Tajik translator in Tbilisi

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

We translate passports, civil-status certificates, school certificates and diplomas, certificates of no criminal record, powers of attorney, corporate, medical and transport documents from Tajik into Georgian and from Georgian into Tajik (and into Russian where needed), and have the translation notarized. A standard document is ready in 1 working day, and a short notarized translation received during working hours can be done in 1-2 hours on the express track, depending on the availability of the translator registered for Tajik. The key rule: Tajikistan has been a party to the Apostille Convention since 2015, so a Tajik original receives its apostille in Tajikistan and a Georgian one at the Public Service Hall, and consular legalization is not needed in either direction. There are no resident embassies between Tajikistan and Georgia, so if a document is already in Georgia without an apostille, the apostille is obtained in Dushanbe through a power of attorney, and we run that cycle as one order. You upload a scan on the website or send it by messenger, we tell you the timeline in advance, and you receive the finished translation electronically, by courier within Georgia or by international parcel to Tajikistan.

Persian in the Cyrillic alphabet

Tajik belongs to the Iranian group and forms one language continuum with Persian in Iran and Dari in Afghanistan, but since 1940 it has been written in Cyrillic, with six additional letters: Ғ, Ӣ, Қ, Ӯ, Ҳ, Ҷ. A Persian translator used to the Arabic-Persian script needs separate skills for a Tajik document: Cyrillic, Soviet administrative terminology unknown in Iranian Persian, and Tajik phonetics (Persian ā is written о: Теҳрон, Душанбе). Spoken Persian and Tajik are largely mutually intelligible, but a notary registers a translator for a specific language, so a translator registered for Persian cannot sign a Tajik document. Uzbek is further still: a Turkic language sharing only Arabic-Persian vocabulary with Tajik. Our Tajik translations are done by a translator registered for Tajik and edited by a specialist in Iranian languages who watches for Persian false friends and Soviet terminology.

De-Russification of names: one person, two surnames

In 2007 the President of Tajikistan removed the Russian ending -ов from his surname, which was followed by mass de-Russification; since 2016 the law has prohibited giving ethnically Tajik newborns Russian suffixes (-ов/-ова, -ович/-овна) and provides for Tajik forms (-зода, -пур, -иён, -ӣ, or no suffix). The result is concrete: one person's birth certificate says Раҳмонов, the new passport Раҳмон or Раҳмонзода, the patronymic is Сафарович or Сафар, the diploma has one form and the marriage certificate another. A notarized translation reproduces the original and does not correct it: each document keeps its own form, the Georgian transcription follows the Latin spelling in the current passport, and we attach a translator's note on the identity of the forms to the package. Most Georgian authorities accept this; if not, the civil registry body of Tajikistan issues a certificate of change of surname, which we translate separately. Changing the transcription after notarization means notarizing the whole document again, so we ask for copies of the passport and all documents at the same time before we start.

Bilingualism with Russian, forms and handwritten entries

Under Tajikistan's Language Act of 2009 the state language is Tajik and official business is conducted in it, while Russian is used with the status of the language of interethnic communication. In practice, documents issued before 2010 are often Russian or bilingual, newer ones mostly Tajik, with Tajik form fields and entries in either language, and Soviet-era certificates are handwritten on Russian forms. The translator therefore must know both languages and be registered with the notary for both, and both source languages appear in the certification note. District certificates are often handwritten, with bilingual, faded stamps. We translate every legible element: form fields, entry, both rings of the stamp, series and number, record number and marginal notes, especially a change of surname. An illegible fragment is marked "illegible" and never filled in by guesswork. The passport series and number, the nine-digit taxpayer number (РМА), record numbers and dates are checked by the editor character by character, twice.

