Slovenian translator in Tbilisi

Last reviewed: 13 November 2026 · facts checked against official sources

We translate personal, academic, corporate, pharmaceutical and medical documents from Slovenian into Georgian and from Georgian into Slovenian, with notarisation, and we arrange Slovenian interpreting at meetings, at the notary and in clinics. The standard turnaround is 1 working day, and a notarised translation received during working hours can be ready in 1-2 hours in express mode; for Slovenian we confirm the translator's availability when we confirm the order. Slovenia is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so a Georgian document gets its apostille on the original, the document is then translated including the apostille, and the notary certifies the authenticity of the translator's signature. The key rule is this: Slovenian state authorities expect a translation from a court interpreter (sodni tolmač), while private recipients are usually satisfied with our notarised translation. You upload a clear scan of the document on the website and receive the finished translation electronically or by courier in Georgia or in Slovenia.

Slovenian, Slovak and Croatian: three different languages

The first thing we clarify when taking an order is the language itself. In Georgian the words for "Slovenian" and "Slovak" are so alike that clients regularly confuse them: Slovenian (slovenščina) is the language of Slovenia, from the South Slavic group, while Slovak (slovenčina) is the language of Slovakia, from the West Slavic group, and the two are foreign to each other. For documents from Slovakia we have a separate page: Slovak translator.

Slovenian is not interchangeable with Croatian or Serbian either. Despite belonging to the same language group, Slovenian has its own grammar, including the dual number (dvojina), which other Slavic languages have lost, six cases and its own orthography (č, š, ž, but not ć and đ). Documents from the former Yugoslav period, issued before 1991, are often in Serbo-Croatian, even when issued in Slovenia, and such a document needs a translator of that language (Croatian translator). Modern Slovenian documents are issued in Slovenian, sometimes in Slovenian and English, and in the border regions in Slovenian and Italian or Slovenian and Hungarian. In a bilingual document our translation states which fragment comes from which language.

The Slovenian court interpreter and Georgian notarisation

In Slovenia an official translation is made by a court interpreter (sodni tolmač), appointed by the Ministry of Justice for a specific language after an examination and an oath; the list of court interpreters is public. A court interpreter's translation (sodno overjen prevod) is bound to the original or to its certified copy with the interpreter's stamp, signature and certification formula, and Slovenian courts, administrative units (upravna enota) and universities accept this form. To our knowledge, a court interpreter appointed for the Georgian-Slovenian pair does not exist in Slovenia or is a single individual.

That is why, in practice, a Georgian document for a Slovenian state authority travels via English or Russian: the apostilled original with a notarised translation into the intermediate language, which a court interpreter for English or Russian in Slovenia then translates into Slovenian. This two-step route works, and we coordinate it at both stages. Three different forms exist on the Georgian side, and when taking the order we ask who the recipient is:

• Certification by a Georgian notary: valid with all Georgian authorities, and necessary and sufficient for submitting a Slovenian document in Georgia
• Certification with our bureau's stamp: enough for clinics, spas, many employers and business partners
• Certification by a Slovenian court interpreter: made only in Slovenia, by a person on the register, and required by Slovenian state authorities

No resident embassy in Tbilisi: the package must be right the first time

Slovenia has no resident embassy in Tbilisi, and consular matters are handled through the embassy accredited to Georgia but located in another country, or through the honorary consul. Georgian citizens need no visa for short trips to the Schengen area, while long-term residence is arranged at a Slovenian administrative unit, and the package is often sent by post or through a representative. This means the document travels without any chance of being corrected on the spot, and after a refusal the whole cycle, apostille included, loses several weeks. So we run format control twice: the position of the apostille, the form of the translation, the spelling of names, dates, the text of the seals and the binding of the pages. We read the receiving authority's written requirement in advance and prepare the package according to it; the general sequence of steps is in the document route guide.

