Sworn Translation in Afyonkarahisar

Afyonkarahisar’s need for translation comes along two lines, and the two are nothing like each other: on one side the export papers of the food industry, on the other the contracts of the health and tourism investments drawn to the thermal spa facilities. The province’s marble production adds a third item. On this page we have given the main weight to food, because that is where the majority of the files from the province lie.

Having three sectors side by side gives the requests from the province an unusual variety. An analysis report, a hotel agency contract and a natural stone test certificate can all arrive in the same week. They have nothing in common; the one thing they share is that all three will go in front of a buyer or a partner abroad, and have to be accepted there without question.

The documents required for food exports

For a food product to leave the country, the production facility itself has to be documented as well. The typical set required of an exporter includes the production permit and business registration certificate, food safety management system certificates, the product specification, the shelf-life study, microbiological and chemical analysis reports, the packaging conformity declaration and, depending on the target market, halal or similar conformity certificates.

Label texts call for separate attention. The ingredients list, the allergen warnings and the nutrition table have to be written in the established wording of the target country’s legislation. What matters here is finding the counterpart, not translating freely; getting an allergen statement wrong can go as far as the product being withdrawn from the market.

The papers behind thermal spa investments

On the thermal tourism side the files are entirely different: investment partnership agreements, management and franchise agreements, loan and security documents, technical designs for the facilities, and allocation contracts concluded with international agencies. Legal language predominates in these texts, and carrying the liability clauses over correctly is decisive.

Why German stands out in this province

There are two reasons for the demand for German in Afyonkarahisar. The first is the weight of the German market in thermal and health tourism; agency contracts, facility presentation packs and guest information texts are handled in that language. The second is food products entering the ethnic supermarket chains in Europe; labels and conformity certificates are wanted in German. English, as one would expect, is the general language of exports. The detailed list of languages is here.

Marble and natural stone have a file of their own

Afyonkarahisar’s third export item is marble and natural stone. The documents a buyer asks for with this product are quite different from those for food: the technical specification file, laboratory test reports, the quarry licence and operating permits, block sale contracts and pre-shipment inspection records. With natural stone the name of the product is itself part of the documentation; commercial stone names are established names on the international market and are kept untranslated.

Test reports set out water absorption, compressive strength, frost resistance and abrasion values. These values have to be carried over exactly, together with their units; a decimal separator that slips can create the impression that the product does not fall into the required class. We work on report translations without disturbing the table structure at all.

In block sales it is the contract text that comes to the fore: clauses such as the measurement method, the acceptance criteria, the wastage rate and the tolerance for variation in colour and pattern are where disputes start. Translating these clauses ambiguously prepares the ground for claims for return after shipment.

Where being close to Ankara helps

Afyonkarahisar is generally a single working day from Ankara by courier. That is a clear advantage on jobs that require a wet-signed copy: a notarised contract can be in your hands the next day. Even so, on most export documents the buyer is content with a digital copy, so there is no need to wait at all. We have no branch in the province; the work is completed at the office in Ankara. To begin, upload your document.

This page is for general information; our office is based in Ankara Kızılay and there are no branches in other provinces. We advise you to check the current position with the authority that will handle the procedure.