At TARGMANEBI the assessment starts by identifying the document's actual language. "Greenland" on the heading does not mean the whole text is Greenlandic: Danish is widely used in administration, a form may be bilingual, a seal may read in one language and the main entry in another. Without seeing the pages, any price, deadline or language pair would be a guess.
For a quick answer, send clear photos or scans of every page, say where you will submit the document and by when. From the first assessment we keep translation, notarization and international authentication apart - they are three different questions.
When you need a Greenlandic translation
Greenlandic into Georgian serves a specific administrative act: registering a marriage in Georgia, recognition of education, employment, a court case, a bank, a medical history or proving a family member's data. The recipient usually wants the full content - issuer, number, date, personal data, restrictions, seal, signature and annexes.
Georgian into Greenlandic may be needed for living, studying, working, doing business or settling family matters in Greenland. Check in advance whether the recipient wants Kalaallisut, Danish, English or a specific bilingual version; a Danish translation is sometimes administratively acceptable, but confirm the exact language in writing. Oral Greenlandic interpreting for video meetings, consultations, negotiations or private communication is prepared differently - topic, length, dialect, number of participants and terminology must be known in advance. See interpretation.
Kalaallisut, Greenlandic and regional varieties
Kalaallisut mainly refers to West Greenlandic and the standard written form. In everyday searching "Greenlandic" and "Kalaallisut" usually mean the same need, but professionally the distinction matters: Greenland also has East Greenlandic (Tunumiisut) and Inuktun in the north, so audio, local correspondence or regional material may differ noticeably from standard written Kalaallisut.
Greenlandic belongs to the Inuit branch of the Eskimo-Aleut languages. It is related to Canadian Inuit languages but not identical, and a translation made in Inuktitut must never be presented as Kalaallisut just because the languages are related. For a short file with few foreign words we check the issuing body, place names, wording, domain, date pattern and any parallel Danish text before choosing the translator.
Why Greenlandic words are so long
Greenlandic is polysynthetic: one word can combine a root with many successive elements that Georgian would express as separate words or a whole sentence. A long word is neither a typo nor an accidental join; understanding it needs analysis of its internal structure and context. Short entries, seals and tables especially need context, since one form can carry several pieces of grammatical information, and dictionary substitution cannot give a reliable result.
This affects price too: a word count does not reflect the real workload, because a Greenlandic page may show fewer separated words that unfold into much longer Georgian. The assessment therefore considers pages, text density, terminology, file quality, direction and formatting.
Danish in Greenlandic documents
Greenlandic is the official language by law, yet Danish may still be used in official matters. You see this daily: an application in Kalaallisut, a standard form in Danish, an international explanation in English, and personal documents following the Danish civil registration model. So "translating a Greenlandic document" is often a mixed-language project, and translating only one language's pages can miss an important note, seal or annex. The first assessment marks which part is in which language and whether more than one specialist is needed. See the Danish interpreter page.
The coexistence shows in names too: a modern official place name may be in Kalaallisut while an old certificate, map or record uses a historical Danish form. We never delete the difference; where useful both forms are shown so identification is not lost.
Which documents we translate
Personal, civil, study, work
Legal, business, medical
- Powers of attorney, statements, consents, court material
- Contracts, company extracts, articles, invoices, bank and tax documents
- Doctor's reports, tests, discharge summaries, vaccination records, prescriptions
- Insurance letters and treatment histories, doses checked
Municipal and technical
- Municipal letters and social decisions
- Benefits, pensions, housing, guardianship and child matters
- Fisheries, environment, shipping, logistics, construction, mining
- Safety, product and technical specifications
Passport, CPR, names and place names
Greenland's administrative link with the Kingdom of Denmark shows in personal documents: a Danish passport, a CPR number or a Danish-style civil registration entry. CPR is the Central Person Register; the number is a personal identifier that is never altered or "translated" - it is copied character by character. For passports and IDs the name follows the document the person officially uses; if Georgian records use another transliteration, the difference is raised before work starts, and we may ask for an existing Georgian document to align the name.
Never send only a cropped fragment if the top or bottom of the page may carry a number, issuer, security note or second language; a light watermark is fine if it does not cover text. Greenlandic names contain letter sequences with no direct Georgian analogue - the aim is correct identification, not simplification, so an official Latin entry is kept unchanged. Abbreviations for institutions, municipalities or units are checked against official English or Danish names before a Georgian equivalent is chosen.
