Translation from Greek into Georgian and from Georgian into Greek

On the Greek direction the two flows serve two lives that often meet within one family. From Georgian into Greek go the documents of residence, family reunification, Greek origin, study and maritime work, which will be read by the Greek embassy, the lixiarchio, the migration service, DOATAP or a shipping company; from Greek into Georgian go the civil status records, pension certificates, court judgments and medical reports of Georgians living in Greece, which the Public Service Hall of Georgia, the Pension Agency, a court or a doctor needs. Each direction is served by a separate process: a translation into Greek is checked by a native-speaking editor, 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 Greek: who the reader is

The reader in this direction is a consular officer of the Greek embassy, the municipality's lixiarchio, the migration department of the Decentralised Administration, DOATAP, a university's secretariat, the personnel department of a shipping company or a Greek employer. A Greek authority expects the document to look like its Greek analogue: the birth certificate with the fields of the ληξιαρχική πράξη γέννησης, the criminal record certificate by the logic of the ποινικό μητρώο, the diploma transcript in the terminology of the Greek curriculum. Greek official style is formal and exact, with forms of address (Αξιότιμε κύριε, Αξιότιμη κυρία), the indication of titles and case agreement, and a Georgian original that does not contain this etiquette acquires it in the translation as the genre requires.

An important caveat: the practice of Greek authorities differs, some accept a Georgian apostilled notarised translation, others require a register translator's or lawyer's certification. So a translation in this direction exists with us in two formats: a notarised Greek translation with an apostille, and a working version that is transferred in Greece onto a register translator's letterhead or is executed with a lawyer's certification. Which format is needed, we determine by the recipient's requirement.

From Greek into Georgian: what a Georgian authority requires

The reader in the opposite direction is the Public Service Hall of Georgia, the Public Registry, a court, the Pension Agency, a bank, a medical institution or a university. Their main requirement is completeness: every field of the Greek document, the text of the seal, the title, a name written in a case form, the father's name in the genitive, the gender form of the surname, the certification formula and the apostille fields are translated, without omission. A Greek term is conveyed with its Georgian legal equivalent and not word for word: Ληξιαρχείο as "civil status office", Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση as "Decentralised Administration", EFKA as "Unified Social Security Fund", GEMI as "business register", while the Greek term stays in brackets at first mention. An institution without a Georgian analogue (family status certificate, solemn declaration) goes across with a short note.

The apostille direction is reversed too

A Georgian paper for Greece receives its apostille at the Public Service Hall, and the translation also covers the text of the apostille. A paper coming from Greece receives its apostille in Greece itself: at the Decentralised Administration for administrative documents, at the Court of First Instance for court and notarial documents. For a Greek document that has arrived in Georgia, "adding" an apostille is impossible, so this stage must be passed before leaving Greece; for a relative living in Greece this is one visit, and many Georgian families settle the matter precisely this way.

Typical documents by direction

From Georgian into Greek most often go:

• Marriage and birth certificates, criminal record certificate and medical certificate for family reunification and residence
• The package proving Greek origin: birth certificates, a copy of the Soviet passport, church and archival records
• Diploma, transcript, school certificate and syllabi for DOATAP and university enrolment
• Seafarer's certificates, seaman's book and medical fitness certificate for Greek shipping companies
• Extract from the register of entrepreneurs, charter and power of attorney for founding a company or acquiring property in Greece
• Georgian wedding certificate and baptism certificate for a Greek lixiarchio and metropolis
• Materials of Georgian wine and tour companies for the Greek market

And from Greek into Georgian:

• Lixiarchio extract and family status certificate for registering a marriage, birth or divorce in Georgia
• EFKA pension certificates and extract of insurance periods for the Pension Agency of Georgia
• Greek court divorce judgment for recognition in Georgia
• Greek university diploma and transcript for recognition in Georgia
• GEMI extract, charter and notarial deed for registering a Greek company in Georgia
• Discharge summary, EOPYY certificates and disability conclusions for continuing treatment in Georgia and pension matters
• Church marriage certificate and baptism certificate from a Greek metropolis for Georgian civil status records

Transliteration in both directions: ELOT 743 and the passport

When translating from Georgian into Greek, the Georgian name is written in Greek letters, according to Greek phonetics (Γκιόργκι, Νίνο, Μπερίτζε), while the Latin form from the Georgian passport is added unchanged, because a Greek authority will derive its own Latin form under ELOT 743 and these two forms will not match; indicating the passport form in the translation is precisely to avoid this mismatch. When translating from Greek into Georgian the Greek name is written in Georgian transcription (Δημήτρης, Ελένη, Κωνσταντίνου rendered as Dimitrisi, Eleni, Konstantinu), the Latin form from the Greek passport in brackets, while case forms and the genitive of the father's name are reduced to the nominative. The gender form of a Greek surname goes across as it is in the specific person's document, with a note that this is the gender form of one surname. One transliteration table applies in all documents of one client, which we share with the client.

The layers of the Greek language: difficulty that differs by direction

On the Greek into Georgian direction the original may be written in monotonic (since 1982), polytonic (before that) or katharevousa (before 1976), and old documents occur regularly in cases of Greek origin, inheritance and church matters; their translation requires a separate qualification, and the translation notes that the original is in the old orthography. On the Georgian into Greek direction this problem does not exist, the translation is always written in modern monotonic demotic, but another appears: Greek official style keeps elements of katharevousa to this day (certain formulas, terms, case forms), and the translator must know where this element is a sign of officialness and where it is already obsolete. This is the detail a native-speaking editor checks.