Which documents come from Tajikistan

• passport (шиноснома), foreign travel passport and identity card
• birth certificate (шаҳодатнома дар бораи таваллуд), marriage certificate (шаҳодатномаи никоҳ) and divorce certificate
• school certificate, diploma with supplement, academic transcript and certificate of study
• certificate of no criminal record from the Ministry of Internal Affairs
• certificates of family status, family composition and place of residence (маълумотнома)
• ҶДММ (LLC) registration certificate, charter, extract, individual entrepreneur's patent
• notarial power of attorney (ваколатнома) and court decisions
• medical certificate, vaccination card, discharge summary
• driving licence, vehicle registration document, CMR waybill and cargo certificates

Notarized translation into and from Tajik

The notarial systems of both countries are heirs of the Soviet notariat, although in Tajikistan mostly state notarial offices (идораи давлатии нотариалӣ) operate, while in Georgia notaries are in private practice. The logic of certifying a translation is the same: the notary does not check the content of the text, but confirms the authenticity of the registered translator's signature. The Tajik тасдиқи ҳақиқии имзои тарҷумон is exactly the equivalent of this, so the act of a Georgian notary is a familiar format for Tajik authorities.

What the Georgian notary checks

The translator brings the original or a copy, the full translation and an ID. The notary checks the registration for Tajik and, where needed, Russian, binds the copy with the translation, numbers the pages and adds the certification note with seal, signature, register number and the source and target languages ("Tajik and Russian" for a bilingual document). If a document goes to several authorities, certify as many copies as you have recipients, because each authority keeps its certified translation.

Apostille in Tajikistan: since 2015, two authorities

Tajikistan joined the Hague Convention in October 2015. Documents issued before 2015 receive an apostille today just like new ones. According to the Hague Conference, the apostille is issued by two authorities, depending on the type of document:

• Ministry of Justice: civil-status certificates, notarial, court and enforcement documents
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs: educational documents (school certificates, diplomas, transcripts) and other documents, including certificates of no criminal record and archival certificates

Both authorities are in Dushanbe, the apostille always goes on the original and only in Tajikistan, so it is impossible to "add" an apostille to a Tajik document in Georgia. The order is: apostille in Tajikistan, then the Georgian translation, in which the apostille is translated too, and finally the notary certifies the translator's signature.

A Georgian document for use in Tajikistan

The Public Service Hall places the apostille on the Georgian original, then the document is translated into Tajik or Russian together with the apostille fields, and the notary certifies the authenticity of the translator's signature. In Georgia a notarized translation and a notarized copy cannot be apostilled, under the rules of the Public Service Development Agency, and neither can identity documents, driving licences or certificates of private companies (except medical and educational institutions). If the Tajik side wants a certified translation, either the Agency itself translates a document that it apostilles and attaches an apostille to that translation, or some Tajik state notarial offices ask for certification by a local translator who uses our translation as the basis; so check with the recipient before ordering. More detail: apostille and document route.

The Minsk Convention: what it means in practice

The 1993 Minsk Convention (on legal assistance within the CIS) provides for accepting certain official documents between its parties without legalization, but whether it applies to a specific document and authority is decided by the receiving body. Today banks, private organisations and some authorities ask for an apostille as standard. Our recommendation: have the apostille attached in Tajikistan before the document crosses the border; rely on the convention only when the authority confirms in writing that it does not require an apostille.

Without an embassy: the power of attorney cycle

If a document is already in Georgia without an apostille, or a certificate has to be ordered in Tajikistan, you entrust a relative or representative with a power of attorney. The power of attorney is drawn up in Georgian before a Georgian notary, the notarial power of attorney, as a notarial act, receives an apostille at the Public Service Hall, then it is translated into Tajik together with the apostille, the notary certifies the translator's signature, and the package goes to Dushanbe by international courier. A Tajik state notarial office expects a specific list of powers and a term (ҳуҷҷатҳоро гирифтан ва супоридан - to receive and hand over documents, аз номи ман имзо гузоштан - to sign on my behalf, апостил гирифтан - to obtain an apostille), and may refuse a power of attorney with general wording, so we draft the Georgian text from the outset to the Tajik standard.

