Greek simultaneous interpreter in Tbilisi

Greek interpreting in Georgia serves several completely different worlds: Greek pilgrims following the history of the Iviron Monastery, representatives of Greek shipping companies with Georgian seafarers, official Greek delegations, meetings of the community of Greek origin in Tsalka and Tbilisi, Georgian businesspeople at the Thessaloniki fairs, and Georgians living in Greece in a Greek court and hospital, where a Georgian interpreter must be found from the Greek system. This page describes in which formats we interpret in Greek, where each is used, where we cooperate with a partner in Greece and how to prepare a meeting so that the language barrier does not hold the business back.

Simultaneous, consecutive and whispered interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting runs in parallel with the speaker, from a booth, through headphones, and is the format of government visits, church and academic conferences, Greek-Georgian business forums and diaspora events, where a Greek 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-Greek practice: negotiations, the notary, the clinic, the court, a shipping company's interview, a church visit. Whispered interpreting serves one or two listeners from the side, without equipment: a Greek investor at a Georgian company's meeting, a Greek metropolitan at a Georgian church event, a Georgian patient at a Greek clinic's case conference.

Church and pilgrimage events

The Greek-Georgian church link creates the most peculiar format of interpreting: visits of Greek metropolitans and Athonite monks to the Georgian Church, visits of Georgian clergy to Athos and the Iviron Monastery, joint liturgies, theological conferences, pilgrimage groups following the trail of Greek-Georgian church history. Here the interpreter needs not only the language but Byzantine church terminology, liturgical vocabulary, the names of saints and feasts, church etiquette and protocol, where the forms of address are strictly defined by hierarchy. Both languages have one Byzantine terminological foundation, which simplifies interpreting, but the established Georgian forms often differ from the Greek ones. For these events we choose the interpreter by theological or classical philology education, and the interpreter reads the text of sermons and papers in advance, if it exists beforehand.

The community of Greek origin and diaspora events

The community of the Greeks of Tsalka, Tetritskaro and Tbilisi, Greek cultural centres, Greek language courses and official and cultural delegations from Greece hold regular events where Greek, Georgian and, in the case of the older generation, Russian sound at the same time, while part of the Greeks of Tsalka is historically a Turkish-speaking (Urum) community. This is a peculiar format of interpreting, where the interpreter works between three or four languages and knows the community's history: the deportation of the Pontic Greeks, the Soviet period, the repatriation to Greece in the 1990s, family ties between the two countries. Events of the Greek embassy, consular interviews on confirmation of Greek origin and the community's official meetings go in the same format, and we choose the interpreter with knowledge of this context.

The maritime industry: Piraeus and Georgian seafarers

The dealings of Greek shipping companies, crewing agencies and shipowners with Georgian seafarers create a regular format of interpreting: crewing interviews in Tbilisi and Batumi, partnerships of maritime academies with Greek maritime schools, a maritime incident investigation, compensation negotiations with an insurance club, a procedure at the maritime administration. In the maritime industry the working language is English, and most seafarers speak it; but in an incident investigation, compensation negotiations or a medical case, where exactness is critical and the Greek side works in Greek, an interpreter is necessary. This format requires knowledge of maritime terminology, and we choose the interpreter by the relevant experience, while for a procedure on site in Greece we cooperate with a partner working in Piraeus.

Business negotiations and Greek business style

Greek business culture is Mediterranean: personal relations, trust and a shared table are part of the negotiations, the agenda is flexible, conversation is emotional and loud, a decision is often taken in informal conversation, and the tradition of family business is strong. This coincides with Georgian business style in many ways, and an interpreter who knows both cultures uses this closeness but also sees the differences: the Greek "we'll see" or "we'll think about it" is often a soft refusal, punctuality is perceived flexibly, and the length of a bureaucratic procedure is natural for a Greek partner and not a sign of refusal. Typical contexts are the export of wine and food products, tourism cooperation, maritime crewing, real estate, hotel investment and the founding of a joint venture. Before every meeting we ask for the agenda, presentations and previous correspondence.

Trade fairs in Thessaloniki and Athens

The Thessaloniki International Fair, one of the oldest in Europe, and the exhibition centres of Athens host fairs of the food industry, wine, tourism, building materials and the maritime industry every year, where Georgian entrepreneurs look for distributors and partners, while at the fairs of Tbilisi and Batumi Greek exhibitors meet Georgian buyers. 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 Greece the interpreter travels with the client, or we cooperate with a partner interpreter working in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Medical accompaniment in Greece and Georgia

For a Georgian living in Greece communication in a Greek hospital, at a KEPA committee or with an EOPYY doctor often requires an interpreter found from the Greek system, and our interpreter joins here remotely, by video or telephone call, when there is no Georgian-speaking interpreter on site. In Georgia, for a Greek patient, pilgrim or tourist in a clinic, our medical interpreter interprets the consultation consecutively, conveys the terminology in a way the patient understands but without distortion, and reads the informed consent form clause by clause. Greek and Georgian medical terminology come from one Greek root, which helps the interpreter, but modern Greek clinical abbreviations and English insertions are separate knowledge. This service works at an online consultation of a Greek clinic too, where the interpreter joins as a third participant.

