Translation from Spanish into Georgian and from Georgian into Spanish

The Spanish-Georgian language pair works in both directions, but the two flows are meant for different readers. A translation from Georgian into Spanish is read by a Spanish or Latin American official, a university admissions committee, a sworn translator (in the two-stage scheme) or a business partner who does not know the Georgian system; a translation from Spanish into Georgian by a Georgian notary, the Public Registry, a court, a bank or a doctor, to whom the Spanish two-surname system, the structure of the autonomous communities and the Latin American variations are foreign. This page breaks both directions down into scenarios so that you know in advance what a specific situation requires.

From Georgian into Spanish: through the eyes of a Spanish official

A Spanish official looks for standard blocks in a document: who issues it ("expedido por"), whom it concerns ("D./Dña." with name and identification number), what it certifies ("CERTIFICA"), for what it is issued ("para que conste") and how it is certified (seal, signature, apostille). A translation of a Georgian certificate that reflects these blocks with Spanish formulas looks familiar and trustworthy to the official. We render the names of Georgian bodies with a functional translation and the official English name in brackets: the Public Service Development Agency as "Agencia de Desarrollo de Servicios Públicos", the Public Service Hall as "Casa de Justicia", the Public Registry as "Registro Público Nacional". We choose the Spain or Latin America variant according to the client's receiving country, and two people prepare the translation: the translator and a Spanish-speaking editor.

From Georgian into Spanish: Extranjería, arraigo, reagrupación

This is the largest flow. For legalisation of residence (arraigo in its various forms), family reunification and renewal of residence, the Georgian criminal record certificate, birth, marriage and divorce certificates, certificate of family status and proof of income are translated into Spanish. Spanish terminology is exact: "certificado de antecedentes penales", "certificación literal de nacimiento", "certificado de matrimonio", "sentencia de divorcio", and the titles of Georgian documents are rendered with these equivalents. In the case of social-family roots (arraigo sociofamiliar) the chain of documents proving kinship with a Spanish or resident family member is translated, where the same person must appear with the same spelling in every document. For a child, the other parent's consent ("autorización paterna/materna para la salida y residencia del menor") is translated in notarial form.

From Georgian into Spanish: students, homologation, nota media

For a homologation or equivalence application at the Ministry of Universities, for Master's admission at a university and for Bachelor's admission through UNEDasiss, the school certificate, diploma, supplement and transcript are translated into Spanish. Spanish academic terminology follows the Bologna system (grado, máster, doctorado), while the old Spanish degrees (licenciatura, diplomatura) still appear in documents. The Georgian grading scale is not changed in the translation, but a note on the scale (maximum grade, minimum passing grade) is added, because the declaration of equivalence of the grade point average is drawn up from precisely these data and its absence stops the application. Subject names are translated as they are called in Spanish curricula. The motivation letter and CV are written in Spanish the way a Spanish applicant writes them, and for Latin American universities in the regional variant.

From Georgian into Spanish: doctors, nurses, caregivers

The qualification recognition package for the Ministries of Health and Universities explains the stages of Georgian medical education in the terms of the Spanish system: "grado en medicina", "formación sanitaria especializada" (residency, which in Spain runs through the MIR system), "título de especialista". The Georgian state certificate corresponds functionally to the Spanish "título de especialista", but a Spanish specialty is obtained through the MIR competition and a four- to five-year residency, and the translation marks this difference with a note. A nursing qualification corresponds to the Spanish "grado en enfermería" (four years), so an hour-by-hour translation of the Georgian curriculum is decisive for the ministry. The work of caregivers ("cuidadoras", "empleadas de hogar") needs no recognition, but certificates of work experience and references are often translated for a Spanish employer.

From Georgian into Spanish: business, export, Latin America

A Georgian company's documents are translated into Spanish when a Spanish or Latin American partner carries out due diligence on the company, Georgian products enter a Spanish-speaking market or a Georgian stand takes part in a fair in Madrid, Barcelona or Mexico. The export of wine, hazelnuts and mineral water is accompanied by certificates of origin, laboratory analyses and label text, which must be translated with Spanish and EU (or the Latin American country's) regulatory terminology. The extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs is rendered as the analogue of the "certificación registral", the articles of association as "estatutos sociales", "director" as "administrador". For Latin America the terminology changes: the Mexican "acta constitutiva", the Argentine "contrato social", the Colombian "certificado de existencia y representación legal" are different names for documents of the same function, and the translation uses the receiving country's term.