The Greek origin flow: three languages in one package

The procedure of confirming Greek origin and the EDTO for the Greeks of Tsalka, Tetritskaro and Tbilisi is the most difficult package of the Georgian into Greek direction, because it unites three languages: Russian-language documents of the Soviet period (a copy of the passport with the "nationality" entry, birth certificates, archival certificates), modern Georgian documents and the Greek target language. The translation notes which fragment is from which language, notarisation is done by translators registered in the relevant pairs, and the transliteration of names links all three forms (Russian, Georgian, Greek) to one person. An illegible place in handwritten and damaged documents is marked with a note and is not filled in by guesswork. We have prepared these packages for years according to the requirements of the Greek consulate.

The pension flow: EFKA and the Pension Agency of Georgia

The pension documents of Georgians who worked in Greece for decades are one of the most voluminous flows of the Greek into Georgian direction: the EFKA extract of insurance periods, the pension decision, employer certificates, disability conclusions, old records of the IKA period. These documents are needed by the Pension Agency of Georgia and, in the absence of a bilateral agreement, for resolving individual matters, and terminologically they require knowledge of the social legislation of both countries: the Greek system of counting insurance days, insurance classes and retirement age categories differ from the Georgian system, and in the translation this difference is marked with a note. In the opposite direction Georgian work record certificates are translated into Greek for EFKA, where the Soviet-period employment record book requires separate attention.

The maritime flow: Piraeus and Georgian seafarers

Greek shipping companies are one of the main employers of Georgian seafarers, and the flow of maritime documents goes in both directions. From Georgian into Greek or English: certificates of competency (STCW), seaman's book, medical fitness certificate, criminal record certificate, crewing contract, for Greece's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and crewing agencies. From Greek into Georgian: certificates of the Greek maritime administration, documents confirming sea service, certificates of the Greek seafarers' pension fund for Georgia's Maritime Transport Agency and the pension record. In the maritime industry the working language is English and most documents go in English, but a Greek administrative procedure requires a Greek translation, and maritime terminology sounds in both languages in the established form of the international conventions.

Numbers, dates, currency and units

In Greek the decimal separator is a comma, the thousands separator a dot (1.250,50 €), the date is in day/month/year format or with the name of the month in the genitive case (15 Σεπτεμβρίου 2025); the currency is the euro, which is also repeated in words in contracts, while the tax number (AFM) and the social insurance number (AMKA) are obligatory identifiers of Greek documents that stay unchanged. In the Georgian translation these formats go over to the Georgian convention without losing the original, and in the Greek translation the Georgian lari is written with the ISO code (GEL). We check these details separately at the format control stage.

Bilingual documents and a third language

A Georgian-Greek contract is often written via English, maritime documents are almost always in English with a Greek annex, and the Greek origin package unites Russian, Georgian and Greek. In such a document the direction is established separately for each part, the translation notes which fragment is from which language, and a translator registered in the relevant pair or several signatures are attached. In a bilingual contract we always advise a "prevailing language" clause, and it should be borne in mind that in a Greek court proceedings run in Greek and foreign-language evidence is submitted with a register translator's or lawyer's translation.

Localisation for the Greek tourist and partner

Greek tourists, especially Orthodox pilgrims, are a growing group in Georgia, while the Greek market shows interest in Georgian wine and tourism products. The materials of Georgian tour companies, wine cellars, monasteries and hotels are localised into Greek: the text must sound natural in Greek, cultural and church realia must be carried over in terminology familiar to a Greek reader (the shared Greek-Georgian church history is an advantage here), and wine terminology must be conveyed with knowledge of both traditions. In the opposite direction the materials of Greek hotels, the tourism products of the islands and real estate projects are translated for the Georgian consumer. A native-speaking copywriter works on localisation.

The direction of medical documents: who reads and what they look for

The reader of a medical translation from Greek into Georgian is a Georgian doctor who must see exactly the Greek colleague's diagnosis, the prescribed drugs and the KEPA disability conclusion, or the pension and social agency that evaluates a Greek conclusion in the Georgian system; the reader of a translation from Georgian into Greek is a Greek specialist or an EOPYY doctor who continues treatment on the basis of the Georgian medical history. In both directions the trade name of the drug stays unchanged and the international non-proprietary name is added beside it, the diagnosis goes into the clinical terminology of the target language, the ICD-10 code is kept, and dates, doses and laboratory values are checked one to one by an editor with a medical education. For a clinic agency certification is enough, for KEPA, the Pension Agency and an insurer notarisation, and we make this choice too according to the direction and the recipient.

Handwritten, damaged and Soviet-period documents

In cases of Greek origin, inheritance and pensions old documents occur regularly: Soviet-period birth certificates in Russian and Georgian handwriting, village council records, church parish registers, Greek insurance booklets of the IKA period, Greek papers written in polytonic orthography. 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 never filled in by guesswork, because a notarised translation must correspond one to one with the original. We often advise obtaining a new extract from the issuing authority or an archive instead of such a document, which simplifies both the apostille and the translation; in cases of Greek origin, where the old document is irreplaceable, we process it in the form in which it exists and attach notes.

Term base and translation memory

For maritime crewing companies, tour operators and law firms that work regularly with Greece, we build a term base (maritime positions, names of Greek authorities, standard contract clauses, transliteration rules taking ELOT 743 into account) 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; for an old, polytonic or trilingual package the deadline is calculated individually. Every translation passes three stages: translation, a check by a native editor of the target language and format control, where ELOT 743 transliteration, the gender form of the surname, cases, the father's name, dates, identifiers and seals are checked one to one against the original. The apostille requires a separate deadline. The whole process is online, and the notarised original is delivered by courier in Georgia or, by international courier, in Greece.

Frequently asked questions