Notarised translation into and from Slovenian

What the Georgian notary certifies

The notary does not check the substance of the Slovenian text: the notary confirms that the translation was made and signed by a translator whose qualification in the Slovenian-Georgian pair has been verified in advance. Such Slovenian translators are rare in Georgia, and this is the first thing we confirm to the client. The translation is bound to the original or to its copy, the translator signs in the notary's presence, the notary stamps it and gives the act a register number, by which the authenticity of the document can be checked later. You do not need to attend the notary yourself.

The apostille: on the Georgian original and in Slovenia

Slovenia is a party to the Hague Convention by succession from Yugoslavia, and Georgia since 2007, so no consular legalisation is needed between the two countries. A Georgian document intended for Slovenia gets its apostille on the original at the Public Service Hall. A notarised translation cannot receive an apostille itself: under the rules of the Public Service Development Agency, the notarial certification of a translation and of a copy against the original is not apostilled. Nor is an apostille placed on identity documents and their copies (the exception is a copy of a Georgian passport certified by the issuing authority), on a driving licence, or on a certificate from a private company (except medical and educational institutions). Details are on the apostille page.

The correct order is: the apostille on the Georgian original, then the translation of the document including the apostille, and finally the notary certifies the authenticity of the translator's signature. The Agency's published processing times are the 8th, 4th or 2nd working day, or the same day. If a Slovenian recipient insists specifically on an officially certified translation, there are two routes: the Agency (and the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for its own documents) translates the document it issued and certifies that translation with an apostille, or the translation is made in Slovenia by a court interpreter.

In Slovenia the apostille is placed by the district court (okrožno sodišče) on documents issued in the territory of its own district: the Ljubljana District Court on a diploma issued in Ljubljana, the Maribor court on an extract from the civil register issued in Maribor. On documents signed by notaries and court interpreters the apostille is placed by the Ministry of Justice. A document brought from Slovenia must receive its apostille in Slovenia: this cannot be fixed in Georgia, and in such a case the document has to be sent to a relative or representative in Slovenia.

Documents most often notarised

• A criminal record certificate for the single residence and work permit
• Birth, marriage and divorce certificates for family reunification and registration in the civil register
• Diploma, transcript and school certificate for recognition of education and enrolment
• An extract from the Slovenian civil register (izpisek iz matičnega registra) for registering civil status acts in Georgia
• A Slovenian court's divorce judgment for recognition in Georgia
• The AJPES register extract and charter for registering a Slovenian company in Georgia
• A power of attorney for appointing a representative in Slovenia or in Georgia
• Medical reports for clinics, spas and insurance reimbursement

A copy of the original and the double package for recognition

Slovenian universities, the ENIC-NARIC centre and the Medical Chamber often ask for a double package: a notarised copy of the apostilled original and a certified translation bound to that copy, so that the applicant keeps the original. Certifying a copy and certifying a translation are two different notarial acts: for the copy the original must be brought in physically, while for the translation a clear scan is enough. In Slovenia a copy is certified by a notary or an administrative unit, and a Slovenian certified copy (overjena kopija) with an apostille and a translation is accepted in Georgia just like the original.

A power of attorney for Slovenia

A power of attorney for managing a company, selling property or representation in court in Slovenia should follow the wording of Slovenian practice: the Code of Obligations (Obligacijski zakonik) clearly distinguishes the forms of representation, and a power of attorney for a real estate transaction must state precise powers. So we first prepare the text along Slovenian lines, then it is executed in Georgian before a Georgian notary, the notarial act receives an apostille, and finally it is translated into Slovenian including the apostille. For a Slovenian court a court interpreter's version may also be needed. More on the powers of attorney translation page.

Validity of certificates and planning the timing

Slovenian authorities accept some certificates only within a limited validity period, and a Georgian criminal record certificate, according to the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is valid for 15 calendar days from issue. If a package sent by post reaches the authority after the period the recipient has set, it is returned. So we advise obtaining the certificate shortly before submission and fitting the apostille, translation and certification into a tight timeframe, allowing for transit time.

