German-language interpreting in Georgia is fed by several stable contexts: the projects of German development agencies and foundations, German-Georgian business forums, technical visits by German industrial companies, academic events of the Goethe-Institut and universities, and the visits of German, Austrian and Swiss patients and citizens to clinics, the notary and the court. Each of these situations requires a different format, equipment and preparation, while the German language has its own technical particularities that make simultaneous interpreting especially demanding. This page considers every format and helps the organiser make the right choice.
Why German simultaneous interpreting is technically difficult
The structure of the German sentence creates a special challenge for the simultaneous interpreter: in a subordinate clause the verb stands at the end, and in compound tenses and modal constructions the verbal part that holds the key to the meaning does not appear until the end of the sentence. This means that an interpreter interpreting simultaneously from German into Georgian often has to lag 3-5 seconds behind the speaker until they hear the verb, or "predict" the sentence structure from the context. An experienced German interpreter commands both techniques and switches between them according to the situation. When interpreting from Georgian into German the problem is the opposite: the Georgian sentence is short and the interpreter has to "close" the German verbal frame quickly. Because of this difficulty two interpreters work on German simultaneous interpreting in 20-minute rotation, and on complex technical topics three.
Consecutive interpreting: negotiation, visit, protocol
The consecutive format in a German context is used at business negotiations, official visits, contract signing ceremonies and when accompanying delegations. German business culture values punctuality, adherence to the agenda and factual communication free of emotion, and the forms of address ("Herr Doktor", "Frau Professorin", the "Sie" form without exception) must be rendered by the interpreter as exactly as the content. Georgian business communication is often warmer and more informal, and an interpreter who explains this difference transparently to both sides preserves the atmosphere of the negotiation. In consecutive interpreting the interpreter takes notes and renders a 3-5 minute segment in full, including figures and names.
Development projects and international cooperation
Germany is one of Georgia's largest bilateral donors, and German development agencies, banking groups and political foundations regularly hold seminars, workshops and field visits on energy, municipal development, vocational education, judicial reform and environmental protection. At such events the interpreting is two-way, the subject is technical, and the participants are often Georgian civil servants who need German expertise in exact terminology. Our interpreters know the terminology of these fields, and we ask the organiser in advance for the agenda, presentations and the minutes of previous meetings, so that the interpreting is at expert level. For multi-day programmes we keep the same team.
Business forums and the German Business Association
The German Business Association in Georgia (DWV), the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and German business associations hold regular business forums, industry seminars and B2B meetings where German investors and Georgian entrepreneurs meet. In this format simultaneous interpreting is used at plenary sessions and consecutive at B2B meetings, and the interpreter must command business terminology ("Mittelstand", "Due Diligence", "Absichtserklärung", "Ausschreibung") and the realities of the Georgian investment environment (free industrial zone, tax incentives, DCFTA) in both languages. When conveying financial data the German decimal comma and thousands point require attention in interpreting too: "zwei Komma fünf Millionen" is "two and a half million" and not "two point five".
Plant visits and technical interpreting
German industrial companies work in Georgia in cement, building materials, energy and mechanical engineering, and the installation, commissioning and staff training for German equipment are accompanied by visits from German engineers. During such a visit the interpreter works in the plant, in a noisy environment, in protective equipment, and must command the technical terminology ("Inbetriebnahme", "Wartungsintervall", "Störungsbeseitigung", "Schaltschrank", "Drehmoment") instantly, without a dictionary. Before the visit we ask for the equipment's technical documentation, so that the interpreter studies the terminology of the specific equipment in advance, and in multi-week projects the same interpreter follows the team of engineers. At trainings where Georgian operators learn on German equipment consecutive interpreting is preferable, because it ensures question and answer.
Academic events: Goethe-Institut, DAAD, universities
Goethe-Institut Georgien, the DAAD information centre and the German studies departments of Georgian universities regularly invite German lecturers, writers and scholars, and German-Georgian scientific conferences on history, literature, law and economics need two-way interpreting. Academic interpreting has its own difficulty: a German lecturer often uses complex, multi-level sentences, theoretical terms and authors' names that must be rendered in their established Georgian form. At literary evenings, where a German author reads a text and talks with the audience, the interpreter combines pre-translated fragments with live discussion. Our interpreters study the presentation and bibliography before the lecture and provide two-way interpreting at the question and answer session.
