A translation bureau for Tskaltubo - TARGMANEBI's service for a town whose documents carry three different histories. A patient's medical file arrives from Ukraine or Israel and the resort doctor needs it in Georgian; a displaced family's birth certificate was issued in Sukhumi in 1985, in Russian, and today the Public Service Hall, a court or a foreign authority needs it; an investor's construction contract is in English and the Georgian contractor and the city hall want a Georgian version. Those three flows rarely meet in one bureau - in Tskaltubo they meet every day.
Tskaltubo is fifteen minutes from Kutaisi and over three hours from Tbilisi. We handle the notary and the apostille in Tbilisi, but a Tskaltubo client never feels that distance: the photo is sent from Tskaltubo, certified paper comes back by courier, and the electronic version - which is usually all a patient or an investor needs - is in the chat as soon as it is finished.
Displaced families' documents - Abkhazia, the Soviet Union, today's authorities
Most documents of families displaced from Abkhazia were issued before 1993 - by the authorities of Sukhumi, Gagra, Ochamchire and Gali, in Russian, often with handwritten entries. Today those documents are needed in three places: before Georgian authorities (restoring identity papers, pensions, inheritance), in court (confirming rights over property left in Abkhazia) and abroad (residence, family reunification, pension funds). In all three the document goes with a notarized Georgian translation, and abroad with an apostille as well.
Civil status records
- Birth, marriage and death certificates from Abkhazian authorities
- Soviet passport pages with registration stamps
- Entries of given names and surnames in Russian orthography
- Archival certificates and duplicates
- Certificate of displaced status for a foreign authority
Property and employment
- Housing order, technical passport and apartment papers from Sukhumi or Gagra
- Work record book with the stamps of Abkhazian enterprises
- Diplomas and school certificates from Abkhazian institutions
- Certificates of service and salary
- Court decisions from the 1990s
What is special here
- Names of issuing authorities that no longer exist
- Place names in two or three variants
- Surnames in Russian and Georgian form within one family
- Damaged, damp-stained or partly lost pages
- Documents whose original no longer exists - only a copy
Two rules apply when translating displaced families' documents. First: the name of the issuing authority and of the settlement is carried across exactly as the document has it, with the modern Georgian form added in a note - that way the authority recognises the document and still sees the geography. Second: all of one family's documents are handled as a single package, so that a grandmother recorded in Russian as Шервашидзе and a grandchild recorded in Georgian as Shervashidze read as one family everywhere. Where no original survives we translate the copy and state that in the translation - an invented stamp or signature never appears in a translation of ours.
Patients at the radon baths
Tskaltubo's radon waters have been known since the Soviet period for joint, nervous system and skin conditions, and the resort is again visited by patients from Ukraine, Israel, the Baltic states, Poland and the Arab countries. Their journey begins and ends with documents: on arrival, the referring doctor's letter, the diagnosis, test reports and contraindications in Georgian for the resort doctor; on departure, the resort doctor's report, the list of procedures performed, the recommendations and the invoice in the patient's language, for the insurer and the treating doctor at home. A medical text goes to a translator of the right profile, and balneological terminology and procedure names are checked against the international spelling.
Restoring the sanatoriums - an investor's documents
Some of Tskaltubo's Soviet sanatoriums have been bought by private investors in recent years and are being turned into hotels, often with foreign capital and international brands. Such a project brings a two-way document flow: for the investor, the Georgian privatisation contract, the registry extract, the construction permit, the conditions attached to heritage monument status and the city hall correspondence in a language they read; for the Georgian side, the investor's company documents, the construction contract, the architectural project description, the brand standards and the franchise agreement in Georgian. These are legal and technical texts, translated by people of the right profile, and the project has a terminology base and one responsible manager - for years at a time.
