🇲🇳 Mongolian Interpreter

A Mongolian interpreter is needed when a document issued in Ulaanbaatar or in one of Mongolia's aimags has to be submitted in Georgia, or the other way round - when a Georgian document has to be provided to a Mongolian authority, university, company or notary. TARGMANEBI prepares written translations from Mongolian into Georgian and from Georgian into Mongolian which, when needed, are notarized and put together as a package with the apostille.

Translating a Mongolian document is not just a question of vocabulary. On a single sheet you may come across the two additional letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, the old vertical script, a different name structure, a registration number made up of letters and digits, and the marks of a certificate downloaded from an electronic platform. Each of these elements has its own rules, and errors often happen precisely in them rather than in an ordinary sentence.

From Mongolian into Georgian and from Georgian into Mongolian

The documents most often translated from Mongolian into Georgian are civil status records, passports and ID cards, diplomas, certificates obtained from e-Mongolia, company extracts and contracts. In the opposite direction, Georgian citizens and companies need a Mongolian version of a criminal record certificate, a marriage certificate, a Public Registry extract, a power of attorney or a diploma.

If the Mongolian side asks for the translation in another language, for example Russian, English or Chinese, we clarify this as soon as the order is placed. In cases connected with Mongolia's neighbouring countries, a Russian interpreter and a Chinese interpreter are often useful, and for Central Asian documents - a Kazakh interpreter.

Mongolian Cyrillic: the letters Ө and Ү

In today's Mongolia the overwhelming majority of everyday and official texts are written in Cyrillic. The country adopted this alphabet in the 1940s, and it consists of 35 letters, i.e. two more than Russian. The additional letters are Ө ө and Ү ү, which stand for vowels that do not exist in Russian.

In practice this means that О and Ө, or У and Ү, are not interchangeable: changing one letter can produce a different word or the name of a different person. In a poorly scanned document these letters are easily confused, so the translator compares every proper name, place name and institution name with the original letter by letter. In Latin transliteration Ө and Ү are rendered differently in different sources, for example as Ö or O and Ü or U, so we take the client's passport as the final reference.

The traditional Mongolian script in new official documents

Before Cyrillic, Mongolians used the traditional Mongolian script (Монгол бичиг) for centuries. It is written vertically, from top to bottom, and the columns follow one another from left to right. In the middle of the twentieth century Cyrillic almost entirely replaced this script in everyday life.

The Law on the Mongolian Language adopted in 2015 provided that from 2025 state and local self-government bodies would conduct their official business in two scripts, Cyrillic and traditional Mongolian. This does not mean that Cyrillic is abolished: the traditional script is added to it. So on some recently issued forms, seals or headings you may see both scripts together.

In translation the vertical block is not lost. If it repeats the Cyrillic text, the translation notes that the same information is also given in the traditional Mongolian script. If the block contains additional content, it is translated separately. An old manuscript or archival text written only in the traditional script is assessed individually before the order.

The Mongolian name: a surname that is not a surname

In the European sense, Mongolians have traditionally not had a hereditary surname. The main part of a person's identification is the father's, sometimes the mother's, name and the person's own given name, and the father's name is written before the given name. For example, Болд, the son of Бат, is recorded in a document as Бат Болд, in running text often in the genitive case - Батын Болд - while in everyday use the father's name is shortened to an initial: Б. Болд.

Added to this is the clan name (ургийн овог), which has been officially recorded since 2000 and appears on the ID card, although it is not written in the international passport. In documents from different periods the word "ovog" (овог) meant sometimes the father's name and sometimes the clan name, so we always read the field heading in context.

The practical result is this: in the Latin Surname field of the passport there is, as a rule, the father's name and not a family surname. In the Georgian translation we keep the order of the names and the field headings exactly, so that a Georgian authority does not mistake the father's name for a surname and members of one family do not end up with "different surnames". The Georgian form of the name is checked against the Latin entry in the passport. See also passport translation.

Registration number - Регистрийн дугаар

Almost every official document of a Mongolian citizen contains the registration number, регистрийн дугаар. Under the Mongolian law on civil registration, it consists of two letters and eight digits, and the digits reflect the citizen's date of birth and sex. This number is written on birth, marriage and death certificates, on the ID card and in the passport.

The letters of the number are Cyrillic, so we neither translate them nor transliterate them into Georgian: in the translation the registration number is carried over in the exact form of the original. The law also separately recognizes a 12-digit civil registration number, while foreigners living in Mongolia are assigned a different, so-called F-registration number, which reflects the country code, the date of birth and the sex. These identifiers must not be mixed up in the translation.

Civil status records and the State Registration Agency

In Mongolia the registration of civil status, property rights and legal entities is handled by one authority - the General Agency for State Registration (Улсын бүртгэлийн ерөнхий газар). It is in its system that the records of births, marriages, divorces, deaths, changes of name and adoptions are kept.

