Welcome to Silabot!
Welcome to our Online Platform for Certified Translations. We work with Ukrainian, Russian, German and English. You can order a translation of your documents and certificates here. We often handle birth certificates, marriage certificates, name change documents, degree or diploma certificates and other official papers. Your translation will be carried out by a qualified, court-certified translator. For your convenience, we will return your translations by post.
We can provide certified translations to ISO standards
You can order right here and now, so there’s no need to drop anything off or pick it up. We’re based in Frankfurt but can deliver the finished translations to you wherever you are in Germany, the EU or the wider world. All our translators are certified or sworn by a German court and are therefore authorised to certify that your translations are accurate and complete. Where we handle Cyrillic script, we apply ISO standard 9:1995 (E) ‘Information and documentation – Transliteration of Cyrillic characters into Latin characters’. We are also guided by the Federal German Judicial Remuneration and Compensation Act, JVEG.
Get a price estimate
There are three simple steps to getting a price estimate for your translation: 1. Select your document type, 2. Choose the relevant languages, then 3. Enter the number of standard pages or lines in your document. Please note that the price produced using our calculation tool is not final or binding. It is an estimate. Documents such as degree, diploma and other certificates are unique and personal; as such they may vary in length. Once the translation is complete, we can count the number of characters in that target text electronically, and work out the line count so we can send you a final invoice. This ensures you only pay for the number of lines we have actually translated. However, we are still keen to estimate the value of your order in advance as accurately as possible, so you have a good idea what final price to expect. We are constantly refining our online price calculation methods to make them as accurate as we can.
Transliteration of Cyrillic characters into Latin characters – ISO 9:1995 (E)
Most documents we receive for translation are in a single language – normally the official language of the country of issue. However, there are exceptions to this. These include recent degree or diploma certificates (which often include a translation into English) and birth certificates from the Soviet era (which contain Russian as well as the republic’s national language).
As the Latin alphabet is used in Germany, any Cyrillic script in the original must be transliterated (converted into the Latin alphabet) in accordance with ISO 9:1995 (E). This standard provides a Latin equivalent for each Cyrillic character. These equivalents sometimes use diacritic marks as well as letters. This is especially relevant where a Cyrillic character has no direct equivalent in the Latin alphabet, as is the case with ‘ж’. According to the ISO standard, this should be reflected as ‘ž’ (rather than ‘zh’). For example, the only difference between the representations of letters ‘ш’ and ‘щ’ lies in the diacritics ‘š’ and ‘ŝ’, which show whether or not these sibilants are voiced.
You can often identify the document’s original language (source language) by the way people’s names are written and transliterated. Thus, the patronymic ‘Pavlìvna’ will appear on more recent Ukrainian documents, while older Soviet versions often use the Russian variant ‘Pavlovna’. Another example is the Ukrainian ‘Ìgorìvna’ as against the Russian ‘Igorevna’.
As the Latin alphabet is used in Germany, any Cyrillic script in the original must be transliterated (converted into the Latin alphabet) in accordance with ISO 9:1995 (E). This standard provides a Latin equivalent for each Cyrillic character. These equivalents sometimes use diacritic marks as well as letters. This is especially relevant where a Cyrillic character has no direct equivalent in the Latin alphabet, as is the case with ‘ж’. According to the ISO standard, this should be reflected as ‘ž’ (rather than ‘zh’). For example, the only difference between the representations of letters ‘ш’ and ‘щ’ lies in the diacritics ‘š’ and ‘ŝ’, which show whether or not these sibilants are voiced.
You can often identify the document’s original language (source language) by the way people’s names are written and transliterated. Thus, the patronymic ‘Pavlìvna’ will appear on more recent Ukrainian documents, while older Soviet versions often use the Russian variant ‘Pavlovna’. Another example is the Ukrainian ‘Ìgorìvna’ as against the Russian ‘Igorevna’.
Ours is a ten-year service
Silabot offers clients a ten-year service. For ten years from the initial date of translation, we will provide you with additional certified copies of your translated documents whenever you like, for a nominal fee. Upon written request from you, we will gladly send these electronically or to your postal address.
Also, on request, we can send certified copies to someone else, such as the authority which has requested the translated document – either on paper or electronically.
Also, on request, we can send certified copies to someone else, such as the authority which has requested the translated document – either on paper or electronically.
Obtaining an Apostille
If your translation is for use outside Germany, the authorities will often ask for an Apostille. We would be happy to have an Apostille applied to our translations. Please note that it can take up to ten working days to obtain an Apostille from the court. The current court fees and our expenses will apply.