Prometheus Cave, Sataplia and the tourism business
Prometheus Cave and Sataplia, in the Tskaltubo municipality, are the most visited places in Imereti, and around them work family guest houses, cafes, guides and transfer services. For them we translate hotel descriptions for booking platforms, tour programmes, visitor rules for the cave, menus, contracts with tour operators and transfer conditions - into English, Russian, Polish, Arabic and other languages. Such texts are prepared without certification; before the season we book the slots in advance.
Languages in orders from Tskaltubo
Because of the displaced families' archives and the resort's guests, Russian leads in both directions in Tskaltubo, followed by Ukrainian and Polish for patients and English for investors and tourism. Arabic has grown at the resort in recent years, while German, Italian and Greek serve displaced families' relatives abroad. Turkish, French, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch and Czech are tied to investment and tourism. For documents in Hebrew we confirm availability after seeing them.
The process - one for all three flows
Sending it
An old certificate as photos of both sides with the stamps close up; a medical file straight from the patient's phone; a contract as a file. By WhatsApp or by email to info@targmanebi.ge.
For whom and by when
The Public Service Hall, a court, an embassy, the resort doctor, the city hall - and the date. For displaced families' papers, mention the family's other documents too so that we can handle them as a package.
Assessing a damaged document
We never quote blind on a damp-damaged or partly lost paper - first we see which entries survive, then we tell you what can be translated, what it costs and when it will be ready.
Delivery in Tskaltubo
The file in the chat; paper by courier to Tskaltubo, to a sanatorium address if needed, or at the Tbilisi office at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue.
Price, turnaround, responsibility
All three flows are on one price list, and Tskaltubo is no dearer than Tbilisi: a handwritten Sukhumi certificate costs more than a printed one because of the deciphering, a patient's two-page report is the simplest category, and an investor's contract is counted by the page. A displaced family's package travels on one courier run and one apostille visit, which brings the cost down. Timing: a certificate with notarization in two to three days, a medical report in one, a contract by volume. Responsibility for the terminology of displaced families' property and family cases rests with the bureau's legal head, the lawyer Mariam Zumadze, sole trader (ID 30601010853); documents in all three flows are confidential and a confirmed error is corrected free of charge.
A 1985 Sukhumi certificate, a resort doctor's report or a sanatorium construction contract - send us the photo or the file from Tskaltubo. We will look at it, tell you the price, and the certified translation will come by courier to the sanatorium door.
Call: 501 113 200Frequently asked questions - translation in Tskaltubo
The birth certificate was issued in Gagra in 1988 and the issuing authority no longer exists. Can it still be translated?
Yes - the issuing authority's name is carried across exactly as the document has it, with the modern equivalent added in a note. Georgian authorities accept such a translation; if the agency also needs an archival certificate we will tell you in advance.
In what form are a Sukhumi housing order and technical passport translated for a court?
Into Georgian, with notarization, describing every stamp and marginal note. In a property case we handle all the family's documents as one package so that the address, the floor area and the owners' names are recorded identically everywhere.
The original was lost in the war and I have only a copy. Will the translation still work?
We translate the copy and state in the translation that the source is a copy. Whether the authority accepts it is for them to decide, and they often ask for an archival duplicate instead. Let us establish that in advance so that you do not pay for a translation to no purpose.
A patient has arrived from Israel and the file is in Hebrew. Do you translate that?
Call us and send it - we will confirm availability and timing after seeing it. A large share of Israeli medical documents also carry an English or Russian version, which speeds the process considerably.
The investor wants the sanatorium contract in English and the city hall in Georgian. Both with you?
Yes - Georgian and English in parallel columns, as one document, so that the investor and the city hall sign one and the same sheet. A sanatorium project runs for years, and every later annex, amendment and act is translated from the same terminology base.
Will the courier come to the sanatorium building?
Yes - in Tskaltubo on the agreed day and to the agreed address, including a sanatorium or hotel building. The original travels only for an apostille; an old certificate needs only a photo and never leaves the house.
Translation bureau in the other cities of Imereti
Tskaltubo's three flows are unique, but the rule of remote service is the same across Imereti, from Zestaponi to Khoni. Choose your city and see the local accents.