Simultaneous and oral interpreting of the Hebrew language (Ivrit)

Hebrew interpreting in Georgia differs from other rare languages by one essential advantage: thanks to the community of Georgian Jews, bilingual specialists for whom Hebrew and Georgian are both native exist in Tbilisi and in Israel, and direct interpreting, without relay, is realistic in every mode. Demand is correspondingly varied: Israeli business delegations and investor visits, delegations of the Knesset and the Israeli government, agritech and water management seminars where Israeli experts talk to Georgian farmers and engineers, medical consultations with Israeli doctors, an Israeli investor's visit to the notary when buying a flat in Batumi, the wedding ceremonies of Israeli couples in Tbilisi, cultural events of Jewish heritage. On this page we explain how we work in each mode and what you should know about the Israeli communication style.

The Israeli communication style: dugri, pace, English insertions

The Israeli conversational culture, which Israelis themselves call "dugri" (straight, without concealment), differs from the European one and the Georgian one too: the speaker talks fast, expresses their opinion directly, often interrupts the interlocutor, states disagreement openly and reduces courtesy formulas to a minimum. To a Georgian host this may sound rude, and to an Israeli the extensive, indirect Georgian address a waste of time. The interpreter explains this difference to both sides in advance and keeps the tone at the meeting so that directness is not interpreted as aggression and courtesy as vagueness. The second feature is the pace: Hebrew is a compact language, one Hebrew word often corresponds to a Georgian phrase, and the simultaneous interpreter faces a dense stream. Third, English insertions: the language of Israeli business and technology uses English terms in every sentence, often with Hebrew grammatical forms, and the interpreter must decide which to leave in English and which to translate into Georgian. We agree this with the organiser in advance.

Which mode when

Simultaneous interpreting from the booth

Israeli-Georgian business forums, agritech and cybersecurity conferences, international events of Jewish heritage where Israeli speakers present in Hebrew. Two interpreters in the booth alternate every 20-30 minutes, because the pace and information density of Hebrew are cognitively tiring; the equipment is an ISO 4043 booth, infrared or radio receivers, a sound engineer on site. We have direct Hebrew-Georgian simultaneous interpreters; relay via English is needed only at multilingual conferences where Hebrew is one of several languages.

Consecutive interpreting

Official meetings of Israeli delegations in ministries and parliament, investor negotiations, signing ceremonies, interviews, the field part of agricultural seminars. The interpreter works directly, with notes, in both directions, and manages the Israeli side's fast, interrupting style: sometimes politely asks the speaker for a pause so that the interpretation is complete. This is our most requested Hebrew oral service.

Whispered interpreting and the portable system

One or two Israeli participants at a Georgian-language event: a board meeting, a wine tasting, a visit to a factory or farm, a real estate presentation in Batumi. The interpreter sits next to them or follows and interprets simultaneously in a whisper or with a portable system, in two-hour sessions.

An interpreter at the notary, in court, in the clinic, at a wedding

An Israeli citizen who buys a flat, founds a company or marries in Georgia goes to the notary or the House of Justice together with an interpreter, and the interpreter's participation is recorded in the act; because of the number of Israeli buyers in Batumi and Tbilisi this is our daily work, and the interpreter interprets every clause of the sale contract orally for the Israeli party, with an explanation of the Georgian property system. At the registration of Israeli couples' marriages at the House of Justice the interpreter interprets the ceremony and the documents. At court hearings the interpreter acquires procedural status. At medical visits, an Israeli tourist in a Georgian clinic or a Georgian patient at an online consultation with an Israeli doctor, the interpreter works in the first person, with knowledge of medical vocabulary and without shortening anything.