The 1973 spelling reform and old documents
Modern written Greenlandic uses the Latin script, but spelling differed before the 1973 reform. Old records may show the letter ĸ (kra), diacritics on vowels and word forms written differently today - which does not mean the document is wrong or that a name belongs to someone else.
In old archive, church, birth or land records the source spelling is part of the evidence. We separate two levels: what the text says, and how a specific name or place is written. A modern form can be added as an explanation where it helps, but never replaces the source entry. Old letters need a high-quality scan - shadows, folded pages or low resolution make ĸ, k and q hard to tell apart - and an invented letter is unacceptable in an official translation.
Translation, notarization and legalization
Translation carries the content into another language; notarization is a separate notarial act whose form depends on the situation; an apostille or legalization concerns the international use of a public document. Doing one does not mean the other two are done. See notarization.
Important for Greenland: the current status record of the Hague Conference on Private International Law notes that the 1961 Apostille Convention does not yet extend to Greenland. The position of the Faroe Islands changed in 2021, but that change does not cover Greenland, so automatically asking for a "Danish apostille" on a Greenland-issued document may be wrong. The route depends on the issuer, the country of use and the recipient - another kind of legalization, a confirming letter or inter-agency verification may be needed. Get the answer from the issuing body and the receiving institution; a translator cannot give a foreign document authenticity. For a Georgian document going to Greenland, ask the recipient which language it accepts, whether it needs the original, a notarized copy or an apostille on the Georgian document, and in what order. See apostille and legalization.
Before delivery we check the document language (each page, seal and annex), names and numbers against the passport, old spellings kept with explanations only where needed, completeness including back pages and notes, and the recipient's required language and certification.
How a Greenlandic order runs
Send the file
Clear photos or a PDF of every page, with the purpose of use.
Language check
We identify Kalaallisut, Danish, English or a regional variety.
Offer
You get the scope, deadline, price and possible certification steps.
Translation and delivery
The checked translation is delivered electronically or on paper, as agreed.
Deadline, price and practical preparation
A Greenlandic translation cannot be priced from the language name alone: text volume, subject, legibility, direction, regional variety, tables, handwriting, seals, formatting and deadline all count, and a Danish-Greenlandic document may need two language resources. The price is by agreement and quoted only after seeing the file - a long polysynthetic word is not priced as a trivial unit, nor a blank page as a full text. See translation prices. Give us the date you must actually submit, not just "as soon as possible", so proofreading, questions, certification and paper copies can be planned.
Machine tools may help grasp the general topic, but in an official Greenlandic document they can split a polysynthetic word wrongly, miss a regional form, read a name as an ordinary word or confuse Danish and Greenlandic columns - personal numbers, doses, amounts, dates and legal restrictions must never be changed. Send files through a direct channel, shot straight without shadow or glare, in page order, with back sides, annexes and any legalization sheet, plus the passport's Latin page or an existing Georgian name form and the recipient's letter.
Have a Greenlandic or Danish-Greenlandic document? Send a clear copy for assessment or call us - we will tell you the document's language, the possible service, deadline and next step.
Call: 501 113 200Frequently asked questions about Greenlandic translation
Are Kalaallisut and Greenlandic the same?
Kalaallisut is West Greenlandic and the standard written form, usually just called Greenlandic. Other local varieties exist, so the exact language is established by looking at the file.
Why might a document from Greenland be in Danish?
Greenlandic is the official language, but Danish is still used in official and administrative matters. A document may be Greenlandic, Danish or bilingual, and the translation follows its actual language and the recipient's requirement.
Are unusual letters in an old Greenlandic document a mistake?
Not necessarily. Before the 1973 spelling reform older forms were used, including ĸ and vowel diacritics. The old entry is kept exactly, with a modern equivalent explained only where needed.
Can a document issued in Greenland be apostilled?
According to the Hague Conference's current territorial status, the Apostille Convention does not yet extend to Greenland. The authentication route must be confirmed with the issuing and receiving bodies; translation and legalization are separate steps.
Is the price counted by words?
Not always. Greenlandic is polysynthetic and one very long word may become a whole Georgian phrase, so the price follows the document type, pages, density, language pair and deadline.
Will a difference between Nuuk and an old Danish place name be a problem?
Old and new documents may show Greenlandic and historical Danish forms of one place. We keep the source entry exactly and add the other form as an explanation where it helps identification.
Can the whole service be done online?
Assessment and an ordinary electronic translation can run online. If a notarial act or a paper copy is needed, presenting the original and collection are agreed after we see the document.