Zweitmeinung and Aufklärungsgespräch: medical interpreting to the German standard
In German medical culture two procedures occupy a special place and both require interpreting: the Zweitmeinung (second opinion), which Georgian patients often request from German university clinics by online consultation after an oncological or cardiac surgery diagnosis, and the Aufklärungsgespräch (informed consent talk), which a German doctor is obliged by law to hold before an operation and which is the legal basis of the patient's consent. In both cases the interpreter studies the patient's Arztbrief translated into German and the test results in advance, at the consultation renders the doctor's questions and the patient's answers in the first person, unchanged, expands German spoken abbreviations (OP, Reha, KHK, TEP), and during the Aufklärungsgespräch interprets the list of risks especially exactly, because the patient's consent rests precisely on this information. In the opposite direction German-speaking patients at Tbilisi dental and aesthetic clinics expect the same Aufklärung standard, and the interpreter helps the Georgian doctor meet this expectation.
Beurkundung at a Georgian notary: what a German expects
A German client comes to the notary with their own experience of Beurkundung: in Germany the notary reads the deed to the parties in full (Verlesung), explains every clause and only then has it signed, and the German expects the same from a Georgian notary. Georgian practice is faster, and the interpreter's role here is twofold: on the one hand, they render the content of the Georgian deed in German so that the German party understands every clause (which is the notary's legal obligation and why the interpreter is recorded in the deed by name and signs it), and on the other hand, they explain to the German in advance that the Georgian deed is shorter than the German one and the extensive Belehrung block is not in it, although the notary answers questions. The interpreter works by the same logic at the Public Registry (the German expects a Grundbuch extract and a cadastral map and needs the Georgian electronic extract "decoded"), at the tax service (the correspondence between the Steuernummer and the Georgian identification number) and in court, where a German witness's or party's testimony is interpreted consecutively, in the first person and without softening.
German, Austrian and Swiss pronunciation
Variation between German-speaking speakers is far more noticeable in interpreting than in written translation. Austrian standard German differs lexically and in intonation, but creates no problem for the interpreter; Swiss speakers, however, often speak the Swiss German dialect (Schweizerdeutsch), which is considerably difficult for someone who knows standard German. At an international event a Swiss speaker usually switches to standard German, but in informal conversation the dialect returns, and for working with Swiss participants we choose an interpreter who has experience of living in Switzerland. Germany's regional accents (Bavarian, Swabian, Saxon) do not hinder interpreting in a standard speaking situation.
Flüsterdolmetschen: a German member on a Georgian board
A typical German scenario is this: one German member sits on the supervisory board of a Georgian company or the steering committee of a project, the meeting is held in Georgian, and they need the whole discussion in real time, without a booth, headphones or stopping the other participants. In German professional terminology this is called Flüsterdolmetschen: the interpreter sits behind or beside the member and interprets simultaneously in a whisper, and renders the member's contribution consecutively for the Georgian colleagues. German participants know this format well, because it is standard in German corporate practice, and often ask for it themselves. Because of the strain on the voice two interpreters alternate at a meeting longer than two hours, and when there are more than two German-speaking participants (for example, a group of head office auditors at a plant) we use a Personenführungsanlage: a portable transmitter with headphones, which delivers the interpreting clearly to German engineers even in the noise of a cement or building materials plant and gives freedom of movement.
Remote interpreting: Berlin, Vienna, Zurich
Germany, Austria and Switzerland are two hours (in summer) or three hours (in winter) behind Tbilisi, which is a convenient window for planning remote meetings: Tbilisi midday is Berlin morning, and Tbilisi's evening hours coincide with the end of the German working day. We carry out simultaneous interpreting on Zoom, Teams and Webex via the built-in channels, and consecutive on the shared call. The quality of the remote format depends on the technology: the interpreter works with a wired internet connection, an external microphone and headphones, and a technical test is held before the meeting. German partners often use their own platform and set data protection requirements (DSGVO), which we take into account, including by agreeing the rules for storing a recording.
A call to a German authority: Warteschleife, Sachbearbeiter, Aktenzeichen
For a Georgian living in Germany or dealing with a German authority, the most frequent urgent need is not a meeting but a telephone call: to the Sachbearbeiter at the Ausländerbehörde about residence, to the Krankenkasse about insurance reimbursement, to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung about pension calculation, to the Jobcenter or the Familienkasse. Such a call proceeds by the ritual of German bureaucracy: a long wait on the line, stating the case number (Aktenzeichen), finding the responsible employee, formal wording, and the interpreter, who joins as a third party by conference call, not only interprets but helps the client ask the right question and understand the legal weight of the words "Bescheid", "Widerspruch", "Frist" in the answer. After the call, where necessary, we prepare a short written summary, which becomes the basis of a subsequent written application. This service is activated within minutes during working hours and is planned with the time difference in mind for German authorities, which often answer only in the morning hours.