From Spanish into Georgian: through the eyes of a Georgian official

A Spanish document submitted in Georgia must be understandable to an employee of a Georgian notary's office, the Public Registry, the civil registry or a court. The Spanish administrative structure (Ayuntamiento, Diputación, Comunidad Autónoma, Delegación del Gobierno, Subdelegación) differs from the Georgian system, and the translation conveys the bodies with a functional Georgian name, keeping the original in brackets: "Ayuntamiento" as municipality, "Comunidad Autónoma" as autonomous community, "Registro Civil" as civil status registry. The Spanish two-surname system is rendered in the Georgian translation with both surnames kept ("primer apellido" and "segundo apellido" separately), so that the Georgian official sees the correspondence with the passport. For Latin American documents, country-specific terms ("CURP" in Mexico, "CUIL" in Argentina, "RUT" in Chile, "cédula de ciudadanía" in Colombia) are translated with a functional explanation.

From Spanish into Georgian: civil status acts and family matters

To obtain Georgian citizenship or a Georgian birth certificate for a child born in Spain, the Spanish "certificación literal de nacimiento" is submitted with an apostille and a Georgian notarised translation. Spanish divorce happens by court judgment (sentencia de divorcio) or, since 2015, by mutual agreement before a notary too (escritura de divorcio) if there are no minor children, and both forms are translated for entry in the Georgian civil registry, in the case of a court judgment with the note on entry into legal force ("firmeza"). Concepts relating to children ("patria potestad", "guarda y custodia", "régimen de visitas", "pensión de alimentos") are rendered with Georgian family law terminology, while "custodia compartida" (shared custody), an increasingly common regime in Spain, needs an explanation for the Georgian system. The Spanish "libro de familia" (for older families) and the individual registry certificate (after 2021) are different documents, which is reflected in the title of the translation.

From Spanish into Georgian: corporate and notarial documents

A Spanish company founding a subsidiary in Georgia (in recent years most often in the water supply, renewable energy and tourism sectors) submits three documents to the Public Registry, and all three have their own "Spanish trap". The "certificación del Registro Mercantil" or "nota simple mercantil" is issued with an electronic signature and a CSV verification code, and the Georgian notary accepts the printed version only with an apostille, while in the translation the code stays unchanged so that the registry can verify it online. The "escritura de constitución" and "estatutos" define the regime of directors, and translating "administradores mancomunados" (acting jointly) as "solidarios" (separately) "gives" the Georgian registry the wrong signatory. A "poder notarial" before a Spanish notary is often in the form of a "poder general para pleitos" or "poder especial", and the Georgian notary requires a list of powers instead of the general Spanish wording, which we give the client as a bilingual template before the power of attorney is drawn up in Spain. Spanish forms match Georgian ones only partly: an S.L. is an LLC, an S.A. a joint-stock company, while the S.L.U. and S.L.L. do not exist separately in the Georgian system and are explained with a note.

From Spanish into Georgian: medical and insurance documents

After treatment in a Spanish clinic the patient has the discharge report (informe de alta), the medical history (historia clínica) and test reports (informe de pruebas) translated to continue with a Georgian doctor or for a Georgian insurance company. Spanish medical text follows the standard structure of the national health system (SNS) and the health services of the autonomous communities, with ICD codes and Spanish trade names for medicines (Nolotil, Espidifen, Gelocatil), to which we add the international nonproprietary name in the translation (metamizole, ibuprofen arginate, paracetamol); the Spanish Nolotil is especially important, because its active substance is restricted in many countries and the Georgian doctor must know this. The Spanish disability system is percentage-based (with a 33% threshold) and the degrees of dependency (grados I-III) are a separate system, which does not map directly onto the Georgian groups and is rendered descriptively. The Spanish "parte de baja" (sick leave certificate) is translated with Georgian employment terminology.

From Spanish into Georgian: vida laboral, INSS, pension

For people returning to Georgia after working in Spain, the "informe de vida laboral" (social security contributions record), "certificado de empresa", "nómina" (payslip) and INSS pension decisions are translated into Georgian for the Pension Agency and the Social Service Agency of Georgia, while the Georgian employment record book and certificate of service are translated into Spanish for the INSS. Spanish pension terminology ("jubilación ordinaria", "jubilación anticipada", "base reguladora", "periodo de carencia") finds no direct equivalent in the Georgian system, and the translation conveys the concepts descriptively. Documents of the special system for domestic workers (Sistema Especial de Empleados de Hogar), which concerns most Georgian women working in Spain, are a significant part of this flow, and their terminology ("alta", "baja", "cotización", "finiquito") is translated with Georgian employment and insurance concepts.