Certificate of no criminal record: validity and route

The certificate of no criminal record from Tajikistan's Ministry of Internal Affairs is a mandatory document for a residence permit and is valid for a limited period. From abroad it can be obtained only through a power of attorney, and the apostille is placed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since the clock is running and a courier takes weeks in both directions, we plan the translation, certification and submission to the Agency in one short cycle. In the opposite direction, a Georgian certificate of no criminal record is translated into Tajik or Russian for employment in Tajikistan.

Why Tajik translations are returned

• "evening out" the Russian and Tajik forms of the surname, or no note on the identity of the forms
• the signature of a Persian translator, which the notary could not confirm for Tajik
• translating only the Russian entry of a bilingual form and leaving out the Tajik fields
• replacing the letters Ғ, Қ, Ҳ, Ҷ with the Russian Г, К, Х, Ч in transcription
• translating маълумотнома as general "information", although it is an official certificate
• filling in a faded stamp by guesswork and leaving the apostille fields untranslated

Each of these can be fixed without translating the document from scratch: we establish the reason, correct that part and certify again. If the problem is in the original (the apostille is missing, the certificate has expired), we explain in writing what needs to be sorted out in Tajikistan through a power of attorney.

Translation in both directions

The general rule: the translation is done by someone whose native language is the target language, and the editing by a specialist in the source language.

Tajik into Georgian

Tajik is an analytic language, without cases, with the izafet (шаҳодатномаи никоҳ - literally "certificate of marriage") and the verb at the end of the sentence; in a multi-part izafet, for example the full name of an authority, the order of the elements changes in Georgian. The vocabulary has three layers: Persian roots, Arabic borrowings in legal and administrative language (ҳуқуқ - law, қонун - statute, шартнома - contract, вакил - representative) and Soviet Russian terms, which over the last decade have been replaced by Tajik neologisms, so one concept may be expressed by different words in an old and a new document. In Georgian we choose the term in the form established in Georgian legislation and administrative practice. The translation is done by a native Georgian translator registered with the notary for Tajik and Russian, and edited by a specialist with a command of Tajik.

Georgian into Tajik: Tajik or Russian

Civil registration, courts, recognition of education and labelling in Tajikistan increasingly insist on the state language; banks, private companies and some authorities accept Russian, but not reliably, and the regions ask for Tajik more often than Dushanbe. Tell us the target authority and we will advise; preparing both versions at once saves a second courier cycle, and one editor cross-checks them. A native Tajik translator does the translation and a Georgian editor checks the legal nuances, so this direction usually takes two to three working days. Georgian realities (the Public Service Hall, the Public Registry) are rendered with a functional explanation, and a Georgian name goes into Tajik Cyrillic according to the Latin spelling of the passport, using the letters Ғ, Қ, Ҳ, which render the Georgian sounds gh, q and h more accurately than Russian does.

Dates, currency and addresses

A Tajik document writes the date in the day.month.year format, and the month name in Tajik spelling (январ, феврал). The currency is the somoni (TJS), and an amount is often repeated in words; in the translation we keep both forms. Addresses include the jamoat (ҷамоат - rural self-government) and the mahalla (маҳалла), which have no Georgian counterpart: we keep the original form and add a Georgian transcription and an explanation. For regular clients we keep a terminology base of names, positions and wording in three languages (Georgian, Tajik, Russian).

Who accepts Tajik documents in Georgia

Citizens of Tajikistan need no visa for Georgia, but long-term purposes require a Georgian translation. For a residence permit the Public Service Development Agency wants notarized translations of the passport, the certificate of no criminal record and the document confirming the grounds; the Public Registry wants a company founder's documents; banks want proof of income and source of funds. To register a marriage, the Public Service Hall asks for a certificate that the person is not married in Tajikistan, which is issued by the civil registry body and carries the apostille of the Ministry of Justice; after the marriage the Georgian certificate receives an apostille and is translated into Tajik for the Tajik register. Sports federations ask for translations of the passport, the contract, the release from the previous club and the medical certificate for a transfer, and this category is handled with priority because of the transfer window.

