, p, ch, zh, ts, dz, ts', ch') are conveyed by an established equivalent or additional marks, identically in all documents of one client. If the client already has a residence card with the name written in an Arabic form, precisely that form is used.
Calendar, numerals and format
When translating from Arabic into Georgian, the Hijri date (in Saudi documents) is converted into Gregorian, the original stays in brackets; documents of other countries often use both calendars in parallel, and both dates are checked. When translating from Georgian into Arabic for Saudi Arabia, we add the Hijri equivalent to the Gregorian date, because the Saudi authority works in its own calendar. Numerals: Eastern Arabic numerals in the eastern Arab countries, usual ones in the Maghreb, and in the translation we follow the convention of the receiving country. Currency (dirham, riyal, dinar, pound) must be stated unambiguously in contracts, with the ISO code, because the "riyal" of Saudi Arabia and Oman are different currencies, and the "dinar" belongs to Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq, and this often becomes the subject of our note.
The medical licensing package: the most requested job of the direction
Georgian doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists go through a licensing procedure to work in the Gulf countries, where the diploma, specialisation certificate, work experience certificate and certificate of good standing first pass verification (the university and the employer directly confirm the document), then are submitted to the regulator. This package goes from Georgian into Arabic and English in parallel, while the legalisation or apostille of the documents is added according to the country. Two things are critical here: the names of the speciality and subjects must correspond to the terminology of the regulator's classifier, and the candidate's name must be written identically in every document, because the verification system records a mismatch automatically. We prepare the package with one transliteration table and one terminology and advise the client to start verification in parallel with the translation.
The package of Arabic-speaking students for Georgia
In the enrolment season of Iraqi, Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian students at Georgian medical universities the Arabic into Georgian direction reaches its peak. The package is typical: school certificate, grades, sometimes the transcript of a previous university, the passport translation. Here deadline and consistency matter: the National Centre for Educational Quality Enhancement and the university must see the same person under one transcription, and the names of subjects must be translated in the terminology of the Georgian higher education classifier. In the case of Iraqi and Syrian documents legalisation often comes through a third country, and we translate and certify what arrives with certification, and we tell the client directly that without certification the authority will not accept the document.
Business documents: the bilingual contract and the precedence of Arabic
A Georgian-Arab contract is often bilingual, Arabic-English or Arabic-Georgian, and the direction here is both at once. In many jurisdictions of the UAE and Saudi Arabia the Arabic version prevails by law in a court dispute, regardless of the contract clause, and for a Georgian company this means that the quality of the Arabic version is decisive. A bilingual document is checked by two native-speaking editors and a lawyer draws up a terminology consistency table. Free zone (DMCC, JAFZA, ADGM, DIFC) registration documents come with their own templates, Islamic finance terminology (murabaha, ijara, sukuk, takaful) is separate knowledge in dealings with banks, while the commercial register extract (sijil tijari) and the trade licence are translated for the Georgian registry so that the company form (LLC, FZE, FZCO) is recognisable through its Georgian equivalent.
Maghrebi documents: the Arabic-French double layer
Official documents of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are often bilingual, Arabic-French, and sometimes only in French, especially academic and commercial papers. For such a document we establish the direction separately for each part: the Arabic part is translated from Arabic, the French from French, the translation notes which fragment is from which language, and a translator registered in both language pairs or two signatures are attached. Morocco and Tunisia are members of the Apostille Convention, Algeria is not, and this also determines the certification route. This is specific but regular work, which requires the simultaneous involvement of Arabic studies and the French language.
Localisation for the Gulf tourist and investor
The tourist flow and investment from the Gulf countries into Georgia have grown sharply in recent years, and the materials of Georgian hotels, restaurants, clinics, real estate and tour companies are localised into Arabic. This is work different from document translation: the text must sound natural in Arabic, information about halal food, family space and privacy must match the cultural expectations of the Gulf guest, and the right-to-left script also changes the layout of the website. Marketing text is checked by a native-speaking copywriter who also knows the dialectal habits of the Gulf, because a text that is exact but "sounds like a translation" does not work for advertising purposes.
Arabic syntax and style: why it cannot be translated word for word
Arabic official language writes in long periods joined by conjunctions, where one sentence unites several conditions, exceptions and consequences, and the verb often stands at the beginning of the sentence; religious and traditional formulas (the mention of God at the beginning of a document, prayer expressions with names) are usual in official text too and go into Georgian either with a standard equivalent or, at the authority's request, are translated unchanged. In Georgian such a sentence requires restructuring: division, with the preservation of the emphases of meaning, otherwise a Georgian judge or official cannot follow the text. In the opposite direction the short sentences of a Georgian document often have to be joined into one period in Arabic and filled with the vocabulary of the official register, otherwise the text sounds unofficial to an Arab reader. This is what machine translation cannot do, and why a native-speaking editor is involved in both directions.
Handwritten, damaged and war-period documents
The documents of Iraqi and Syrian citizens are often damaged, incomplete or handwritten: a certificate issued in the war period without a seal, a civil status booklet with handwritten entries, a university transcript whose issuing authority no longer exists. We first examine such a document and write down which fragment is read unambiguously and which is not; an illegible place is marked with a note in the translation and is not filled in by guesswork. We know that requesting a new copy is often impossible in these cases, and we process the document in the form in which it exists, while advising the client to inform the authority in advance about the condition of the document. The question of legalisation for these countries is separately difficult, and we translate and certify what arrives with certification.
Term base and translation memory
For companies that work regularly with the Gulf or other Arabic-speaking markets, we build a term base (product names, positions, standard contract clauses, transliteration rules, the country's administrative terminology) and a translation memory in which a phrase once approved is then repeated automatically. This gives consistency and speed. The base is the client's property and is handed over in an exported format on request.
Deadlines and quality control
In both directions a standard personal document is ready within one working day, in express mode within 1-2 hours. Every translation passes three stages: translation, a check by a native editor of the target language and format control, where date conversion, name transliteration, numbers, currency and seals are checked one to one against the original. The apostille and legalisation require a separate deadline, which we name when confirming the order. The whole process is online, and the notarised original is delivered by courier to any city in Georgia.
Frequently asked questions
Will the same Arabic translation do for the UAE and Egypt?
Linguistically yes, Standard Arabic is the same everywhere, but the administrative terminology and the certification route differ. So we clarify the destination country when taking the order and prepare the translation in that country's terminology.
Is a Hijri date written in a translation for Saudi Arabia?
Yes, we add the Hijri equivalent to the Gregorian date, because the Saudi authority works in its own calendar. In a Georgian translation it is the other way round: the Hijri date is converted into Gregorian and the original stays in brackets.
Does an Arabic document need translation first or certification first?
First the apostille or legalisation in the issuing country, then the translation in Georgia, so that the seals are also reflected in the translation. We translate a document brought without certification, but we tell you in advance that the authority will not accept it.
Which version of a bilingual contract applies in the UAE?
In many jurisdictions the Arabic version prevails by law in a court dispute. So the quality of the Arabic version is decisive and it is checked by two editors and a lawyer.
How long does a medical licensing package for Dubai take?
Translation and notarisation in 1-2 working days, legalisation takes several more working days. We advise starting verification, which depends on the answer of the university and the employer, in parallel with the translation.
How is a bilingual Moroccan diploma translated?
The Arabic part from Arabic, the French from French, the translation notes which fragment is from which language, and a translator registered in both pairs or two signatures are attached. Morocco is a member of the Apostille Convention, so certification is by apostille.