Translation from French into Georgian and from Georgian into French

The phrase "directional translation" is a technical term, but a practical reality stands behind it: translating from Georgian into French and from French into Georgian are two different jobs, with different readers, different bodies and different risks. In the first case the document will be read by a French official, professor or lawyer who does not know the Georgian system; in the second by a Georgian notary, Public Registry employee or doctor to whom French administrative logic is foreign. This page considers both directions separately, so that you know in advance what a specific scenario requires.

From Georgian into French: who the reader is

When translating from Georgian into French we prepare a document that a body in France, Belgium, Switzerland or Quebec will accept. The main challenge here is the systemic difference: the names of Georgian bodies, document types and grading scales often find no analogue in the French-speaking space. The Public Service Development Agency, the Public Service Hall, the Public Registry, the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement: each of them must be translated into French so that the French reader understands the function, and at the same time the official French name (if the body has one) is preserved. In this direction we always use two translators: one translates from Georgian into French, the second, for whom French is a native or professional working language, checks the text with the eyes of a French reader.

From Georgian into French: student papers

This is the largest flow. On the Campus France "Études en France" platform the school certificate, diploma, transcripts and motivation letter are uploaded in French, and the university admissions committee assesses the candidate's level by this translation. Three details decide the outcome here. First: the names of subjects must be translated the way they are called in French curricula, not word for word. Second: the grading scale does not change in the translation, but an explanatory note ("échelle de notation: 51-100, seuil de réussite 51") gives the committee a reference point. Third: the certificate of the unified national exams, which is a document specific to Georgia, must be presented in French as "certificat des examens nationaux unifiés" with a short explanation, so that the committee understands that this is the national mechanism for university admission.

From Georgian into French: family and civil matters

Marriage to a French citizen, family reunification, recognition of a child's French citizenship or naturalisation require a translation of Georgian civil status records. The French administration looks for specific fields in these documents: the place of birth in French geographical transcription (Tbilissi and not Tbilisi, Koutaïssi and not Kutaisi, if the text follows the French orthographic tradition), the parents' full names, the record number and the issuing body. In the case of names we keep the Latin spelling of the passport, while we write the names of cities by the French norm and add the international variant in brackets. For naturalisation it is especially important that the same person appears with the same spelling in every document, otherwise the prefecture requires additional confirmation of identity.

From Georgian into French: business and legal text

The articles, extract, financial statements or contract of a Georgian company are translated into French when a French or Belgian partner carries out due diligence, a bank considers a loan or French-language documentation is required in a tender. Georgian legal terminology is based on the tradition of the German Civil Code, while French has its own code tradition, and the two do not always coincide. For example, the Georgian "Register of Entrepreneurs" is "registre du commerce et des sociétés" in French, and a Georgian "individual entrepreneur" is closest to "entrepreneur individuel", although the tax regime is different and a note may be needed. In financial statements Georgian accounting standards follow international standards (IFRS), which makes the translation easier, because French accounting terminology also uses the official French version of IFRS.

From French into Georgian: who the reader is

In the opposite direction the translation is read by a Georgian body, notary, court, bank, clinic or employer. The main task here is to carry over French administrative terminology so that a Georgian official places the document in a familiar Georgian category. The French "extrait Kbis" is an "extract from the Register of Entrepreneurs" for a Georgian notary; "acte de naissance, copie intégrale" is a "full copy of the birth record"; "attestation de droits" is a social insurance certificate. At the same time the original name must not be lost, because a Georgian official may verify the genuineness of a French document on the internet, and needs the French term for that. So in the Georgian translation we also write important terms in French in brackets at the first mention.

From French into Georgian: residence, marriage, property

For a residence permit in Georgia a French citizen needs a Georgian notarized translation of the French criminal record certificate, documents confirming income and, where necessary, the marriage certificate. At marriage the Public Service Hall requires the certificate of capacity to marry issued by the French consulate, whose translation must reflect exactly that the publication of banns was carried out under French legislation and no impediment was found. When buying real estate the French buyer's power of attorney, bank certificate or a French notarial deed is translated, and the structure of a French notarial deed (comparution, exposé, dispositif) differs from the Georgian notarial form and the division must be preserved in the translation, so that a Georgian notary easily finds the identification of the parties and the substance of the transaction.

From French into Georgian: education and professional recognition

A French university diploma needs recognition in Georgia, which the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement carries out, requiring a Georgian translation of the diploma and supplement. The French system is LMD (licence, master, doctorat), which corresponds to the three-cycle Bologna system, so the correspondence of levels is simple; the difficulty is in the supplement, where the fields "unités d'enseignement", "crédits ECTS", "mention" and "session" do not repeat the logic of a Georgian academic record. A separate case is French vocational education documents (BTS, DUT, CAP), which have no direct Georgian analogue and need an explanation of the level in the translation. For a French doctor or pharmacist to work in Georgia the diploma is accompanied by a document confirming specialisation, whose translation requires knowledge of medical terminology.

From French into Georgian: court and family decisions

A French court's decision on divorce, maintenance or a child's place of residence needs recognition and enforcement in Georgia, for which a full, notarized Georgian translation of the decision is submitted. The structure of French court documents ("jugement", "ordonnance", "arrêt") and the hierarchy of courts (tribunal judiciaire, cour d'appel, Cour de cassation) differ from the Georgian court system, and in the translation the name of the court must be carried over so that a Georgian judge correctly perceives the instance. The amount of maintenance, the terms and the indexation conditions are translated with numerical precision, while the "exécutoire" entry, which confirms the enforceability of the decision, is never left untranslated, because it is exactly the basis of the recognition procedure.