Why a package is returned

• Slovenian and Slovak confused when the order is placed
• No apostille on the Slovenian original, or the apostille text left out of the translation
• A surname written in a case form that does not match the passport form
• The dual number missing in the Slovenian translation, or the text of a seal left out
• A certificate expiring while the package is in the post
• A Georgian notarised translation submitted to a state authority that needed a court interpreter's version

If a translation has already been rejected, we first establish the exact reason, often from the authority's written reply, and correct only the faulty link.

Translation in both directions

From Georgian into Slovenian: who reads it

The reader in this direction is a Slovenian administrative unit, the Employment Service (ZRSZ), a university's international office, the ENIC-NARIC centre, an employer or a business partner. They expect the document to read along the lines of its Slovenian counterpart: a criminal record certificate like a potrdilo o nekaznovanosti, a birth certificate with the fields of a civil register extract, a diploma supplement with the terminology of a Slovenian curriculum. Slovenian official style is precise and moderately formal: forms of address (Spoštovani), titles (dr., mag., dipl. inž.) and strict observance of the dual number. We prepare translations in this direction in three formats: a notarised Slovenian translation for a private recipient, a notarised English or Russian translation for a Slovenian court interpreter, or a Slovenian working version that is transferred in Slovenia onto the court interpreter's letterhead.

From Slovenian into Georgian: what Georgian authorities require

The reader in the opposite direction is the Public Service Hall, the Public Registry, a court, a bank, the pharmaceutical regulator or a university, and their main requirement is completeness: every field, the text of each seal, titles, the court interpreter's certification formula and the fields of the apostille are translated. A Slovenian term is rendered with its Georgian legal equivalent, not word for word: upravna enota as an administrative unit, matični register as the civil status register, AJPES as the Agency for Public Legal Records, and the Slovenian term stays in brackets at its first mention. The verification code of a Slovenian electronic document stays unchanged and is flagged in a note.

The dual number, cases and names

The dual number is an asymmetric problem. From Slovenian into Georgian it becomes a plural and no information is lost. From Georgian into Slovenian, however, the translator has to count every plural: two partners take the dual form, three already take the plural, and the verb, adjective and pronoun must agree accordingly. In a contract with two parties the whole text is in the dual, and a single missed form signals illiteracy to a Slovenian lawyer. That is why a translation from Georgian into Slovenian is always checked by a native-speaking editor, whom we bring in remotely from Slovenia when needed.

In a Slovenian text a Georgian surname appears in case forms (Beridze, Beridzeja, Beridzeju), and in the Georgian translation it is reduced to one form, the one in the passport. A woman's surname in Slovenian takes no suffix. In an official translation from Georgian into Slovenian the name is written in the Latin form of the passport, without Slovenian diacritics, because the authority compares the translation with the passport. The Georgian transcription of Slovenian names (Janez, Primož, Špela) is identical in all documents of one client, the Latin form stays in brackets, and titles are rendered with an explanation and are not merged into the surname. If a name is spelled differently in the two countries' documents, for example after marriage, the translation uses the variant found in the receiving country's document and records the other in a note.

Study and work in Slovenia

The universities of Ljubljana, Maribor, Primorska (Koper) and Nova Gorica admit Georgian students mainly to master's and doctoral programmes. Recognition of foreign education is split into two procedures: recognition for continuing studies (priznavanje izobraževanja) is carried out by the university itself, and assessment for employment (vrednotenje izobraževanja) by the Slovenian ENIC-NARIC centre. Both require the apostilled original of the diploma and supplement and a Slovenian or English translation, and the subject names must match the terminology of Slovenian higher education (diploma and supplement translation). After graduation a Slovenian diploma is translated into Georgian for the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement, which requires a notarised Georgian translation of any foreign-language document.

