Greek Translation Services

Where Greek is spoken and where your translation is accepted

Greek is the official language of Greece and, together with Turkish, of Cyprus, and it has been an official language of the European Union since 1981. It is also a recognized minority language in Albania and Italy, and it has more than 12 million speakers. Emigration took Greek to the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, where many families still need Greek records for citizenship, inheritance and marriage. The destination decides the type of translation.

Greek translation services for Greece, Cyprus and the diaspora

Greek has its own alphabet, its own way of building names and its own document formats, in Greece and in Cyprus. A good translation follows the language of the original, writes every name the way your other documents already do and reads naturally to whoever receives it.

• Alphabet: Greek uses an alphabet of 24 letters, so every name has to be moved into Latin letters. Greek passports follow the ELOT 743 standard, so Γεώργιος becomes Georgios, while the same person may be Yiorgos or George in American records. Tell us the spelling used in your US documents when you order.
• Surnames and gender: a woman usually carries the genitive form of the family surname, so the father is Papadopoulos and the daughter is Papadopoulou. Greek records also show the father’s name and often the mother’s name, and the translation keeps each of these fields as in the original.
• Greek from Greece and from Cyprus: documents from both countries are written in standard Modern Greek, while everyday speech in Cyprus has its own dialect. Records issued before 1976 may be in Katharevousa, the formal Greek used by the state until then, and older ones carry several accent marks (polytonic writing), which the translator reads the same way.
• Dates and numbers: dates go day, month and year, with the month in the genitive, so 3 Οκτωβρίου 2026 is October 3, 2026. Decimals use a comma and thousands a period, so 1.500,00 is one thousand five hundred, and the Greek question mark looks like a semicolon (;).
• Documents from Greece and Cyprus: the birth certificate (ληξιαρχική πράξη γέννησης), the marriage certificate (ληξιαρχική πράξη γάμου), the family status certificate (πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης) and the ID card (δελτίο ταυτότητας), along with the tax number (ΑΦΜ). The translation reproduces every stamp, seal and note.