Court, notary and administrative procedures

In a Georgian court where a party or witness is a Greek citizen, 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. When a transaction is executed at the notary in the presence of a Greek citizen (a power of attorney, founding a company, real estate, inheritance), 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 inheritance cases of families of Greek origin, where Greek and Georgian property are in one case, are a frequent instance of this format. On the Greek side, in court, at the police and at the migration service, a Georgian citizen is served by an interpreter of the Greek system, while our interpreter joins at the preparatory stage and, when needed, remotely; through cooperation with a partner working in Athens participation on site is also possible.

Official visits, conferences and the media

Greece is a supporter of Georgia's European integration, and delegations of the Greek parliament, government and foreign ministry, as well as Greek business associations and academic institutions, visit Georgia regularly. These visits require simultaneous or consecutive interpreting, where the terminology of European integration, security and regional policy must sound in the established form in both languages, and at a press conference, a signing ceremony and a media interview the interpretation is public, without the possibility of correction. A Greek official speech is formal with elements of the rhetorical tradition, with katharevousa formulas and classical quotations, and making it sound adequately in Georgian requires pace, protocol and, often, knowledge of a classical education. For academic conferences in Byzantine studies, classical philology, theology and history, where Greek and Georgian sources are discussed at the same time, we choose the interpreter by the relevant education.

University, interviews and study visits

Admission interviews at the universities of Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and Crete, the DOATAP procedure, study visits and exchange programmes are a separate category of interpreting. An admission interview for a Greek-language programme runs in Greek and an interpreter is not admitted there, but at the preparatory stage communication with the university administration, the international office and on housing matters goes through an interpreter. Study visits of Georgian universities to Greek partners, joint research projects and the organisation of the certificate exams of the Centre for the Greek Language require the simultaneous or consecutive format.

Tourism and the guide-interpreter

Greek tourists, especially Orthodox pilgrims, are a growing group in Georgia, and tour companies, monasteries and hotels ask for a Greek-speaking guide-interpreter. The guide-interpreter, apart from interpreting, explains the Georgian church and cultural context to the Greek audience, where the shared Greek-Georgian history (the Iviron Monastery, Byzantine links, Peter the Iberian, Georgian monks on Athos and in Palestine) arouses particular interest, and on wine tours the Greek and Georgian wine traditions are compared. For hotels and tour companies we offer a seasonal package, where the interpreter works on predetermined days or on call, for difficult situations (a medical case, an insurance incident, dealing with the police).

Remote and telephone interpreting

The remote format is especially important on the Greek direction, because most Georgians living in Greece have no Georgian interpreter on site at a Greek authority, hospital or lawyer: our interpreter joins by video or telephone call, from Tbilisi, during the Greek working day, with a one-hour time difference. 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 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 in a Greek hospital, at the police, at the border, on a ship or for an unexpected situation of a Greek tourist in Georgia.

The interpreter's qualification on the Greek direction

Greek interpreters in Georgia come from three sources: the school of classical philology and modern Greek studies of Tbilisi State University and other higher education institutions, Georgians who worked and studied in Greece for years, and bilingual specialists of Greek origin, for whom both languages are 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 and subject: with a theological specialisation for a church event, maritime for a maritime case, medical for the clinic, legal for the court, with simultaneous experience for a protocol event, and with knowledge of Russian too for a diaspora 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 Tsalka and the regions with advance logistical planning, and at church events taking into account the peculiarity of the space. When working outside Tbilisi and in Greece we choose between sending the interpreter, cooperating with a partner working in Athens or Thessaloniki, and joining remotely.

Event planning checklist

• Determine the format and the number of participants in advance to choose correctly between the simultaneous, consecutive and whispered formats
• Specify the subject (church, maritime, medical, legal, diaspora) so that we choose the interpreter by specialisation
• Send the agenda, presentations, papers and the list of speakers at least three days in advance
• For a church or protocol event, clarify the hierarchy of the participants and the forms of address in advance
• 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
• Take into account the feasts of the Greek and Georgian church calendars, which do not always coincide
• Determine the confidentiality requirement in advance for the non-disclosure agreement

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. In a church context the interpreter observes protocol and expresses no personal religious position. The content of every meeting is confidential, and on commercial, maritime and personal matters the interpreter signs a non-disclosure agreement in advance.

Frequently asked questions