Arabic simultaneous interpreter in Tbilisi

Arabic interpreting is not measured as one language: a Gulf investor, an Egyptian student, an Iraqi patient and a Moroccan delegate speak dialects that often differ from each other to the point of mutual unintelligibility, and an interpreter who is ideal for one is only half useful for another. We plan interpreting in Arabic by region and format: simultaneous for conferences, consecutive for negotiations, the notary, the court and the clinic, whispered for small meetings, remote and telephone for urgent situations. This page describes where which format works, how we choose the interpreter by dialect and how to prepare a meeting so that the language barrier does not hold the business back.

Standard Arabic and dialects in interpreting

In an official speech, at a conference, in court and in the media an Arabic speaker, as a rule, uses Standard Arabic (Fusha), and a simultaneous interpreter works precisely in this register. At the negotiating table, in the clinic, at the bank and in everyday situations, however, dialect is heard: Gulf (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait), Egyptian, Levantine (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), Iraqi and Maghrebi (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). The Egyptian dialect, thanks to cinema and the media, is the most widely understood in the region, while Maghrebi is often difficult even for an eastern Arab. So when taking the order we ask which country the participant is from, and we choose the interpreter with a command of the corresponding dialect; for a protocol event, with experience of simultaneous interpreting in Fusha.

Simultaneous, consecutive and whispered interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting runs in parallel with the speaker, from a booth, through headphones, and is the format of Gulf investor forums, government visits, Islamic finance conferences and tourism fairs, where an Arabic-speaking delegation communicates with a Georgian and an English-speaking audience at the same time; in the booth two interpreters take turns every 20-30 minutes. Consecutive interpreting goes with pauses and is the most widespread in Georgian-Arab practice: negotiations, the notary, the court, the clinic, the bank, university administration. Whispered interpreting serves one or two listeners from the side: a Gulf investor at a Georgian company's meeting, an Arabic-speaking parent at a school meeting, a patient at a case conference.

Gulf business etiquette and the rhythm of negotiations

The business culture of the Gulf countries is built on relationships and respect: a meeting begins with coffee and personal questions, titles and forms of address are strictly observed, the person senior in age and rank speaks first, while a direct "no" is rarely heard and a refusal is expressed in a soft wording. An interpreter who does not know this etiquette shortens the introduction, skips a title or conveys the Georgian side's directness in a way that sounds rude to the Arab partner. Our interpreters know the Gulf business environment and, at the client's wish, explain cultural signals separately, in the form of an "interpreter's note", clearly separated from the interpretation. Taking prayer times and the Ramadan schedule into account when planning a meeting is a separate piece of advice that we give the organiser in advance.

Investors, real estate and the bank

Visits of Gulf investors to Georgia for real estate, hotel business, agriculture and energy projects are regular, and such a visit combines several formats: a presentation (simultaneous or consecutive), a site inspection (an accompanying interpreter), negotiations (consecutive), the notary and the bank (official consecutive, with signing of the record). When a transaction is executed at the notary in the presence of an Arabic-speaking party (purchase of a flat, founding a company, a power of attorney), Georgian law requires the participation of an interpreter: the interpreter reads the notarial deed to the party in full, clause by clause, explains the terms and signs the deed. The compliance interview at the bank, where questions about the source of income and activity need an exact answer, goes in the same format.

Trade fairs in Dubai, Riyadh and Tbilisi

The Dubai World Trade Centre and the exhibition centres of Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Doha host fairs of the food industry, tourism, real estate, building materials and healthcare every year, where Georgian entrepreneurs look for buyers and distributors; at the fairs of Tbilisi and Batumi, Arabic-speaking exhibitors and tour operators meet Georgian partners. At a fair the interpreter combines several roles: when moving from stand to stand they interpret consecutively, at the negotiating table in whispered mode, when technical specifications are discussed they read catalogues and tables on the spot. We prepare the interpreter with the terminology of the industry and, when needed, create a short bilingual glossary. When travelling to a Gulf country the interpreter travels with the client, or we cooperate with a partner interpreter working in Dubai, Riyadh and Doha.

Medical accompaniment

The flow of patients from the Gulf countries to Georgian clinics is still small but growing, while Arabic-speaking students, families and tourists living in Georgia regularly end up in Georgian clinics, often in an emergency. Our medical interpreter interprets the consultation consecutively, conveys the diagnosis and treatment plan in a way the patient understands but without distortion, reads the informed consent form clause by clause and, with the patient's consent, prepares a short written summary of the consultation. Here the importance of dialect is especially high: an Iraqi patient under stress does not switch to Fusha, and the interpreter must know their dialect. In the opposite direction, for a Georgian patient at a Gulf or Egyptian clinic, or at an online consultation, the interpreter joins remotely.

Court, police and the migration service

In a Georgian court where a party or witness is Arabic-speaking, the interpreter is an official participant in the proceedings, is responsible for the exact conveyance of testimony and, in case of misunderstanding, asks for repetition instead of filling in by guesswork. Typical cases are commercial disputes, disputes over real estate transactions, administrative cases on residence status, family disputes in mixed marriages, where concepts of Islamic law (mahr, hadana) require explanation for the Georgian judge orally too, and asylum cases, where the interview of Iraqi and Syrian applicants at the migration service requires exact knowledge of the dialect. When giving explanations at the police, at an additional check at the border and when a road accident is recorded with the patrol police, the interpreter signs the record and interprets the explanation of the party's rights exactly, often on an emergency call-out.

