🇮🇳 Punjabi Interpreter

You need a Punjabi interpreter when a document drawn up in the Indian state of Punjab or in the Pakistani province of Punjab has to be used in Georgia, or when a Georgian document has to be sent to a Punjabi-speaking family, a lawyer or a local authority. TARGMANEBI prepares the translation in both directions and, where needed, arranges the notarization of the translator's signature.

Punjabi documents have a character of their own. Alongside standard certificates, we see village land records, Sikh names, marriages solemnized in a gurdwara, divisions of family property and handwritten letters much more often here. Each such text calls for knowledge of the local terminology and a careful, slow reading.

Translation from Punjabi into Georgian and from Georgian into Punjabi

From Punjabi into Georgian we mainly translate civil status records, land and property records, court decisions, family agreements and personal correspondence attached to a case under way in Georgia. In the opposite direction, a Punjabi version of a Georgian power of attorney, certificate or contract is often needed for an addressee who cannot read an English text with ease.

The style of the translation depends on the purpose of the text. In an official document the main thing is to carry the data over unchanged, in a legal text - the consistency of terms, and in a family letter or a voice recording - the accurate and natural rendering of the meaning in Georgian.

Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi: one language, two scripts

Gurmukhi (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ) is written from left to right, and the letters of a word are joined by a horizontal line along the top. Shahmukhi (شاہ مکھی), by contrast, is based on the Perso-Arabic alphabet, is often written in the Nastaliq style and is read from right to left. The spoken language is shared, but the vocabulary partly differs: Indian texts contain more words of Sanskrit origin, while Pakistani texts contain more Persian and Arabic terms.

A translator who reads only one script may be unable to make out handwriting in the other. That is why, when we accept an order, we check the script, the country of origin of the document and whether one page contains both alphabets or a parallel English text. Gurmukhi digits (੦ ੧ ੨ ੩ ੪ ੫ ੬ ੭ ੮ ੯) need separate attention, because in old records they appear instead of the ordinary (Arabic) digits.

Indian Punjab: Punjabi as the official language of the state

In the Indian state of Punjab, the Punjab Official Languages Act of 1967 declares Punjabi the official language of the state and states directly that this means Punjabi written in Gurmukhi. An amendment of 2008 also introduced Punjabi into the proceedings of the subordinate civil, criminal, revenue and rent courts.

In practice, this means that documents of the state's local authorities, tehsil offices and subordinate courts are often drawn up fully or partly in Gurmukhi. Some certificates are bilingual - Punjabi and English - and the two versions do not always match word for word. In such a case both texts are read, and the difference is reflected in the translation with a note.

Pakistani Punjab: Urdu, English and Punjabi in one case

In Pakistani Punjab, Punjabi is the language of everyday conversation, but most state documents are drawn up in Urdu or English. Punjabi written in Shahmukhi is found more often in personal letters, family agreements, records of witness accounts, voice messages and videos.

This matters when planning an order: a Pakistani package may contain an official document drawn up in Urdu, an English certificate and personal material in Punjabi. In one case, all the languages have to be translated with a single, consistent terminology. For the specifics of Urdu documents, see the Urdu interpreter page.

The name of one and the same village, tehsil or district may appear in such a package in three different forms: in the Urdu text, in the English certificate and in the Punjabi letter. Before the translation starts, we compare these forms with each other and use one variant in the Georgian text, where needed giving the Latin spelling of the original in brackets.

Which Punjabi documents are translated?

Birth and death certificates from the state of Punjab

In Indian Punjab, births and deaths are registered through the health system: different local registrars work in rural and urban areas, and at district level some matters are handled by the office of the Civil Surgeon. The state also issues a digital, bilingual certificate, which is prepared on the basis of an event that has already been registered.

When translating, we check the registration number, the dates of the event and of the registration, the name of the village or town, the tehsil and the district, the parents' names and any note on late registration. If the Punjabi and English versions do not match - for example, the grandfather's name is left out in one of them - we do not correct this on our own initiative: the translation reflects exactly what is written in each version.

Sikh names: Singh, Kaur and the passport entry

Sikh men usually have Singh (ਸਿੰਘ) in their name, and women have Kaur (ਕੌਰ). Some people have this word entered in the surname field of their passport, while for others it is part of the given name and the surname field holds a family name, for example Gill, Sandhu or Sidhu. In different documents of one and the same person these fields may be filled in differently.

For the Georgian translation, the starting point is the Latin entry in the passport and the way the fields are split: what is written under Given Name and what under Surname. No new Georgian variant is created from the Gurmukhi form. In a case with many documents, we draw up a single list of names in advance, so that one and the same form appears in every document submitted to the Public Service Hall, a university or the migration service.

Anand Karaj: Sikh marriage and its registration

Anand Karaj (ਅਨੰਦ ਕਾਰਜ) is the Sikh marriage ceremony. In 2012 a provision on the registration of such marriages was added to the Anand Marriage Act of 1909, and in 2016 the state of Punjab adopted its own registration rules. At the same time, many couples have their marriage registered under the Hindu Marriage Act or another law.

It is important that a certificate issued by a gurdwara and a certificate from the state registrar are different documents. The first confirms the religious ceremony, the second - the civil registration. Which of them is accepted in Georgia, and whether it needs an apostille, has to be clarified in advance with the receiving authority. We translate both kinds of document and keep their actual function in the title.

Land records: jamabandi, fard and intkal

In Punjab, on both sides of the border, records of land ownership and cultivation have historically been kept with similar terms. The jamabandi (ਜਮ੍ਹਾਂਬੰਦੀ) is the village record of rights, and the fard (ਫ਼ਰਦ) is a certified extract from it issued for a specific plot. The intkal (ਇੰਤਕਾਲ) is the record of a change of ownership, made after an inheritance, a sale or a gift.

In Indian Punjab these records are served by the state's electronic land records system, and in Pakistani Punjab by the Punjab Land Records Authority, whose Arazi Record Centres issue the fard. In the translation, the khewat, khatauni and khasra numbers, the owners' shares and the remarks column remain unchanged. A jamabandi is not always final proof of ownership, so the translation renders only what the record states.

Kanal, marla and other local units of area

In Punjabi land documents, area is often given in kanals (ਕਨਾਲ), marlas (ਮਰਲਾ) or bighas. The size of these units may differ from region to region, so in the translation they stay in their original form and are not converted into square metres on our own initiative.

If you need the area stated in the metric system in Georgia, this has to be done separately, on the basis of an independent source, and is not mixed into the main text of the translation. The same rule applies to sums of money: Indian or Pakistani rupees appear in the translation in the same currency, while entries in lakhs and crores are checked separately in figures.

Inheritance, wills and court documents

In Punjabi families, property is often spread across several generations, and some of the heirs live abroad. In such cases we translate the will (ਵਸੀਅਤ), the succession certificate, the family partition deed, the relinquishment of a share in favour of another heir and the power of attorney by which an heir living in Georgia entrusts a relative in India or Pakistan with handling the matter.

In Indian Punjab, decisions of the subordinate and revenue courts are often drawn up in Gurmukhi. Such a text contains a statement confirmed on oath - the halafnama (ਹਲਫ਼ਨਾਮਾ), the case number, the status of the parties and the operative part of the order. Each term is translated into Georgian according to its legal function, not word for word.

Personal letters, voice messages and video

Especially from Pakistani Punjab, we often receive material that is not a document in an official form: a letter handwritten in Shahmukhi, messenger correspondence in Punjabi typed in Latin letters, or a voice message that has to be submitted as evidence in a case. In such a case a transcript is prepared first, and then the Georgian translation.

Audio recordings often mix Punjabi, Urdu and English, as well as regional dialects. An unclear fragment is not filled in by guesswork - the translation notes that this part of the recording could not be made out. The time stamps are kept in the transcript, so that a comparison with the original is possible at any time.

If a voice recording is to be submitted to a court or another official body, it is best to find out in advance in what form it will be accepted: whether a Georgian translation is enough, or a transcript in the original language is needed as well. Both options can be prepared, and in the transcript the Punjabi text is written in whichever script is more convenient for the case.

Students and employees in Georgia

Citizens of both India and Pakistan study and work in Georgia, including people from Punjab. Their main documents - passport, diploma, marksheet - are usually in English, and for these an English interpreter is enough. Punjabi, however, appears in family documents: in a parent's consent, a certificate of family income, a certificate from a local authority or a land record submitted to confirm the financial situation.

For a residence permit, a marriage, the registration of a child or an inheritance case, one package often needs English, Punjabi and sometimes Hindi or Urdu documents translated at the same time. That is why we handle all the languages as one order and write the person's name the same way in every translation.

Apostille on an Indian document: state attestation and the MEA

India has been a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention since 14 July 2005, and Georgia since 14 May 2007. In India the apostille is issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, but before that the document has to be attested by the competent state authority: personal documents by the state's Home Department or General Administration Department, and educational documents by the Education Department.

For Punjab's educational documents the e-Sanad system is used, in which the issuing institutions and the state's Directorate of Higher Education take part in the verification, and the MEA then affixes the apostille. An apostille confirms the authenticity of the signature and the seal, not the content of the document. For details see the apostille page, and for other languages of India - the Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil interpreter pages.

Apostille on a Pakistani document

Pakistan acceded to the Apostille Convention, and the Convention entered into force for it on 9 March 2023. Since then, a public document issued in Pakistan is, as a rule, prepared for submission in Georgia with an apostille, and the long chain of consular legalization is no longer needed. The apostille is issued by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Educational documents are often verified beforehand by the relevant educational authorities before the apostille, while land and court records have rules of their own. That is why, before starting the procedure, check the ministry's current requirements and clarify what the receiving authority in Georgia is asking for. The translation is usually done after the apostille has been affixed, so that the text of the apostille is translated as well.

Notarized translation in Georgia

For official use in Georgia, a translation is often required in notarized form. In this case the notary certifies the translator's signature. The notary does not confirm the authenticity of the Indian or Pakistani document and does not check the content of the translation - responsibility for accuracy lies with the translator.

A notarized translation is usually bound together with the original or a copy of it. If an apostille has already been affixed to the document, it is reflected in the translation as a separate page. Before ordering, find out how many certified copies you need and whether the receiving party requires the original to be presented.

From Georgian into Punjabi: in which script?

When translating a Georgian document into Punjabi, the first thing we ask is who will read the text. For a family living in Indian Punjab or for a local authority there, the translation is prepared in Gurmukhi, and for a Pakistani addressee - in Shahmukhi. A text written in the wrongly chosen script may be completely unreadable for the recipient.

For a Georgian document with an official purpose, an English translation is often more practical, because India's central authorities and Pakistan's state bodies accept English texts. A Punjabi version is especially useful for a power of attorney, a family agreement or a letter whose content the addressee has to understand precisely.

Georgian first names and surnames do not have a fixed, universally accepted form in Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi. That is why, in a Punjabi translation, we write the person's name first in the relevant script and give the Latin entry from the passport in brackets. This way the addressee can easily link the text to the documents they already have.

Common terms in Punjabi documents

Quality control and turnaround time

Before completion, the translation is checked against the original a second time: names, dates, plot and case numbers, areas, sums, seals and handwritten notes. Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi digits are counted separately, and where a parallel English or Urdu text exists, the two versions are compared with each other.

In a multi-page land or inheritance case, we draw up a separate working list of persons, villages and plot numbers. This list is used to check that one and the same heir and one and the same plot are referred to in the same way everywhere - in the jamabandi, the fard, the will and the power of attorney.

A translation of one or a few clear pages is, as a rule, ready the same or the next day. Old handwritten records, multi-page land cases, audio transcription and notarization may require more time - we will tell you the exact turnaround time after seeing the file.

How do I order a Punjabi translation?

Punjabi translation in Tbilisi and online

The office is located in Tbilisi, at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue. You can bring the original in person or send the file remotely - this is convenient when the document is still kept by a relative in India or Pakistan. For other languages, see the full list of interpreter services and the Bengali interpreter page.

When taking a photo, place the document on a flat surface, in good light and without glare. On a fard and on old records the seals are often faint, so it is best to also photograph each seal close up. Send an audio file in its original format, without additional compression.

Frequently asked questions