Montenegrin translator in Tbilisi

The Montenegrin language has officially existed since 2007, when the constitution of Montenegro declared it the state language, and this youth defines every peculiarity of the Montenegrin direction: a document issued in Montenegro may be in Montenegrin, in Serbian or, from the older period, in Serbo-Croatian, in the Latin or Cyrillic alphabet, and every variant is equally official. At the same time Montenegro is a NATO member and an EU candidate, uses the euro, admits Georgians visa-free and attracts them with real estate on the Adriatic coast, tourism and the maritime industry. We translate personal, academic, corporate and medical documents from Montenegrin into Georgian and from Georgian into Montenegrin, certify them notarially and attach the apostille. This page describes what the Montenegrin language is in relation to Serbian, how Montenegro's system of court interpreters works, what the absence of a resident embassy in Tbilisi means and where typical errors appear.

Montenegrin, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian: one language space, four names

Montenegrin, Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian are standardised variants of one language system and are fully mutually intelligible orally. The Montenegrin standard uses the Ijekavian pronunciation (mlijeko rather than mleko), recognises Latin and Cyrillic equally and, under the 2009 orthography, contains two additional letters (ś, ź), which are rarely found in official documents. A large part of Montenegro's population names Serbian as their mother tongue, and Montenegrin authorities accept a Serbian-language document just like a Montenegrin one. For a Georgian client this means in practice: a document brought from Montenegro may be written "in Montenegrin" as well as "in Serbian", and our translator reads both identically; while when translating a Georgian document for Montenegro we follow the Montenegrin standard, with Ijekavian forms and the Latin alphabet, which dominates in Montenegro's administration. For notarisation the name of the language matters, and in the document we write it according to the official language of the receiving country.

Montenegro's court interpreter: sudski tumač

In Montenegro an official translation is made by a court interpreter (sudski tumač), appointed by the Ministry of Justice for a specific language after an examination and an oath, whose list is published publicly. A court interpreter's translation (ovjereni prevod) is bound to the original or its copy, with the interpreter's stamp, signature and certification formula, and every Montenegrin authority, court, the Ministry of the Interior and universities require this form. To our knowledge, a court interpreter appointed in the Georgian-Montenegrin pair does not exist in Montenegro, and in practice two routes work: via English or Russian, where the apostilled Georgian original goes with a notarised translation into the intermediate language and a court interpreter for English or Russian in Montenegro translates it into Montenegrin; or, by the practice of some authorities, a Montenegrin translation certified by a Georgian notary with an apostille, which private recipients, employers and real estate agencies, as a rule, accept. When taking the order we find out who the recipient is, and we know both routes.

No resident embassy in Tbilisi

Montenegro has no resident embassy in Tbilisi, and consular matters are handled through the embassy accredited to Georgia but located in another country, or through the honorary consul; for Georgian citizens short-term travel to Montenegro is visa-free, so the visa question does not concern most people. A residence permit (privremeni boravak) is issued in Montenegro, on site, at the Ministry of the Interior, and a Georgian applicant brings the document package from Georgia already prepared or sends it through a representative. This means the document must be right without the chance of "correction on the spot": apostille, translation, format, spelling of names. So on the Montenegrin direction we pay special attention to format control and advise the client to read the receiving authority's written requirement in advance.

The apostille between Georgia and Montenegro

Montenegro is a member of the Hague Convention by succession from Yugoslavia, since gaining independence, Georgia since 2007, so documents move between the two countries with an apostille, without consular legalisation. In Georgia the apostille is issued by the Public Service Hall, in Montenegro by the basic courts (osnovni sudovi), which put the apostille on documents from their own territory: the Podgorica basic court on a diploma issued in Podgorica, the Kotor one on a civil status extract from Kotor. A document brought from Montenegro must have its apostille attached in Montenegro itself; "fixing" this in Georgia is impossible. Practical advice: have the apostille put on the document before leaving Montenegro, and the translation and notarisation in Georgia will be done on the already apostilled original.