University and student matters

The number of Iraqi, Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian students at Georgian medical universities creates a separate category of Arabic interpreting: the admission interview, clarifying document matters at the dean's office, an academic dispute, a housing contract, insurance matters, a residence application. Despite the English-language programme, administrative matters are often settled in Georgian, and the Arabic interpreter here is the bridge between the student and the university. In the same format we serve Arabic-speaking parents visiting their child's school, and universities that hold online open days and meetings with agencies in the Arab countries.

Official visits, conferences and the media

Official delegations of the Arab countries, missions of chambers of commerce, events in the format of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council, scientific conferences and cultural projects in Georgia require simultaneous or consecutive interpreting, where Arabic official etiquette, forms of address, titles and protocol must sound exactly right. At a press conference, a signing ceremony and a media interview the interpretation is public, without the possibility of correction, and the interpreter needs a stable voice, pace and knowledge of protocol. A separate category is academic and cultural events: Arabic studies conferences at Tbilisi universities, evenings of Arabic literature, symposia of historians, where Georgian-Arab historical links (the Georgian Mamluks in Egypt and Iraq, the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem, Tbilisi in the era of the Arab emirate) are discussed and the terminology goes beyond standard business vocabulary.

The tourism sector and the guide-interpreter

The tourist flow from the Gulf countries to Georgia has been one of the fastest growing in recent years, and hotels, restaurants, clinics and tour companies ask for an Arabic-speaking guide-interpreter and a working interpreter for difficult situations (a medical case, an insurance incident, dealing with the police). The guide-interpreter, apart from interpreting, explains the Georgian cultural context to the Gulf guest, takes into account the expectations of halal food, family space and privacy, and respects the guest's restrictions on wine tours, in churches and in restaurants. For hotels and clinics we offer a seasonal package, where the interpreter works on predetermined days or on call.

Technical training and production meetings

On Gulf investors' projects in Georgia (hotels, agricultural production, energy) engineers and managers of Gulf or Egyptian companies often work together with Georgian staff, and the daily production briefing, the safety briefing and the equipment training run in two languages. Working on a production site, in noise, next to the machinery is a separate format of interpreting, where the terminology is strictly technical and an error puts safety at risk. For such a project we choose the interpreter by technical speciality, ask for the instructions and diagrams in advance and, when needed, translate the training material in writing too.

Remote and telephone interpreting

The time difference with the Gulf countries is negligible, and online meetings are held at any time of the day. The language channels of Zoom and Teams make simultaneous interpreting possible online too, and at small meetings the consecutive format in a shared call is enough. For technical preparation we run a sound test 15 minutes before the meeting and ask for presentations to be shared in advance. For urgent cases we have telephone interpreting: the interpreter joins the call as a third party within a few minutes, during working hours, and this format is indispensable for an unexpected situation in a clinic, at the police, at the border or in a hotel. In this format the correct choice of dialect is especially important, because in a telephone conversation there is no visual context.

The interpreter's qualification on the Arabic direction

Arabic interpreters in Georgia come from three sources: the Arabic studies school of Tbilisi State University and the Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgians who studied or worked in Arab countries, and bilingual Arabic-speaking specialists living in Georgia, for whom a specific dialect is native. For interpreting a written qualification is not enough: the interpreter needs speed of reaction, a stable voice, the ability to work under stress and the terminology of the specific field. So on every order we choose the interpreter by format, subject and dialect: with a legal specialisation for the court, medical for the clinic, technical for the production site, and with experience of simultaneous interpreting in Fusha for a protocol event.

Equipment and logistics

Simultaneous interpreting needs a booth, a console, a transmitter and headphones, at a small event a portable "whisper" system is enough; in Tbilisi we provide the equipment together with a partner technical company, in Batumi and the regions with advance logistical planning. When working outside Tbilisi and abroad we choose between sending the interpreter and cooperating with a partner working on site.

Event planning checklist

• Specify the participants' country so that we choose the interpreter by dialect
• Determine the format and the number of participants in advance to choose correctly between the simultaneous, consecutive and whispered formats
• Send the agenda, presentations and the list of speakers at least three days in advance
• In the case of a technical or legal subject, provide a list of terms or the draft contract
• Take prayer times and, during Ramadan, the schedule into account when planning the meeting
• For the online format, a sound test 15 minutes in advance
• For a long event, plan breaks and, for the simultaneous format, engage two interpreters
• Determine the confidentiality requirement in advance for the non-disclosure agreement

Religious and church context

The Arabic-speaking audience is not religiously uniform: Gulf guests, Egyptian Copts, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, Palestinian and Jordanian Orthodox, for whom the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem and Georgian church history are a separate interest. At church visits, pilgrimage tours, theological conferences and interfaith meetings the interpreter needs the terminology of both traditions: Islamic concepts in Georgian and Georgian church vocabulary in Arabic, where Arabic-language Christian terminology exists in its own centuries-old tradition and differs from Islamic terminology. For these events we choose the interpreter by the relevant education and experience, and we prepare the quotations from papers and prayer texts in advance so that they sound in the established form.

The interpreter's impartiality and confidentiality

In the court, notarial and medical context the interpreter is only a language bridge: they do not give advice, do not evaluate and do not add their own explanation, even if what was said seems vague. In a business context the explanation of a cultural signal is admissible, but always kept separate. The content of every meeting is confidential, and on commercial, personal and investment matters the interpreter signs a non-disclosure agreement in advance.

Frequently asked questions