Education: Tajik students at Georgian universities

More and more Tajik students join medical, dental, engineering and business programmes in Georgia. Enrolment needs a school certificate with five-point grading, a medical certificate and a vaccination card, and transfer students an academic transcript with hours; we explain the grading in a note, without conversion. The apostille on school certificates and diplomas comes from Tajikistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it is best obtained before arrival, because arranging it later through a power of attorney takes weeks. A Tajik medical certificate does not follow the structure of the Georgian form 100, so in the translation we indicate how the fields correspond. For diploma recognition the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement requires a notarized Georgian translation; diplomas of Tajik universities are often bilingual, and those of recent years only in Tajik. During the studies, the annual certificate of study is translated into Tajik for deferral of military registration and for the family's bank, while recognition of a Georgian diploma in Tajikistan goes through the Ministry of Education and Science, with an apostilled original and a certified Tajik or Russian translation.

Legal and medical translation

The legal system and terminology

Tajik law belongs to the continental tradition: a civil code, a state notariat, a three-tier court system with a separate branch of economic courts. Many concepts have a direct equivalent: ҶДММ (ҷамъияти дорои масъулияти маҳдуд) is an LLC, соҳибкори инфиродӣ an individual entrepreneur, оиннома a charter, даъво a statement of claim, даъвогар the claimant, ҷавобгар the defendant. The traps lie in false uniformity: ҳукм is, depending on context, both a criminal sentence and a civil judgment, нафақа means both maintenance and pension, and the Tajik and Russian columns of a bilingual document do not always match in terminology. In a court decision we keep the full name of the court, the case number, the note on entry into force and the exact wording of the operative part; the apostille is placed by the Ministry of Justice.

Contracts, companies and exports

Contracts with Tajik partners often have two or three columns (Georgian, Tajik, Russian), and "all texts have equal legal force" turns any discrepancy into a potential dispute. So, as a separate stage, we compare article numbering, deadlines, amounts and currency, penalty percentages, force majeure and the dispute forum. To register a ҶДММ subsidiary in Georgia, the Public Registry needs certified translations of the registration certificate, charter, founders' decision and proof of the director's authority; the company name stays transliterated, with the legal form explained in brackets. To bring Georgian wine, mineral water, food and pharmaceutical products into Tajikistan, certificates of conformity and laboratory reports are translated into Tajik and Russian, and the label in the state language is mandatory. Tajikistan is not a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, so its technical regulations do not apply there, and we keep the designations of Tajik national standards unchanged. For registration of pharmaceutical products the Ministry of Health and Social Protection asks for the dossier, the leaflet and the packaging text in Tajik and Russian.

Family law and children

In Tajikistan, alongside civil registration, the religious rite (никоҳ) is practised, which has no legal force but may be submitted as a supporting document in a family dispute. In divorce, child residence and maintenance cases, Tajik court decisions and certificates are translated in both directions, and никоҳ, талоқ, маҳр and нафақа are rendered in Georgian with an explanation, keeping the original. A parent's consent to a child's travel, drawn up at a state notarial office of Tajikistan, is apostilled and translated into Georgian, with the accompanying person, the term and the countries carried over unchanged; the notarized consent of a Georgian parent first receives an apostille and is then translated into Tajik together with the apostille.

Medical documents

Tajik medical documents follow the Soviet format: discharge summary, outpatient card, medical certificate (маълумотномаи тиббӣ), vaccination card, disability assessment. The text is often Russian, with Tajik headings and stamps, and newer documents add Tajik terms (ташхис - diagnosis, табобат - treatment, дору - medicine, ҷарроҳӣ - surgery). Diagnoses keep their ICD codes, medicines their international and brand names, dosages stay unchanged, and an editor with medical training checks clinical logic. For a patient treated in Georgia, the report, operation record and invoices are prepared in Tajik or Russian for the doctor at home. On a medico-legal text, such as a forensic medical report or a workplace injury report, a lawyer and a doctor work together.