The interpreter's ethics and impartiality
The professional ethics of interpreting rest on three principles: accuracy, confidentiality and impartiality. The interpreter renders everything that was said, adds nothing on their own initiative and asks for a repetition when something is unclear, instead of guessing. At a negotiation the interpreter is not an adviser to either side, even if one side hired them, and we confirm this in advance. Explaining cultural context ("in German business culture this direct answer is not perceived as rude") is permissible, but openly, in the presence of both sides. For German partners these principles are familiar, because in Germany the profession of court and conference interpreter is strictly regulated, and trust in the interpreter is created precisely by observing these standards.
Press conferences and cultural events
At a press conference of a German ambassador, minister, investor or cultural figure the interpreting is public: journalists write down and quote the interpretation directly, so the interpreter's wording effectively becomes an official statement. In this format the interpreter studies the text of the statement in advance, preserves the speaker's tone and renders figures, names and dates with particular care. German-Georgian cultural relations (the German-Georgian Year of 2017, the Frankfurt Book Fair, where Georgia was Guest of Honour in 2018, exhibitions and concerts by German artists) create regular events where the interpreter must command literary text, the curator's commentary and the audience's questions at the same time. At a cultural event the tone of interpreting differs from a conference: it is livelier, more nuanced and more sensitive to the author's style.
The German interpreters' team: from DAAD graduates to booth veterans
The biographies of our German interpreters follow three typical paths. The first are scholarship holders of the DAAD, Erasmus and German foundations, who completed a Master's or a doctorate at German universities and command academic German at native level; we place them at lectures, scientific conferences and Goethe-Institut events. The second path is many years of work at German companies and development agencies, from which the interpreters know technical, corporate and project terminology from live practice; they work at plant visits, business forums and development project seminars. The third path is the conference booth: simultaneous interpreters who have honed the technique of "waiting for the German verb at the end" over years and are used to working in teams of two or three. For working with Austrian and Swiss delegations we choose interpreters who have lived in Vienna or Zurich. Every interpreter works under a signed confidentiality agreement, and in a multi-week project the client is served by the same team.
Ausbildung and vocational education visits
The German dual vocational education system is a separate field of cooperation in Georgia: German chambers, vocational schools and companies create programmes together with Georgian colleges, and German employers hold interviews with Ausbildung candidates in Tbilisi or online. At such an interview the interpreter ensures communication between the young candidate and the German employer, where the vocational terminology (Pflege, Gastronomie, Handwerk, Mechatronik) and the structure of the German training system (Berufsschule, Ausbildungsbetrieb, Zwischenprüfung, Abschlussprüfung) must be understandable to both sides. During visits by German experts to colleges, where curricula and workshops are assessed, consecutive interpreting is used, and the interpreter also knows the terminology of Georgian vocational education, so that the comparison of the two systems is exact.
Which format in which case
- international conference or business forum: simultaneous from a booth, two or three interpreters
- seminar or training with 10-30 participants: simultaneous with a portable system or consecutive
- business negotiation, B2B meeting, contract signing: consecutive, subject-matter interpreter
- plant visit, equipment installation, training: consecutive or with a portable system, technical interpreter
- visit to the notary, court, state body: consecutive, interpreter registered with a notary
- medical consultation: consecutive, medical interpreter, on site or by video call
- lecture, literary evening: simultaneous or consecutive, academic interpreter
- urgent telephone call: telephone interpreting during working hours
Frequently asked questions
Why does German simultaneous interpreting need two interpreters?
The structure of the German sentence (verb at the end) makes simultaneous interpreting especially tiring, and after 20-30 minutes the quality drops. Two interpreters work in rotation, three on complex technical topics.
Do you interpret Swiss German?
Yes. For working with Swiss participants we choose an interpreter with experience of living in Switzerland, because the Swiss dialect is difficult for someone who knows standard German.
How far in advance should I book an interpreter?
For a conference at least a week in advance, so that the equipment and team can be planned; for a negotiation 2-3 days in advance; urgent telephone interpreting the same day during working hours.
Is the interpreter recorded in the notarial deed?
Yes. When interpreting at a notary the interpreter enters the deed by name and signs it, so this work can only be done by an interpreter registered with a notary.
What material do you need before the event?
The programme, list of speakers, presentations, for a technical visit the equipment documentation and, if it exists, a terminology list. The earlier we receive it, the more exact the interpreting will be.
Can you translate a German video recording and provide subtitles?
Yes, transcription of the recording, translation and preparation of subtitles is a separate service, which works to written translation deadlines.
A German partner sets DSGVO requirements for a remote meeting. What do you do?
We work on the partner's platform, agree the rules for storing a recording, and the interpreter is bound by a confidentiality agreement, which meets the German side's requirements.