From Georgian into French: medical documents for French clinics

When planning treatment in France, Belgium or Switzerland, the Georgian clinic's discharge summary, test results (X-ray, MRI, histology) and prescription sheet are translated into French, so that the receiving doctor sees the patient's history in full. French medical text follows its own standard structure ("motif d'hospitalisation", "antécédents", "examens complémentaires", "conclusion"), and a Georgian discharge summary written in a different order is not rearranged to this structure in translation, but the headings must be chosen so that the French doctor recognises familiar blocks. The international nonproprietary names of medicines (DCI) stay unchanged, while trade names on the Georgian market that do not exist in France are indicated in brackets accompanied by the DCI, otherwise the French doctor cannot identify the preparation.

From French into Georgian: registration of French companies and procurement

When a French company registers a branch or subsidiary in Georgia, the Public Registry requires a Georgian notarized translation of the founding company's extract, articles and resolution, in which the signatory's authority is unambiguously visible. French corporate documents use the positions "président", "directeur général", "gérant", which correspond to the Georgian concept of "director" in different scopes, and in the translation this difference must be preserved, so that the registry correctly establishes who has the right to act on behalf of the company. In tenders where a French company takes part in Georgian public procurement, the technical proposal, certificates (ISO, CE) and certificates confirming experience are translated, and for uploading to the platform of the State Procurement Agency the translation must be certified.

In both directions: marketing and cultural text

Unofficial translation, where no notary is involved, contains its own difficulty: here, instead of word-for-word precision, the effect must be preserved. A Georgian wine label, hotel website, museum exhibition text or festival programme must sound in French so that the French reader cannot sense a translation. In the opposite direction a French brand's advertising text, product description or press release must be carried over into Georgian in natural, modern language, without traces of French syntax. On such projects we work with a two-stage system: a translator and a native-speaker editor, and the terminology base is created together with the client, so that the brand's tone stays the same in every material.

In both directions: technical and engineering documentation

French engineering companies take part in energy, transport and water supply projects in Georgia, and the documentation of these projects moves in both directions: French technical specifications, safety instructions and operating manuals are translated into Georgian for local staff, while Georgian project reports, geological surveys and permits are translated into French for the head office. Technical translation requires uniform terminology throughout the project, so for every long-term client we create a glossary in which every term (for example, "poste de transformation", "ouvrage d'art", "débit nominal") is approved once and then repeated unchanged in every document.

The common rule of both directions: names and geography

Regardless of direction, the spelling of names and places is governed by one rule: a person's name follows the Latin version of the passport, and when translating into Georgian, French names are written in the established Georgian transcription (Jean-Pierre, Guillaume). Carrying French names over into Georgian is often debatable, because French nasal vowels do not exist in Georgian, so if a person already has a Georgian document (for example, a residence card) with a certain spelling, we repeat exactly that variant, even if another variant seems phonetically more exact. One person must appear the same way in every document: this principle stands above phonetic precision.

The common rule of both directions: dates, numbers, seals

French and Georgian write the date the same way (day, month, year), but in French the name of the month is written in lower case and a space is used as the thousands separator and a comma as the decimal, which requires a double check in financial documents: "1 250,50 €" becomes "1250.50 euro" in a Georgian text, and losing a digit or confusing the decimal in this transition is an inconsistency for the body. Seals and stamps are fully described in both directions: the text of the seal, the issuing body and, if readable, the number. The French "Marianne" seal, which the bodies of the Republic have, is marked in the Georgian translation as "the state seal of the French Republic", while the Georgian seal with the coat of arms is "sceau officiel de la Géorgie" in French.

Which direction needs what deadline and certification

• from Georgian into French, for the French visa centre: notarization, an apostille on civil status records, 1 working day
• from Georgian into French, for Campus France: notarization, an electronic copy for uploading, 1 working day
• from Georgian into French, for ENIC-NARIC: notarization and apostille, 2-3 working days allowing for the apostille
• from French into Georgian, for residence: an apostilled source and a notarized translation, 1 working day
• from French into Georgian, a court decision: notarized translation, 2-5 working days depending on volume
• in both directions, business text without certification: with stylistic editing, depending on volume

In both directions: the online process and delivery

Regardless of direction, the order starts the same way: you upload the document on the site, indicate the receiving country and body, and receive the deadline the same day. When translating from Georgian into French we additionally ask for a copy of the Latin version of the passport for the spelling of the name; when translating from French into Georgian we check whether the document has an apostille, so that the Georgian body accepts it. The finished translation first comes to you electronically for checking (names, dates, numbers), then it is notarized and the paper version comes to you by courier. For clients abroad who are preparing a Georgian translation of a French document for a representative in Georgia, we hand the document directly to the representative.

Why a "two-way" translation is not the same job

We are often asked why the deadline differs by direction. The reason is the reader: when translating from Georgian into French the text must read to a French professional as if it had been written in French from the start, which requires the involvement of a native-speaker editor. When translating from French into Georgian the main thing is the precision of Georgian administrative and legal terminology, which our Georgian translators ensure independently. In both cases the translation is done by a translator registered with a notary, but the quality control stages are different, and that is exactly what is reflected in the deadline.

Frequently asked questions