🌐 Assyrian (Aramaic) Interpreter and Translation of Syriac Texts

You rarely need an Assyrian interpreter, but when you do, the task is very specific: a church record, old family correspondence, an archive sheet, an epitaph or a document brought from Iraq, Syria or Iran in which text written in the Syriac script accompanies an Arabic or Persian entry. In material like this, a single sheet may contain two or three languages, two directions of writing and church terminology from several centuries.

The word "Assyrian" is used in Georgian with different meanings. Some mean the modern spoken language, which its speakers themselves often call Sureth (ܣܘܪܝܬ), while others mean the old church language, Classical Syriac. Both are often also called "Aramaic". That is why we begin the work by establishing the language, the dialect and the script, and only after that do we choose who will do the job.

Assyrian and Aramaic translation services

We work in two directions: from Assyrian (Aramaic) into Georgian and, where needed, from Georgian into Assyrian. The most frequent material is baptism and wedding records, certificates issued by a parish, private correspondence, memoirs, inscriptions on the back of photographs, epitaphs and fragments needed for scholarly research. For official use, the translation is prepared so that a notary can certify the interpreter's signature. For information about other languages, see the interpreter services page.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Classical Syriac - which one do you need?

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (ISO 639-3 code aii) is a living language that Assyrians still speak today in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, as well as in Armenia, Georgia and the diaspora. Modern letters, memoirs, song lyrics, community newspapers and social media posts are written in it. Most of a family archive is composed in precisely this language.

Classical Syriac (code syc, a historical language in the ISO classification) is the old literary form of Aramaic, which has remained the liturgical language of the Eastern Christian churches. The modern spoken language is not its direct descendant, although it is closely linked to it through vocabulary and church terms. That is why translating a prayer book, a church calendar or a manuscript requires different knowledge than a letter written by a grandmother.

Dialects and exact identification of the language

Sureth is not uniform. Researchers distinguish the Christian speech of Urmia, the groups of the Hakkari highlands (for example Tiyari, Jilu and Barwar) and the southern varieties linked to the area around Erbil and Nineveh. Chaldean Neo-Aramaic has a separate ISO code (cld), while Turoyo belongs to another group and is only partly mutually intelligible with Sureth.

In practice this means that word forms, some verbs and borrowed vocabulary (of Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish or Russian origin) change depending on the dialect. As soon as we see the photo, we try to determine in which language and in which tradition the text is written. If this is doubtful, we tell you directly before we start the work.

The Syriac script: Estrangela, Serto and Madnhaya

Assyrian and Classical Syriac use one alphabet - the Syriac script, which is read from right to left. The alphabet has 22 letters, and all of them denote consonants. Vowels, if they are marked at all, are rendered with dots and additional signs. Most letters join each other inside a word, so in a manuscript a single misread join changes the meaning of the word.

The script has three main forms. Estrangela is the oldest, classical form, and today it is found mainly in headings, inscriptions and scholarly editions. Serto is the script of the West Syriac tradition and marks vowels with small signs derived from Greek letters. Madnhaya, the Eastern form, renders vowels with dots, and modern Assyrian is written precisely in it. Two texts that look similar at first sight may belong to the traditions of different churches.

Latin and Cyrillic records, Garshuni

Assyrian is not always written in Syriac letters. At the end of the 1920s an alphabet based on Cyrillic was created for Assyrian in the Soviet Union; around 1930 it was replaced by a Latin one, and the latter was abolished in 1938. That is why a Georgian or Armenian family archive may contain a text printed in Latin letters from that period. Today many Assyrians write online in Latin letters, which often creates ambiguity when reading.

There is also the opposite case - Garshuni, when a text in the Arabic language is written in Syriac letters. Such a sheet looks Syriac visually, but linguistically it is Arabic, and rendering it also requires the knowledge of an Arabic interpreter. That is why the script and the language must always be established separately.

The Assyrian community in Georgia

Assyrians have lived in Georgia for many generations. In the 19th century families came from Iran and the Ottoman Empire, and the largest wave is linked to the events of 1915-1918. At the end of the 19th century, people who came from Urmia also settled in the village of Kanda in the Mtskheta area. Today Dzveli Kanda (Mtskheta Municipality) is considered the main village of the community, and families also live in Tbilisi, Gardabani and other towns.