Typical scenarios of Israeli-Georgian events

• Seminars of Israeli agritech companies for Georgian farmers on drip irrigation, greenhouses, water management and livestock, where the Israeli expert speaks Hebrew and the technical terminology contains English insertions.
• Visits of Israeli investors to Georgia's real estate, tourism and energy projects, developers' presentations in Batumi, transactions at the notary.
• Meetings of the Knesset's Georgia friendship group with Georgian parliamentarians, delegations of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the embassy's Independence Day receptions.
• Events of Jewish heritage: conferences of the Museum of History of Georgian Jews, events marking the twenty-six-century history, visits of the Georgian Jewish community from Israel, where both languages mix naturally.
• Meetings of medical tourism coordinators and representatives of Israeli clinics with Georgian patients and doctors, online tumour boards.
• Meetings of Israeli technology companies with Georgian developers, start-up presentations, cybersecurity seminars.
• Online meetings with Tel Aviv, where the time difference is one or two hours and the interpreter works in Zoom's interpretation channel.

Shabbat, holidays, Sunday: a calendar that changes the event

When planning an event with the Israeli side the calendar is a practical matter that a Georgian organiser often forgets. Israel's working week begins on Sunday and ends on Thursday or Friday noon; on Shabbat, from Friday evening to Saturday evening, religious and many non-religious Israelis do not work, do not travel and do not answer the phone. During Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in September-October, Sukkot after them, Pesach in March-April, Shavuot in May-June) Israeli delegations do not travel and authorities are closed. Scheduling a Georgian event for Saturday or a Jewish holiday automatically excludes some Israeli participants, and we provide the organiser with the calendar of Israeli holidays in advance. Kosher catering and Shabbat services at a multi-day event must also be planned in advance, and we advise the organiser on these matters.

What one day looks like: an agritech seminar

Imagine a two-day seminar where the experts of an Israeli irrigation company talk to farmers from Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli about designing and managing drip systems, with the support of the Israeli embassy or an international development agency. A week in advance we receive the presentations, often a Hebrew-English blend, and draw up a list of terms: water flow, pressure compensator, fertigation, soil moisture sensors, EU and Israeli standards. On the first day there is a plenary session in Tbilisi, where the Israeli expert speaks Hebrew and one Hebrew-Georgian booth works, and during the questions and answers, where farmers ask practical questions and the Israeli expert answers directly, often with humour, the interpreter works consecutively in the hall. On the second day there is a field visit to a farm, where there is no booth and the interpreter follows the expert with a portable system, between the soil and the pipes. The seminar ends on Thursday so that the Israeli experts get home before Shabbat, and this date was planned that way from the start.

Medical interpreting: patient, doctor, coordinator

The flow of treatment in Israeli clinics creates a separate genre of medical interpreting: an online consultation with an Israeli oncologist or cardiac surgeon before planning treatment, a conversation with the coordinator of the Israeli clinic's international department about the cost estimate, and after treatment an online consultation between the Israeli doctor and the Georgian treating doctor. In this mode the interpreter interprets in the first person, shortens nothing and softens nothing, even if the information is hard, because the medical decision depends on exactly this; the Israeli doctor's direct style, which states the prognosis without concealment, may be unexpected for a Georgian patient, and the interpreter explains this in advance without changing the content of the interpretation. An Israeli tourist in a Georgian clinic, especially at mountain and seaside resorts, is interpreted by the same rules.

The interpreter's ethics and confidentiality

At an Israeli-Georgian meeting, especially within the community of Georgian Jews, the interpreter often knows both sides personally, and this makes neutrality especially important. Our interpreters do not shorten, soften or strengthen what is said, do not give advice to either side, add a cultural explanation only if without it what is said would be misunderstood (Israeli "dugri" directness is the most frequent example), and share the content of the meeting with no one, even within the community. These rules are recorded in the confidentiality agreement, which the interpreter signs for every order; at medical consultations and property negotiations an additional NDA too at the client's request.