In family matters, for example when registering a marriage in Georgia or on a question of a child's citizenship or inheritance, several records are often translated together. In such cases we keep uniform terminology and a single form of each person's name throughout the whole package.

e-Mongolia: electronic certificates and their translation

A large part of Mongolia's state services has moved to the digital platform e-Mongolia. According to the e-Government Agency, more than a hundred services in the field of state registration have been digitized: some of them are available to citizens on e-Mongolia, and some to organizations in the electronic business system. As a result, clients increasingly send us not a paper certificate but a certificate downloaded from the platform.

In the translation of such a file we reflect the title of the certificate, the date of issue, the unique number, the entry of the electronic seal or signature and the verification reference. An image, such as a QR code or a barcode, is not "decoded" into text: the translation only notes that it is on the document. Before you place the order, it is a good idea to check with the receiving Georgian authority whether it will accept a printed electronic certificate or will ask for an apostilled version.

The Mongolian passport and ID card

In the translation of a passport and an ID card we check the clan name, the father's name, the given name, the date and place of birth, the sex, the registration number, the document number, the dates of issue and validity, and the issuing authority. The data of the machine-readable zone is carried over into the translation unchanged.

A Mongolian date is often written like this: 2024 оны 05 сарын 12, with the year first. In Mongolian the months have ordinal names - "the first month", "the second month" and so on - and in a text they appear sometimes as a number, sometimes as a word. In the Georgian translation the date is given according to the Georgian convention, so that the day and the month are not confused.

Residence and work permit documents

A Georgian citizen or company sending an employee to Mongolia should know that foreigners' residence matters are handled by the Immigration Agency of Mongolia, while the work permit is issued by the competent labour authority. According to the agency's official information, a work residence permit requires, among other documents, precisely the work permit, a letter from the inviting organization and a copy of the passport, and on the first application the biometric data is registered on site.

In such a process, the documents often translated on the Georgian side are the diploma, a certificate of work experience, the criminal record certificate, and the marriage and children's birth certificates. Conversely, a residence card, an employment contract or an employer's certificate obtained in Mongolia may be needed in Georgia - at a bank, at public services or in court. Requirements change over time, so the final list of documents must always be confirmed with the receiving authority.

Company documents and the register of legal entities

A Mongolian company acquires the right to take part in legal relations from the moment of state registration, and the register of legal entities is kept by the same State Registration Agency. When a branch is opened in Georgia, a partner is checked or a company takes part in a tender, the documents translated are the registration certificate, the register extract, the charter, the founders' decision and the document confirming the director's authority.

Abbreviations of the legal form, for example ХХК (limited liability company) or ХК (joint-stock company), are carried over into the translation with an explanation, and the company name in the Latin form the company itself uses. We prepare a Georgian company's Public Registry extract for Mongolia with the same accuracy.

Mining, trade and investment contracts

The mining sector holds a special place in Mongolia's economy, so business translations often involve mining licences, supply contracts, technical specifications, laboratory analysis reports, and transport and warehouse documents. In such texts the units, the tonnage, the percentages of chemical composition, the delivery terms and the deadlines are decisive.

When translating a contract, we draw up a single terminology list and apply it to all the annexes. If the contract is bilingual, for example Mongolian-English, we check which version the document gives precedence to and whether there is a difference in meaning between the two texts. Such a difference is reported to the client separately and is not corrected arbitrarily in the translation. Amounts, the currency, including the tugrik (MNT), and bank details go through a double check.

Real estate and land documents

The registration of property rights is also in the State Registration Agency's system. A certificate of ownership, a registry certificate, a sale or lease contract, or a mortgage or pledge document may be needed in Georgia in connection with an inheritance, the division of property on divorce, a loan or an investment.

In such a document the address of the property, the area, the registration number, the owners' shares and the restrictions are carried over exactly. An Ulaanbaatar address often contains administrative units: the düüreg (дүүрэг) and the khoroo (хороо). Such terms are rendered in the translation by transliteration with a short explanation, so that the address remains comparable with the source.

Mongolian notaries and notarial deeds

In Mongolia notarial activity is governed by the Law on Notaries, and a notary, as a rule, performs notarial acts within the territorial unit assigned to them. The documents we translate most often are a power of attorney certified in Mongolia, a parent's consent to a child's travel, certification of a signature, certification of a copy and inheritance-related deeds.

The text of the notarial certification is translated in full: the notary's name, the register number, the date, the seal and the certification formula. If a Mongolian power of attorney has to be used in Georgia, as a rule an apostille must first be affixed to it, and then the whole package is translated into Georgian.