In Tbilisi, the Mar Shimon Bar Sabbae Assyrian-Chaldean Religious and Cultural Centre has been operating since 2009, where the liturgy is celebrated according to the Chaldean rite, and in 2023 the Mar Thomas Religious and Cultural Centre was consecrated in Gardabani. The Monastery of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers is located near Dzveli Kanda. The community's family archives often keep Georgian, Russian and Assyrian texts together, so coordination with a Russian interpreter is sometimes needed as well.

Church records: baptism, wedding, burial

In Assyrian and Chaldean parishes, the fact of a baptism, a church wedding or a burial is often recorded in Syriac or bilingually. You need such a record when you have to confirm your origin, a family relationship or your church status: for example, for a wedding in another church, for becoming a godparent, as supporting evidence in an inheritance case or for documenting the family history abroad.

When translating, we check the person's name, the father's name, the identity of the godparent or the witnesses, the priest's name and rank, the name of the parish, the date and the record number. A church certificate does not replace a civil registry record: if the receiving authority asks for an official birth or marriage certificate, the church record can only be considered additional material. This has to be clarified in advance.

Churches and church traditions

The Syriac language is central to the life of three main churches. The Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church belong to the East Syriac tradition, while the Syriac Orthodox Church follows the West Syriac rite and uses Classical Syriac as its official and liturgical language. The difference in tradition is reflected in the form of the script, in the names of clerical offices and in the terminology of the rites.

That is why we render the title of a bishop, chorbishop, metropolitan or patriarch into Georgian in its established form only when we know exactly which church the record belongs to. If there is no stable equivalent of a specific term in Georgian, we keep the transliteration of the original and add a short explanation.

Family letters, archives and gravestones

A large share of requests concerns personal history: a grandfather's letters from Urmia or Iraq, correspondence from the war years, a prayer book kept at home with handwritten notes, names written on the back of a photograph. In such a text the handwriting is often faded, the paper damaged and the spelling non-standard. We translate what can really be read, and we mark an unclear place in square brackets and do not fill it in with guesses.

A gravestone inscription usually contains the name of the deceased, the father's name, the place of origin, the date and a short church formula. Take photos from several angles and with side lighting, because carved letters are seen better in oblique light. For genealogical research, such a translation often becomes the starting point for reconstructing the family tree.

Documents from Iraq, Syria and Iran: mixed languages

In these countries a civil document is, as a rule, issued in the state language. Under Article 4 of the Constitution of Iraq, the official languages are Arabic and Kurdish, while Syriac and Turkmen are additionally official in the administrative units where their speakers make up a significant part of the population. In Syria civil records are kept in Arabic, and in Iran in Persian.

Because of this, the document package of an Assyrian family is often mixed: an Iranian birth certificate is in Persian, the parish certificate in Syriac, an Iraqi marriage document in Arabic, and some letters are in two languages. In such a case each language part is checked with the relevant specialist, and the names and dates are placed in a single working table so that they match everywhere. For Iranian material, see the Persian (Farsi) interpreter page.

Transliteration of names: Syriac, Arabic and Latin forms

An Assyrian name may appear in three or four variants in one family package: one way in the Syriac record, with the phonetics of that language in an Arabic or Persian paper, in Latin letters in the passport, and in Russian in a Soviet document. Biblical names may be written in the Syriac form in one text and in the Arabic or European variant in another. Some surnames come from the name of the village or tribe of origin.

In an official translation, we use the entry in the valid passport or the Georgian ID card as the base form of a living person's name. In the case of a historical person, we keep the form of the original and give the variant seen in other documents in brackets. We keep one and the same form in all translations of one package, so that the receiving authority does not take one person for two different people.

Dates and calendar eras in old records

In a modern church certificate the date is usually given in the Christian era, but other systems are found in old manuscripts. In the colophons of Syriac manuscripts, i.e. the scribe's closing note, the year is often given in the Seleucid era, the so-called "era of the Greeks", and sometimes a Hijri date appears as well. When converting, we give both the date of the original and its probable equivalent, because in different systems the year begins in a different month.

Iranian and Arabic documents may be dated in the solar or lunar Hijri calendar, and the numerals may be written in Eastern Arabic or Persian shapes. In an old Syriac text, numbers are sometimes rendered with letters. We check every date twice, because an error of one year can confuse a whole generation in genealogical research.

