Sworn Translation in Trabzon

For the sheer variety of languages its translation work calls for, Trabzon is one of the most interesting provinces in Türkiye. A commercial contract in Russian, a medical report in Arabic, a civil registry document in Georgian and an export document in English can all come in within the same week. It is not a single sector that brings these four languages together; it is the four separate networks of relations that the city’s geographical position produces.

Visitors from the Gulf states, and Arabic

Gulf tourism, which builds up over the summer months, shows directly on the translation desk. Rental agreements, terms of accommodation, powers of attorney relating to property purchases and correspondence over title deeds are all asked for in Arabic. The most critical point in these documents is the spelling of names: if the letters chosen in moving from the Arabic to the Latin alphabet do not match the passport exactly, title deed and banking procedures come to a halt.

Health tourism files

The city’s place in health tourism has turned medical texts into a regular line of work. Patient histories, test results, operation reports, discharge summaries and consent forms all come in under this heading. Consent forms call for particular care: consent given by a patient to a text they have not understood becomes legally open to dispute. In these documents, therefore, the aim is not simplification but a full and intelligible rendering.

Network of relations	Typical document	Language
Black Sea trade	Contract, invoice, freight document	Russian
Gulf tourism	Rental agreement, title deed, power of attorney	Arabic
Health tourism	Medical report, consent form	Arabic, Russian
Border and neighbourhood	Civil registry, employment, residence documents	Georgian
Hazelnut exports	Analysis, certificate of origin, contract	English

Georgian, and the language of the hazelnut

Demand for Georgian is the natural result of being a neighbour: work and residence applications, civil registry documents, small-scale trade correspondence. Hazelnut exports, on the other hand, run largely through English; analysis reports, certificates of origin and purchase contracts build up in step with the harvest season. That seasonal pattern makes this one of the few kinds of demand that can be planned for. You can see the approval requirements for the country you are going to on the countries page.

The confidentiality of patient information

In health files, translation is more than a technical task. These documents carry a person’s most private information, and the sharing of it has to be strictly limited. With medical work from Trabzon it is our standard practice that files are shared only with the people who translate and check them, and that the working copies are removed once the job is finished. This is not a service the client has to ask for separately; it is part of the work itself.

On the terminology side there is a different balance to strike. In a report going from one doctor to another the medical terms have to be preserved, whereas in texts written to inform the patient it is clarity that comes first. Two parts of the same file may therefore be translated in different registers. It is impossible to make the right choice without knowing who the text is addressed to, and that is why we ask about it when we take the file in.

Drug names and dosage information call for a separate kind of care. The names of active substances are standardised internationally, but trade names vary from country to country, and for that reason we prefer a rendering that keeps the active substance visible. With information on dosage and frequency of administration, on the other hand, no interpretation whatever is made; the data is carried across exactly as it stands.

Part of the health work flows in the opposite direction as well. The reports of a patient who will carry on with treatment at home after returning to their own country have to be prepared in that country’s language; for the doctor taking the treatment over, this is a direct source of information. In work of this kind, carrying dates, doses and the sequence of procedures across in full matters far more than the fluency of the text.

Insurance and reimbursement correspondence comes under this heading too. In the invoices and treatment breakdowns to be submitted to an insurer abroad, the names of the procedures have to appear in the form the institution recognises; otherwise the claim comes back on the grounds of missing information and the process drags on for weeks.

We have opened no branch in Trabzon; our only office is in Ankara, and that is where the work is completed. The city may be among the provinces a long way from Ankara in courier terms, but because the translation itself runs digitally that distance does not show in the delivery time. A patient or an investor who needs a document the same day does not have to wait; the only thing that travels is the wet-signed original.

A long distance, a short process

As far as courier services go, Trabzon is one of the provinces a long way from Ankara. Even so, most of the work produces no waiting, because the translation itself runs digitally: it begins on the day the file is uploaded and the electronically signed copy comes back the same day. Only the wet-signed original travels. A patient or an investor who needs a document that same day does not have to wait for it. You can send your file in from the quote screen.