Which documents are translated most often

• The residence permit package on the basis of real estate, employment or family: criminal record certificate, birth and marriage certificates, bank statement, medical insurance
• Real estate sale contract, notarial deed and cadastre extract (list nepokretnosti) for property acquired in Budva, Tivat, Bar and Herceg Novi
• Maritime documents: certificates of Georgian seafarers, seaman's book and crewing contracts for Montenegro's ports and yacht industry
• Diploma, transcript and school certificate for recognition of foreign education and enrolment
• Extract from the register of entrepreneurs, charter and power of attorney for founding a d.o.o. in Montenegro
• Medical history for treatment at the Igalo rehabilitation institute and clinics
• Materials of the tourism and hotel sector for seasonal employment and cooperation
• Bilingual (Montenegrin-English) contracts with a Georgian partner

Real estate on the Adriatic and residence on the basis of property

In Montenegro a foreigner can freely acquire residential real estate, with certain restrictions on land plots, and ownership of property is a basis for a temporary residence permit. This is the main reason for the interest of Georgian buyers on the coast of Budva, Tivat, Bar and Herceg Novi. A transaction in Montenegro requires a notarial deed (notarski zapis), followed by registration in the cadastre, and in the residence application the cadastre extract, the sale contract, the criminal record certificate and proof of income are submitted. Georgian papers go with an apostille and a Montenegrin translation, while Montenegrin papers (cadastre extract, notarial deed) are translated into Georgian for a Georgian bank, notary or inheritance case. A power of attorney by which a Georgian buyer appoints a representative in Montenegro must be written in the wording of Montenegrin notarial practice, and we prepare this text in advance.

The maritime link: Bar, Kotor and Georgian seafarers

Georgia is an important supplier country of seafarers, and Montenegro is an Adriatic maritime country, with the port of Bar, the Maritime Faculty of Kotor and the yacht industry in Tivat and Luštica. This link creates a specific flow of documents: certificates of competency (STCW) of Georgian seafarers, the seaman's book, the medical fitness certificate and crewing contracts for Montenegro's maritime administration and yacht owners, and Montenegrin maritime documents for a Georgian seafarer's recognition in Georgia. Maritime terminology stands on the language of international conventions (STCW, MLC) and must sound in the established form in both languages, while certificate numbers, positions and limitations are checked one to one against the original.

Recognition of education and universities

The University of Montenegro in Podgorica, the University of Donja Gorica, the University of Mediterranean and the Maritime Faculty of Kotor admit Georgian students mainly to master's and maritime programmes. Recognition of foreign education (priznavanje inostranih obrazovnih isprava) is carried out by the ENIC/NARIC centre at Montenegro's Ministry of Education, and the procedure requires the apostilled original of the diploma and transcript and a Montenegrin translation, while the names of subjects must correspond to the terminology of Montenegrin higher education. In the opposite direction a Montenegrin diploma is translated into Georgian for the National Centre for Educational Quality Enhancement, where the names of subjects follow the terminology of the Georgian classifier.

Names, two alphabets and transliteration

In a Montenegrin document the same name may be written in Latin and in Cyrillic, sometimes in the same document, and in the translation both forms are reduced to one Georgian transcription, with the Latin variant from the passport in brackets. The Georgian transcription of Montenegrin names follows the established rule (Đorđe, Nikšić, Đukanović rendered as Jorje, Nikshichi, Jukanovichi), where đ is conveyed as j, ć as ch, lj and nj as soft l and n, identically in all documents of one client. A woman's surname does not change in Montenegrin, but in case forms a name passes through seven cases (Beridze, Beridzea, Beridzeu), which in the Georgian translation is reduced to the passport form. When translating from Georgian into Montenegrin the name is written in the Latin form of the passport, without Montenegrin diacritics, even if it "reads badly" this way for a Montenegrin reader.

Business, tourism and corporate documents

Montenegro's economy stands on tourism, real estate, energy and the maritime industry, and Georgian companies are present there in the hotel business, real estate development and wine export; one of Montenegro's largest vineyards near Podgorica is a regular partner of Georgian winemakers. Founding a company in Montenegro is simple: a d.o.o. is registered in the Central Register of Business Entities (CRPS), and the Georgian extract from the register of entrepreneurs, the charter and the power of attorney go with an apostille and a Montenegrin translation. Montenegrin company forms (d.o.o., a.d.) are translated with the Georgian equivalent, the CRPS extract and registration number stay unchanged, and a bilingual contract passes a check by two native-speaking editors and a lawyer. For the tourist season Montenegro's hotels and restaurants admit foreign workers, and the employment contracts, work permit papers and qualification certificates of Georgian seasonal workers are translated in both directions.