From Spanish into Georgian: machinery, water, energy

The projects of Spanish engineering companies in Georgia's water supply, renewable energy and infrastructure sectors create a constant flow of technical documentation: Spanish technical specifications, operating manuals, safety instructions and quality standards are translated into Georgian for local staff, while Georgian project reports, permits and environmental documents are translated into Spanish for the head office. Spanish technical text is built on the terminology of European (EN, UNE) standards, and the translation conveys this terminology in the language of Georgian technical regulations. Consistent terminology throughout the project is decisive, so for every long-term client we build a glossary in which every term ("estación de bombeo", "red de saneamiento", "aerogenerador", "cuadro de mando") is approved once and then repeated unchanged in every document.

In both directions: names, surnames, accents

The first name and surname follow the Latin version of the Georgian passport in both directions, even if "Javakhishvili" reads as "Havahishvili" to a Spaniard. When translating from Georgian into Spanish we lay out the first name, surname and patronymic so that the Spanish two-surname system does not take the patronymic as a second surname. When translating from Spanish into Georgian both Spanish surnames are kept and the Georgian transcription is written in the established form (José, Javier, Ñ as "ny": Muñoz), keeping the Latin spelling in brackets, accents included. Latin American first names are often double (José Luis, María Fernanda), and in the Georgian translation both parts are kept as the first name. If the person already has a Georgian or Spanish document with a particular spelling, we repeat exactly that variant.

In both directions: tourism, wine, brand text

Unofficial translation is intensive in both directions: Georgian travel companies, hotels and wine cellars prepare websites, menus and tour descriptions in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking market, Georgian wine companies prepare labels and technical sheets for a Spanish or Latin American importer, and Spanish and Latin American brands prepare advertising text and product descriptions in Georgian for Georgia. A Spanish or Latin American reader expects warmth and a personal tone in the text, which is natural for the Georgian marketing style, but the vocabulary changes by region ("coche" in Spain, "carro" in Latin America; "ordenador" and "computadora"; "vosotros" and "ustedes"), and a native editor works on the Spanish version, choosing the variant of the client's market.

Three questions before ordering: country, body, surname

In the Spanish direction the order form asks three questions whose answers determine the route. "Which country?" Spain, Mexico, Argentina or Colombia have different terminology and official translation systems, and this answer also changes the choice of translator. "Which body?" Extranjería or the Registro Civil need a sworn translator or legalisation, a university and a bank are often satisfied with an apostilled notarised translation, a Latin American body needs an apostille and local terminology, the Georgian Public Registry needs a Spanish apostille and a Georgian notary; by this answer we choose between a Georgian notarised translation, the two-stage scheme or consular legalisation. "How is your surname written?" When translating from Georgian into Spanish we ask for the Latin version of the passport and clarify whether you already have a NIE or TIE in a particular form; when translating from Spanish into Georgian we check for both Spanish surnames and the apostille. As soon as we have all three answers we send the deadline the same day, the translation electronically for checking, then the notarised paper version by courier, in Georgia or in Spain.

Why the two directions differ in deadline

Translation from Georgian into Spanish consists of two stages: a Georgian translator and a Spanish-speaking editor who commands the variant of Spain or the specific Latin American country and reads the text with the eyes of a local official; depending on the body, the stage of a Spanish traductor jurado or consular legalisation is added, which extends the deadline by several days or weeks. Translation from Spanish into Georgian is single-stage: a Georgian translator renders the Spanish document with Georgian administrative terminology, and the finished document is often at the notary the same day or the next working day. So the first direction is longer, the second fast. What they share is that in both directions the translation is done by a translator registered with a notary in the Spanish-Georgian pair, the process is managed online and every order is protected by a confidentiality agreement.

What each direction needs

• From Georgian into Spanish, for Extranjería and the Registro Civil: apostille on the original, notarised translation or the two-stage scheme with a sworn translator
• From Georgian into Spanish, for a university and the nota media declaration: apostille and notarised translation, electronic copy for uploading
• From Georgian into Spanish, for homologation: apostille, sworn or legalised translation, translation of the curriculum
• From Georgian into Spanish, for Latin America: apostille, notarised translation in the country's terminology
• From Spanish into Georgian, for the Public Registry and a notary: Spanish apostille, notarised translation in Tbilisi
• From Spanish into Georgian, court judgment: apostille, notarised translation, 2-5 working days
• In both directions, business and marketing text: without certification, with native editing

Frequently asked questions