End recipient
We provide a comprehensive package of translation services: the translation itself, the certification, physical and/or digital signatures, and procuring an Apostille if required to use the documents outside Germany. To complete the package, we can send the translation directly to your end recipient, whether they are in Germany or elsewhere.
What does ‘end recipient’ mean?
The end recipient of the translation is the organisation to which you are submitting the translated document. Our clients often submit their documents to the following end recipients:
Why send the translation straight to the end recipient?
If you are pressed for time and/or placing an urgent order with us, it will save valuable time if we send the translation straight to them. This means the end recipient will receive the translated document without delay and can begin processing it immediately. You will save the additional cost of posting it yourself, and will also be helping the environment by saving resources.
We offer two delivery methods. The first is physical delivery using Deutsche Post; we are happy to use registered mail for this. The second is digital delivery by email; we will copy (cc) you in to this message.
What we need from you
For us to send the documents straight to the end recipient, we need their complete, correct contact information. We also ask you to make sure in advance that the end recipient agrees to receiving the translation direct from us. So why not ask your end recipient at the same time both for the contact information and for their consent to receiving our translation directly from us? Because we can only send our translations – using the end-recipient’s contact information that you have provided – once you have obtained their agreement.
Two examples
1. A Ukrainian graduate has travelled to Germany to continue their studies. They need their first-degree certificate translating into German. Their chosen university’s admissions office needs this translation as soon as possible. We can translate the certificate and send it straight to the university, either by email or post. We will of course also send a copy of the translation to the student, either in digital or printed form.
2. We have been asked to translate several documents from Ukrainian into German so that a couple can get married in Germany. One of the couple is from Ukraine, and sends the relevant Ukrainian-language documents to Germany for translation. These already bear an Apostille, have been legalised and certified; now the registry office needs the documents in German. We translate the documents into German in accordance with the ISO standard and send them straight to the registry office, as requested by our customer. The couple will of course also receive a copy of the translation; this is included in the order price. Additional copies can be ordered for a nominal fee, as required.
Indeed, we offer a ten-year service on all our translations. They can be reordered for a nominal fee within ten years of the translation first being produced. This service can include sending a copy to your end recipient, if required.
What does ‘end recipient’ mean?
The end recipient of the translation is the organisation to which you are submitting the translated document. Our clients often submit their documents to the following end recipients:
- Educational institutions, primarily university admissions offices
- Registry offices for marriages to a spouse with a different nationality
- Naturalisation offices at the regional administrative council (Regierungspräsidien) for citizenship applications
- Official recognition bodies for qualifications from outside Germany
Why send the translation straight to the end recipient?
If you are pressed for time and/or placing an urgent order with us, it will save valuable time if we send the translation straight to them. This means the end recipient will receive the translated document without delay and can begin processing it immediately. You will save the additional cost of posting it yourself, and will also be helping the environment by saving resources.
We offer two delivery methods. The first is physical delivery using Deutsche Post; we are happy to use registered mail for this. The second is digital delivery by email; we will copy (cc) you in to this message.
What we need from you
For us to send the documents straight to the end recipient, we need their complete, correct contact information. We also ask you to make sure in advance that the end recipient agrees to receiving the translation direct from us. So why not ask your end recipient at the same time both for the contact information and for their consent to receiving our translation directly from us? Because we can only send our translations – using the end-recipient’s contact information that you have provided – once you have obtained their agreement.
Two examples
1. A Ukrainian graduate has travelled to Germany to continue their studies. They need their first-degree certificate translating into German. Their chosen university’s admissions office needs this translation as soon as possible. We can translate the certificate and send it straight to the university, either by email or post. We will of course also send a copy of the translation to the student, either in digital or printed form.
2. We have been asked to translate several documents from Ukrainian into German so that a couple can get married in Germany. One of the couple is from Ukraine, and sends the relevant Ukrainian-language documents to Germany for translation. These already bear an Apostille, have been legalised and certified; now the registry office needs the documents in German. We translate the documents into German in accordance with the ISO standard and send them straight to the registry office, as requested by our customer. The couple will of course also receive a copy of the translation; this is included in the order price. Additional copies can be ordered for a nominal fee, as required.
Indeed, we offer a ten-year service on all our translations. They can be reordered for a nominal fee within ten years of the translation first being produced. This service can include sending a copy to your end recipient, if required.