Preparation before the event

The interpreter needs the presentations, the list of speakers with names (the Georgian pronunciation of Hebrew names is often intuitive, but the written form is without vowels, and the list resolves the pronunciation), the agenda, a list of terms and, if the event is part of a project, the minutes of previous meetings. Israeli speakers rarely read a text and speak freely, often digressing from the slides, so deep preparation of the topic is more important than a specific text. On technical topics (agritech, water management, cybersecurity, real estate, medicine) our terminology base already exists, including the English insertions that are natural in Israeli Hebrew and require a decision in the Georgian interpretation. For protocol meetings we clarify the participants' positions and forms of address in advance, although Israeli protocol is far more informal than the European one and even a minister is often addressed by first name.

Choosing the interpreter by topic

The relatively large number of Hebrew-Georgian interpreters allows us to match the specialisation to the subject precisely: to an agricultural seminar goes the one who commands agricultural and engineering terminology, to investor negotiations the one who has the vocabulary of real estate and corporate law, to a medical consultation the one who worked in Israeli clinics, to the notary the one who has experience of notarial transactions. On request we send the client the interpreter's anonymous profile: education, years spent in Israel, native language, experience of similar events. At a multi-day event the same interpreter works from beginning to end.

After the event

Israeli-Georgian meetings leave a written trace: minutes, a memorandum, an agreement on investment terms, a sale contract, a medical summary, technical recommendations for farmers. Since oral and written translation happen in one agency, the interpreter who was at the meeting takes part in the translation of these documents or passes the context and terminology to the translator. For the Israeli side, which values fast decisions and short documents, this means that a condition agreed at the meeting is recorded in writing in both languages the same day or the next.

Israeli couples' weddings in Tbilisi

Civil marriage does not exist in Israel, and mixed, non-religious Israeli couples or those refused marriage by the Rabbinate have in recent years been using Tbilisi as one of the main places to marry: a direct flight, a visa-free regime, a fast procedure at the House of Justice, a marriage certificate that Israel recognises with an apostille. This flow creates a separate genre of translation: the couple needs an interpreter at the House of Justice who interprets the application, the ceremony and the content of the certificate into Hebrew, and in advance a Georgian translation of the Israeli population register extracts and afterwards a Hebrew translation of the Georgian certificate. Many couples go through the whole process in one day, and for this we offer a combined package: the written translations in advance, an interpreter at the ceremony, the translation of the certificate and the apostille the same or the next day.

Equipment, remote mode, logistics

For simultaneous interpreting we provide the booth, consoles, receivers, a sound engineer and, in the case of a hybrid event, the delivery of the booth's audio into the interpretation channel of Zoom or another platform. Remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) is often the best option for meetings with Tel Aviv: the interpreter works in our studio, the participants choose the channel themselves, and for sound quality we ask the Israeli side for a headset microphone, because fast Hebrew suffers especially in poor audio. In Batumi and Kakheti, where Israeli investments and agricultural visits are concentrated, the interpreter's transport and overnight stay appear as a separate item in the offer, and in Batumi we have local interpreters too. We complete the installation of the equipment the day before the event or in the morning and run a test together with the organiser.

What we advise if you are planning an Israeli event for the first time

• Check the date against the Israeli calendar: not on Saturday, not on a Jewish holiday, preferably Sunday to Thursday.
• Clarify the question of kosher catering and Shabbat services with the Israeli side in advance.
• Israeli directness and the interrupting style are the norm, not disrespect; the interpreter will explain this to both sides.
• Send us the slides and the topic in advance; an Israeli speaker rarely reads a text, and the interpreter needs knowledge of the topic more.
• Book at least one week ahead, for the simultaneous mode two weeks; Hebrew-Georgian interpreters are more numerous than for other rare languages, but busy in season.

Booking

The minimum order is two hours, for a visit to the notary one hour, and for Israeli buyers' transactions in Batumi one visit is often enough. When booking we need the date (checked against the Israeli calendar), duration, format, topic and number of participants; on this basis we deliver a recommendation of the mode within one day. In urgent cases, at a medical consultation, in court or at the notary, providing an interpreter within a few hours in Tbilisi and Batumi is realistic.

Frequently asked questions