A non-EU citizen is employed in Slovenia on a single residence and work permit (enotno dovoljenje za prebivanje in delo), issued by the administrative unit with the consent of the Employment Service. The package goes from Georgian into Slovenian: criminal record certificate, diploma or proof of qualification, employment contract, health insurance and proof of accommodation. After arrival the employment contract, job description and safety briefing are translated from Slovenian into Georgian.

Legal and medical translation

Slovenian law: institutions that need attention

Slovenian law belongs to the continental tradition, with Austrian and German influence, and is structurally close to Georgian law: the Code of Obligations (Obligacijski zakonik) governs contracts, the Property Code (Stvarnopravni zakonik) ownership, the Companies Act (ZGD-1) companies, and in many fields EU regulations apply directly. In the translation the names of codes and article numbers stay unchanged, because a Slovenian lawyer recognises a rule by its number. Institutions without a Georgian counterpart are rendered with a short explanation:

• d.o.o. and d.d.: a limited liability company and a joint-stock company, with the bodies direktor, skupščina, nadzorni svet
• AJPES: the agency that keeps the business register and whose extract plays the role of a Georgian Public Registry extract
• zemljiška knjiga: the land register, the real estate register kept by the courts
• notarski zapis: a notarial deed, mandatory in real estate transactions
• izvršba and izvršitelj: enforcement and the enforcement officer
• upravna enota: the administrative unit that handles residence, marriage and other procedures

Contracts, companies and real estate

Slovenian companies work in Georgia in pharmaceuticals, household appliances, energy equipment and logistics, while Georgian exporters use the port of Koper as a gateway to Europe. Distribution, supply, licence and freight forwarding contracts are often drafted via English, but the charter, the AJPES extract, a supervisory board resolution and a power of attorney are translated directly from Slovenian into Georgian for the Public Registry and banks (register extract translation). A bilingual contract is checked by two native-speaking editors, and a lawyer prepares a terminology table in which every key term, deadline and amount is identical in both versions. We always recommend a prevailing-language clause, because proceedings in a Slovenian court are conducted in Slovenian.

A non-EU citizen can buy real estate in Slovenia directly on condition of reciprocity, and in practice a Georgian buyer often purchases through a Slovenian company. In such a transaction the company's founding documents, the purchase agreement in the form of a notarial deed, the land register extract and the valuation report are translated. Legal advice is given by a lawyer, and we make sure the translation is accurate enough for that advice.

Court judgments and family matters

Divorce, maintenance and guardianship cases of Georgians living in Slovenia are decided by Slovenian courts. For recognition of a judgment in Georgia you need a certified copy with the note of finality (potrdilo o pravnomočnosti), an apostille in Slovenia and a full notarised Georgian translation, including the reasoning. In the opposite direction, for registering a Georgian's marriage in Slovenia, the certificate of no impediment to marriage, the birth certificate and, where needed, the divorce document go with a Georgian apostille. We prepare these packages so that one person's name is written the same way in both countries' documents.

Pharmaceutical documentation

Slovenian pharmaceutical companies have worked on the Georgian market for decades, and their documentation is the most stable flow in this language: registration dossier, summary of product characteristics, patient leaflet, GMP certificates, permits of the Slovenian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (JAZMP), and pharmacovigilance reports. The European part is often in English, while registration certificates and corporate papers are in Slovenian, and both are translated with one term base, which we build before translating. The medical part is checked by an editor with medical training, and the licence and distribution clauses by a legal editor. More on the pharmaceutical documentation page.

Clinics, spas and recognition of doctors

The university clinical centres of Ljubljana and Maribor offer specialised treatment, and the thermal spas (Rogaška Slatina, Čatež, Dobrna and others) treat diseases of the digestive, musculoskeletal and nervous systems. To plan treatment the Georgian medical history is translated into Slovenian or English, and after treatment the discharge report (odpustnica) and the doctor's report (izvid) into Georgian (medical records translation). The diagnosis is rendered in the clinical terminology of the target language, the ICD-10 code (MKB-10 in Slovenian) stays unchanged, the international non-proprietary name is added next to the brand name of a drug, and doses and laboratory values are checked one to one against the original. For a clinic or spa our bureau's certification is usually enough, and for insurers and state authorities a notarised one.

