Interpreters for notaries, weddings, courts and meetings

Interpreting for foreigners in Türkiye

Interpreting means oral translation. An interpreter speaks for you at an appointment, hearing or meeting, in real time. You need one when you must say or hear something in a setting where you do not speak the language.

The person you need depends on the setting. At a notary, a court or a land registry, the rules decide who may interpret. At a hospital or a business meeting, the rules on this page do not apply, and the choice is practical.

This section explains the usual settings and the order in which to handle them. Our Ankara office overview describes the wider services for foreigners and international companies.

Who needs an interpreter, and who arranges one

At the notary, a sworn interpreter must be present if the person making the notarial act does not know Turkish. The notary administers the interpreter’s oath. The interpreter’s identity and address go into the record, and the interpreter signs it.

This matters for more deeds than most people expect. Powers of attorney, contracts that need land registry action, wills, retention-of-title sales and property sale promises must be notarial deeds. A signature certification is not enough for them. If you sign any of these without Turkish, plan for the interpreter first.

At a civil wedding with a foreign spouse, the couple brings the interpreter. The marriage regulation says “interpreter” and does not say “sworn”. Some municipal marriage offices still ask for a sworn interpreter, so check with the office you use.

In criminal proceedings, the court or the prosecutor appoints an interpreter from the justice commission’s annual list if you cannot explain yourself in Turkish. The State Treasury pays for it. In civil proceedings a witness without Turkish is heard through an interpreter, but we found no rule on who pays, so ask the court.

At the land registry, the sworn interpreter hands in an oath report taken before a court, and the registry’s own staff may not interpret. We do not promise land registry or court interpreting, because those roles follow the rules of the registry and the courts.

The rules on this page do not cover hospital visits or business meetings. There, you choose an interpreter and brief them, as the practical pages in this section describe.

Interpreter or sworn translator: oral and written work

Keep the two roles apart. A sworn interpreter works orally. A sworn translator works in writing, and the work is a translation of a document.

For a written translation, read about how sworn translators work in Türkiye. A sworn translator takes the oath before a notary, and the notary keeps the oath report on file.

In a notarised translation, the notary adds an endorsement under the text. The endorsement states the translator’s identity and address. Our page on notarised translations gives the details.

Do not mix up the two when you order. Tell us whether you need someone in the room or a document in your hand. Some cases need both.

The usual order for an interpreting job

Start with the setting and the office. Ask the office what it requires of the interpreter and write down the answer. Rules differ between offices, and we do not repeat any office’s list.

Next, book the interpreter. Give the date, the place, the language and the subject. Name the parties if the act involves a notary, because some people may not interpret there. These are a party to the act, that party’s spouse or ex-spouse, a close relative within set degrees, the notary’s clerk and anyone who benefits from the act.

Then brief the interpreter. Share names, figures and the draft of any document. Agree on how you want to work during the meeting.

Give names exactly as they appear in your passport. Names written in Latin script go into Turkish civil records letter for letter, with accents kept. Names in other scripts are transliterated letter by letter.

Last, handle the documents. A foreign document used in Türkiye often needs an apostille on the original and a notarised Turkish translation. A Turkish notarial act used abroad needs an apostille from a governor’s or district governor’s office. A translation office issues neither the endorsement nor the apostille.

What interpreting does not cover

An interpreter does not give legal, medical or business advice. The interpreter conveys what each side says and nothing more.

Interpreting is not a translation of your contract or certificate. Order the written text separately.

An interpreter does not replace the notary’s endorsement or an apostille. These come from a notary and a Turkish authority.