The medical direction: Igalo and the Clinical Centre

Montenegro's medical system is interesting for Georgian patients for one specific reason: the Igalo Institute in Herceg Novi is a well-known centre of physical medicine and rehabilitation, where diseases of the musculoskeletal, neurological and rheumatic type are rehabilitated with sea mud, mineral water and climate. For planning treatment the Georgian medical history is translated into Montenegrin or English, after treatment the Montenegrin discharge report (otpusna lista) and doctor's report (nalaz) into Georgian. The Clinical Centre of Podgorica offers specialised treatment, while in complex cases Montenegrin patients themselves go to Serbia and Turkey. For Georgian doctors and nurses to work in Montenegro, recognition of the diploma and a Medical Chamber licence come with a language requirement.

Montenegrin official style

Montenegrin official language follows the Serbian administrative tradition: formal address, the indication of academic and professional titles, case agreement and long, subordinate sentences in an official letter. A Georgian original that contains no titles acquires them in the translation as the genre requires, while Montenegrin titles go into the Georgian translation with an explanation. In marketing text, where a natural sound is needed, a native-speaking copywriter is involved who follows the Ijekavian standard and writes the text for a Montenegrin reader, and not for a "Serbian speaker" in general.

Who translates and how quality is checked

Qualified Montenegrin translators in Georgia are specialists of the Serbo-Croatian language space: graduates of the universities of Belgrade, Podgorica and Zagreb, Georgians who worked in former Yugoslavia and specialists from this language space living in Georgia. Only a translator registered with the notary in the relevant pair works on a translation to be notarised; a translation from Georgian into Montenegrin is checked by a native-speaking editor, whom we engage remotely from Montenegro when needed and who distinguishes the Montenegrin standard from Serbian, a translation from Montenegrin into Georgian by a Georgian language editor, while the alphabet, case forms, transliteration of names, dates and seals are checked separately at the format control stage.

Documents of the Yugoslav period and a double administrative history

The history of Montenegro's documents is divided into three layers, and each layer carries separate terminology: the period of socialist Yugoslavia (before 1991), the period of the union of Serbia and Montenegro (before 2006) and independent Montenegro. An old school certificate, employment record book, marriage certificate or ownership document carries the names of the authorities of that time, the Serbo-Croatian language and often Cyrillic, while a modern seal or certification is already Montenegrin. In the translation of such a document we translate the name of the authority by the system of that time and note that the original is from the Yugoslav period, so that a Georgian official does not regard a "non-existent authority" as an error. In cases of pension record, inheritance and ownership history these layers end up in one package, and the whole package is processed with one transliteration table and one logic.

What we cannot do and where we advise another route

We cannot put an apostille on a document issued in Montenegro, because only Montenegro's basic courts can do that. We cannot "issue" a Montenegrin court interpreter's certification from Georgia, though we cooperate with a partner in Montenegro. We cannot promise that Georgian notarisation will be accepted by every Montenegrin authority, because this depends on the practice of the specific authority. And we cannot promise simultaneous interpreting at a large conference with local resources alone, because a Montenegrin simultaneous interpreter practically does not exist in Georgia, and in such a case we invite a partner from the region. In every such case we tell you exactly which route works.

Deadlines, format and confidentiality

A Montenegrin translation of a standard personal document with notarisation is ready within 1-2 working days; express mode, during working hours, within 1-2 hours, depending on the translator's availability, which we confirm when confirming the order. The apostille is added within the Public Service Hall deadlines. The whole process is online: you upload the document on the website and receive the translation electronically or by courier in any city in Georgia, and for sending to Montenegro we arrange the international courier ourselves. Commercial and medical documents are processed under a confidentiality agreement.

Frequently asked questions