Scholarly, academic and liturgical texts

For researchers we translate quotations from scholarly articles, manuscript fragments, catalogue descriptions, ethnographic records and transcriptions of interviews. In academic work it is important that the form of the original is preserved alongside the translation, and that the transliteration system is agreed in advance according to the requirements of the journal or university.

Liturgical and biblical text requires special care. On such material we bring in only a specialist who knows the relevant tradition and terminology, and a translation intended for church use must ultimately be reviewed by a cleric of the relevant church or a competent editor. Aramaic fragments are also found in Jewish religious literature, which requires bringing in a Hebrew interpreter, and for parallel research with European church archives you may also need a Latin interpreter.

Notarized translation in Georgia

If the translation of an Assyrian or mixed document has to be submitted to a Georgian state agency, a court, a notary or a bank, a notarized translation is usually required. In this case the notary confirms the interpreter's signature, not the content or authenticity of the foreign document. The question of the original's authenticity is resolved separately by an apostille or legalization.

With a rare language, we find out in advance whether the chosen specialist will be able to appear before a notary and have the signature certified. In a bilingual paper, the translation clearly shows which part was in Syriac and which in Arabic or Persian. For the details of the procedure, see the notarized translation page.

Apostille and legalization: Iraq, Syria and Iran

Georgia has been a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention since 14 May 2007. According to the HCCH status table, however, Iraq, Syria and Iran are not parties to this convention. Accordingly, you cannot obtain an apostille on a public document issued in these countries, and for use in Georgia a consular legalization chain is, as a rule, required: first the competent authorities of the issuing country, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the same country, and finally the Georgian embassy or consulate that serves that country.

The route differs from country to country. Georgia has an embassy operating in Tehran; in Iraq, Georgia's ambassador has been non-resident in recent years, so the responsible mission has to be clarified in advance. In 2018 Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Syria, which makes the legalization of Syrian papers more difficult. A church record is, as a rule, not a public state document, and the rules for accepting it are set by the recipient itself. In every case, find out the receiving authority's requirement in advance. For the certification of Georgian papers, see the apostille page.

Translation from Georgian into Assyrian

The opposite direction is rarer, but there is demand for it: invitation cards, the text for a family celebration, a memorial inscription, an announcement of a community event or material intended for children. In such work we have to agree from the very start in which dialect and in which script the text is being prepared - Madnhaya, Estrangela or Latin letters.

A text intended for a gravestone or another permanent inscription must be checked before carving by a person who knows the script well, because in Syriac type the similarity of letters and the rules for joining them easily mislead the craftsman. We deliver the file in a high-resolution format and separately give you a Latin transliteration, which reads from left to right and makes checking easier.

Document types and their language profile

How do I order an Assyrian translation?

Send us a sharp photo or scan of every page, including the backs, the edges of the sheet and the stamps. Write briefly where the document comes from, what language you think it is written in and what you need the translation for: for official submission, for family history or for research. If the person's name also appears in a passport, attach the passport data page.

Tbilisi office, remote ordering and turnaround times

You can hand in the document in Tbilisi, at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, or arrange everything remotely. This is especially convenient for families living in Mtskheta Municipality, in Gardabani or abroad: a good-quality photo is enough to start the work, and you will need the original only if the certification rules require it. It is not necessary to leave an old church book or a family heirloom with us.

For a short, easily readable modern document we usually try to prepare the translation the same or the next day, although this is not a guarantee. The turnaround for an old manuscript, a damaged letter or an extensive archive is set individually, because it depends on the volume, the legibility and the availability of a specialist in the relevant dialect. We will tell you the specific date after seeing the material.

Quality control in Assyrian and Syriac translation

We check each translation in parallel with the original: every name, date, number, stamp, signature and note must be accounted for. In a mixed document we separately compare whether one and the same person is written the same way in the Syriac, Arabic or Persian part. We mark a partly unreadable place, and we visually separate the interpreter's notes from the main text.

For every family or research project we draw up a working glossary: the forms of villages, parishes, clerics and surnames are established once and then used identically in all files. This is especially important when an archive is translated in several stages and new sheets are added months later.

Frequently asked questions about Assyrian translation