Recognition of a Georgian doctor's diploma in Slovenia is handled by the Ministry of Health, the licence is issued by the Medical Chamber (Zdravniška zbornica Slovenije), and a high level of Slovenian is mandatory. The package (diploma, supplement, specialisation certificate, internship and work experience certificates) is prepared with a Slovenian translation and with apostilles on the Georgian originals wherever possible: a certificate from a private employer cannot be apostilled, while a document of a medical or educational institution can.

Simultaneous and consecutive interpreting

What we can do locally and when we bring in a partner

Slovenian interpreters in Georgia are very few, and we say so directly. Consecutive interpreting at a business meeting, at the notary, in a clinic, a bank or a university is available with local resources when booked in advance, as is whispered interpreting for one or two listeners. Simultaneous interpreting from a booth at a large conference requires an interpreter with simultaneous experience, whom we invite from Slovenia, or we arrange it via English: the Slovenian speaker talks in English and an English-Georgian booth works. In a simultaneous booth two interpreters take turns every 20-30 minutes. Remotely, a partner interpreter based in Slovenia serves the meeting through a Zoom or Teams language channel without travelling, and for urgent cases we offer telephone interpreting.

Where a Slovenian interpreter is needed

• Meetings of pharmaceutical companies with Georgian doctors, the regulator and distributors, where we choose the interpreter by medical background
• Business negotiations on logistics, equipment supply, wine exports or a joint venture
• Government and parliamentary delegations, where interpreting is public and cannot be corrected
• Technical meetings and equipment installation, where terminology affects safety
• Medical consultations at a Slovenian clinic or spa, often by video call
• Mountain groups in the Caucasus, especially in rescue, medical or insurance situations

At a notary, if a Slovenian citizen does not understand Georgian, Georgian law requires the participation of an interpreter: the interpreter reads the whole deed to the party, explains the terms and signs the deed. Working via English is possible here only if the party has sufficient English and the notary accepts it. Slovenians, especially of the older generation, often understand Croatian, but a Croatian interpreter cannot interpret official Slovenian speech, so in a mixed group each language needs its own interpreter.

How to book and prepare a meeting

• Book simultaneous interpreting at least two weeks ahead, because inviting a partner takes time
• Tell us the language make-up of the participants and check whether the Slovenian participants can speak English
• Send the agenda, presentations and list of speakers at least three days in advance
• For a technical or pharmaceutical topic, provide a glossary or the existing term base
• For an online format we run a sound check 15 minutes before; the time difference with Slovenia is two to three hours
• On commercial matters the interpreter, partners included, signs a non-disclosure agreement in advance

Turnaround, format and confidentiality

For large volumes of pharmaceutical or corporate documentation we agree the timeline according to the volume, and for regular clients a term base and translation memory shorten it. We send the notarised original by courier to any city in Georgia or by international courier to Slovenia. Medical and commercial documents are handled under a confidentiality agreement, with one translator and one editor per document.

Official sources

• Public Service Development Agency: apostille and legalization: which Georgian documents can get an apostille, which cannot, and how long it takes
• Hague Conference: Apostille Convention member states: the current list of countries: apostille or consular legalization
• Hague Conference official page: who issues apostilles in Slovenia (district courts and the Ministry of Justice)

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a Slovenian document translated, the apostille sequence planned or an interpreter booked? Upload a scan of the document on the website or write to us with the recipient and your deadline, and we will tell you the exact route: which document needs an apostille, which form of translation will be accepted and when the package will be ready. Our office is in Tbilisi at 115 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue.