Scottish Gaelic Interpreter and Document Translation

You need a Scottish Gaelic translator when a text is written in Gàidhlig, contains Gaelic names and place names, or when Georgian material has to be prepared for a Gaelic-speaking audience in Scotland. This differs from ordinary English translation: in a Scottish document the main text may be English while the heading, the institution's name, the address or a cultural section is in Gaelic.

We handle bilingual notices from public bodies, education materials, archive records, genealogical documents, company and property register extracts, legal texts, medical letters, website content and cultural projects. For each order we first establish whether a full translation is needed, only the Gaelic part decoded, a terminology agreement or preparation for official certification.

Scottish Gaelic translation services

The service runs in both directions: Scottish Gaelic into Georgian and Georgian into Scottish Gaelic. A translation may be official, informational, academic, cultural or commercial. In an official text we keep the document number, heading hierarchy, stamps, signatures, dates and bilingual layout; in an informational text the focus is natural style and wording the audience understands.

In Gaelic a word often changes its initial form depending on its grammatical environment, so word-for-word substitution is not enough - you need the function of the sentence, the historical form of a place name and public-sector terminology. When preparing Georgian source text in Gaelic, we also decide whether modern standard orthography applies or the project already has an approved terminology base.

Gàidhlig, Gaeilge and Scots - identifying the language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language written in the Latin alphabet. Irish Gaeilge is close to it, but grammar, spelling and vocabulary differ enough that a translator of one is not automatically a specialist in the other. Scots, by contrast, is related to English and is not Gaelic at all.

To identify the language we look at words, diacritics, the bilingual name of the institution and the geographic context. Alba means Scotland, Gàidhlig means Scottish Gaelic and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the Western Isles Council. Misidentification can lead to a wrong translation of a name, a body or a legal function.

In modern text the grave accent - à, è, ì, ò, ù - matters: dropping it can change pronunciation, the distinction between words or the form of an official name. Older documents show different spelling, handwritten marks and historical abbreviations, which must not be "corrected" as if the source were wrong. Gaelic also has lenition - a change of the initial consonant, usually shown by an added h - and forms altered by case and article, so the dictionary form of a term must be kept apart from the form used in a given sentence.

Civil records from National Records of Scotland

National Records of Scotland is responsible for registering births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships in Scotland. An official certificate or extract may contain the person's full name, the place and date of the event, parents' details, the registration district, the entry number and the registrar's signature.

In such a certificate the word extract does not always mean a "short excerpt"; often it is an officially certified copy of the register entry. The heading, entry type and issuing body are therefore translated by the document's function, not by the everyday dictionary. See birth certificate translation.

ScotlandsPeople, genealogy and Gaelic names

The archives of National Records of Scotland hold centuries of material, and ScotlandsPeople gives access to many digitised civil, church and census records. Genealogical research often meets parallel Gaelic and English name forms, old spelling, parish names, island place names and handwritten registers. An archive translation can be an exact transcription, a modern Georgian rendering or both; an illegible word is never filled in by guesswork but marked, and a doubtful surname or place is checked against other entries on the same page and known historical forms.

Elements such as Mac, Mc, Nic and Nì may reflect the historical or grammatical structure of a name, and one surname may appear differently in English, Gaelic and passport form. In an official translation what matters is the person's documentary identity, not "restoring" a name to its Gaelic form. A Gaelic name may be translated or explained in a cultural text, but in a personal certificate it normally keeps the source form, with the official Latin-script spelling added in brackets where needed; consistency across the package is checked in advance.

Road signs, public body names and local materials in Scotland often carry Gaelic and English place names: Dùn Èideann / Edinburgh, Inbhir Nis / Inverness, Port Rìgh / Portree. These pairs are not always literal translations - sometimes they are historically independent names. For an address we establish which form is in the official postal record, which is for cultural or community use and whether both must be kept; in a map, property or court document even a small difference can affect identification of the place.

Scottish documents we translate

Terminology that must not be simplified

Gaelic Language Plans and bilingual public material

The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 created an important framework for protecting Gaelic and using it in public life, and once the relevant provisions of the Scottish Languages Act 2025 took effect, Gaelic and Scots gained official status. Many public bodies publish a Gaelic Language Plan, bilingual forms, signage and website sections. When translating such material we follow the body's approved terminology: the Gaelic name of a ministry, council or agency is not replaced by a free translation if an official form exists, and projects often build a term list and style guide.

A modern Scottish document may be an electronic PDF, an online Companies House filing, a Disclosure Scotland digital result or a downloaded register copy, showing a QR code, verification reference, digital seal, retrieval date or web address. The translation describes these elements but does not declare the file authentic unless separately verified; the recipient may need the translated PDF, the original electronic file or a live verification link.

In a bilingual document the client sometimes needs only the Gaelic part understood, while an official body may require the whole page translated - headings, notes, stamps, signatures, the back side and even the English text in descriptive form. An extract or partial translation is acceptable only if the recipient agrees, so we confirm the page count, the required part and whether the bilingual layout must be kept.

Notarization in Georgia, authentication and apostille

If a Gaelic translation is prepared for official use in Georgia, the translator's signature may need notarizing. That confirms the signature and the translator's involvement; it does not verify the authenticity of the Scottish original and is not an apostille on a foreign document. We agree in advance whether the translation is bound to a copy, the original, a notarized copy or an electronic file, since choosing a format without the recipient's requirement can mean redoing the document. See notarization.

For use abroad, some bodies need extra authentication of a signature or seal on a Scottish civil registration document. National Records of Scotland has a procedure confirming the official signature or seal on the relevant registration document; after that, if required, it can be sent to the UK Legalisation Office for an apostille. The chain differs by document: a notarial act, a court document, a company certificate and a civil register extract may each need different prior certification, so translation and legalisation are treated as separate processes. See apostille and legalization.

How a Scottish Gaelic translation order runs

Deadline, price and quality control

The deadline depends on the number of pages, the share of Gaelic text, archive handwriting, terminology and final formatting, and a firm date is given after reviewing the full material. The price is by agreement. Before delivery we separately check personal names, place names, dates, reference numbers, registration districts, company numbers, monetary values and legal status; a multi-page package gets one term list so the same body or document is not translated differently on different pages. See translation prices.

Our office is at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Ave, Tbilisi, but you do not need to visit for the first assessment. Documents can be sent online from other Georgian cities and from abroad; whether the original is needed depends only on the specific certification procedure. Send every page, the purpose, the receiving institution, the direction and the deadline, and say whether you need the whole document, only the Gàidhlig part or a Georgian text adapted into Gaelic.

Frequently asked questions about Scottish Gaelic translation

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