Apostille between Mongolia and Georgia

According to the official status table of the Hague Conference, Mongolia acceded to the Apostille Convention on 2 April 2009, and the Convention entered into force for it on 31 December 2009. For Georgia the Convention has applied since 14 May 2007. Several European states objected to Mongolia's accession, but Georgia is not among them, so public documents are exchanged between the two countries with an apostille.

In Mongolia the competent authority for the apostille is the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 4 September 2025 it has also issued electronic apostilles through e-Mongolia, and an electronic apostille can be verified in the online register at e-mongolia.mn/check. The authenticity of a paper apostille is verified by contacting the competent authority.

It matters what an apostille confirms: the authenticity of the signature, the capacity of the person who signed and the authenticity of the seal or stamp. It does not confirm that the content of the document is correct. A Georgian document for Mongolia is prepared with an apostille in Georgia; for details see the apostille page. In practice it is more convenient to obtain the apostille first and then translate, so that the text of the apostille is also included in the translation.

Notarized translation in Georgia: what the notary confirms

Georgian authorities usually ask for a foreign-language document with a notarized translation. In this case the Georgian notary confirms the authenticity of the translator's signature, not the content of the translation. Responsibility for the accuracy of the translation lies with the translator and the bureau, which is the main reason for our quality control.

The notarized translation is, as a rule, bound together with the original or with a copy of it. Which option is needed - binding to the original, to a notarized copy or to the printed version of an electronic certificate - depends on the requirement of the receiving authority. In detail: notarized translation. If the Georgian translation has to be submitted in Mongolia, the notarized translation may additionally need an apostille, which should be confirmed in advance with the receiving party in Mongolia.

Educational documents and their recognition

A Mongolian diploma, its supplement, a school certificate, an academic certificate and a curriculum are translated when a student intends to continue studying in Georgia or a specialist plans to work here. In Georgia the recognition of foreign education is carried out by the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement, which reviews the application together with the translated documents.

In an educational document the names of the subjects, the credits or hours, the grading system, the qualification and the specialty are carried over exactly. We translate the name of the specialty not word for word but in line with Georgian academic terminology, without changing the meaning of the original. See also diploma translation.

Medical, banking and court documents

In medical certificates, discharge summaries, test results and vaccination records, the diagnosis, the dose, the unit and the date must be carried over exactly. Mongolian clinical texts often contain Russian or Latin medical terms, which we translate with the equivalents established in Georgian medicine. Illegible handwriting is not filled in by guesswork.

In bank statements, loan agreements and account certificates, attention is paid to the currency, the balance, the transaction dates and the account numbers; in court decisions, statements of claim and enforcement documents - to the status of the parties, the case number, the full name of the court and the operative part. Such texts are often lengthy, so the translator uses one terminology list for the whole case.

Russian-language and Soviet-era Mongolian documents

In twentieth-century Mongolia the Russian language was widely used in education and in technical fields, so in old diplomas, medical records or work certificates you may come across Russian text, a bilingual form or a Soviet-standard form. In such a case the translation is made from the language the text is actually written in, and all the language parts of the document are combined into one Georgian text.

In old documents the names of institutions and administrative units often differ from today's. We keep the historical name as it is in the original and, where needed, add an explanation in brackets. A handwritten field, a damaged spot or an illegible seal is marked in the translation with an appropriate note.

How to order a Mongolian translation

Ordering takes a few simple steps and can be started without coming to the office. The main thing is that at the very first stage we know where you will submit the translation and what form the recipient needs.

The translation of a personal document of standard length is usually ready the same or the next day. The deadline for a lengthy contract, technical documentation or a multi-page case is agreed after we have seen the material. Notarization and the apostille are separate stages, and their timelines depend on the relevant authority.

Service at the Tbilisi office and remotely

Our office is in Tbilisi, at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue. Here you can bring the original, collect the notarized translation on the spot and clarify questions face to face. Many clients, however, contact us from Mongolia or from other cities in Georgia, so we do a large part of the work remotely.

When you order remotely, you send us the file electronically and receive the electronic translation the same way, while the way you receive the notarized paper version is agreed separately. Call us on 501 113 200 and we will tell you what your case needs. We offer similar services in other Asian languages too, for example Korean interpreter; for the list of all languages see the interpreter services page.

Quality control in Mongolian translation

Before delivery, the finished translation goes through a separate check. On the second reading the translation is compared with the original paragraph by paragraph, and the data is checked against a separate list: the names and their order, the registration numbers, the dates, the amounts, the text of the seals and the attachments.

If we find an error, contradictory data or an illegible fragment in the original, we inform the client before delivery. A translation reflects the original, so we do not correct an error in the source on our own, but we help you understand what to do with the issuing authority.

Frequently asked questions about Mongolian translation