Transit, drivers and road accidents

Part of the freight from Tajikistan to Turkey and Europe crosses the Caspian, Azerbaijan and Georgia. A Tajik driver's licence, vehicle registration, CMR, cargo certificates and customs declarations are translated into Georgian for customs and police, while accident reports, police decisions, insurance reports and court decisions go into Tajik or Russian for the driver and carrier. A Tajik driving licence is bilingual, the categories stay with their original designations, and transferring the VIN and engine number is a separate step for the editor. We handle such cases with priority, often together with an interpreter.

Simultaneous and consecutive interpreting

Tajik interpreting is most often needed where a person's fate is decided: at the police, in court, in hospital, at a notary, at a residence interview and at university.

Tajik or Russian: who really understands what

The older generation in Dushanbe and Khujand speaks Russian fluently, while young people from rural regions finish school in Tajik and often know Russian only at an everyday level, which is not enough for a legal or medical conversation. So the first question is which language the participant understands precisely. Georgian procedural law gives a foreigner the right to an interpreter in a language they know, and if they name Tajik, a Russian interpreter is unsuitable for the procedure. Our interpreters know both languages and establish at the very start of the meeting which one is reliable for the participant.

Police, court, notary and clinic

After a road accident the interpreter assists with the police, the report, administrative proceedings and the court hearing, and is warned of liability for false interpretation. On a distant highway or at customs we often start by telephone, since that first exchange decides whether the report is correct, and the interpreter then travels to the site. If a party does not know the state language, the notary performs the notarial act with an interpreter, who signs the act; most often this concerns precisely a power of attorney for an apostille in Dushanbe. In hospital a diagnosis must be stated exactly as the doctor said it, and the patient must fully understand informed consent before signing. For a Georgian employer's safety briefing we also translate the occupational safety materials in writing in advance.

Dialects, Pamiri languages and Persian

Literary Tajik is based on the northern dialects (Khujand, Sughd), while the southern dialects (Khatlon, Kulob) differ noticeably. The native languages of the people of Mountainous Badakhshan (Shughni, Rushani, Wakhi) are Pamiri languages entirely different from Tajik; a Pamiri participant usually speaks Tajik as a second language, and in a sensitive case this must be clarified in advance. A Persian interpreter is not acceptable in an official procedure.

Formats and booking

• Consecutive interpreting at business meetings, at university, in a clinic and at the labour inspectorate; the older generation of Tajik businesspeople often prefers Russian, officials prefer Tajik in the formal part, and the interpreter covers both.
• Whispered interpreting or a portable system for one or two participants, or for dozens of people at an orientation day or a safety briefing.
• Simultaneous interpreting at regional forums and conferences: two interpreters taking turns every 20-30 minutes, with relay through a Russian or English channel where needed; there are few Tajik simultaneous interpreters in Georgia, so an event is planned three to four weeks ahead.
• Remote interpreting on Zoom or Teams; Dushanbe is one hour ahead of Tbilisi, and with the regions of Tajikistan an audio call is often more reliable than video.

The minimum booking for a short visit to a notary or clinic is one hour, and accompaniment in court or at a notary is booked a few days ahead. Send us the programme in advance, the list of participants with their language preference, presentations and terminology. The interpreter is neutral, does not advise or judge, and works under a confidentiality agreement.

Official sources

• Public Service Development Agency: apostille and legalization: which Georgian documents can be apostilled, which cannot, and in what timeframe
• Hague Conference: member countries of the Apostille Convention: the current list of countries: apostille or consular legalization
• Hague Conference: the apostille authorities of Tajikistan (Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs), by type of document

Frequently asked questions

Upload a scan or photo of the document on the website or send it by messenger, and before you order we will tell you where the apostille should be attached, which language the recipient needs and when the translation will be ready. If you have several forms of your surname, send all the documents together. Our office is at 115 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, but the whole process can also be done remotely, from Tajikistan too.