Q1228. How to process Amharic and Somali African language document translations?

Answered by the NYC Visa & Translation certified translation team

Amharic (Ethiopia) and Somali documents are handled rarely in Thailand, and the practical challenges are the translator scarcity, the calendar, and the legalisation route. Amharic: uses the Ge'ez (Ethiopic) script; Ethiopia uses its own calendar (the Ethiopian calendar runs roughly 7–8 years behind the Gregorian and has 13 months) — the dates on Ethiopian documents must be converted correctly and the translation states the conversion explicitly (a birth date converted wrongly invalidates the document's purpose); Ethiopian names follow a patronymic system (given name plus father's name, no family name in the Western sense) — the translation preserves the structure and matches the passport. Somali: uses the Latin script (the official Somali orthography); the document availability is the central problem — Somalia's civil documentation system has been disrupted, and documents may come from regional authorities, the diaspora, or UN agencies; the receiving body's acceptance of such documents is confirmed before investing in the chain. The legalisation routes: for Ethiopian documents, the chain is the issuing authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, then the Thai embassy accredited to Ethiopia (the Thai embassy in Nairobi or Addis Ababa — confirm the current accreditation); for Somali documents, the route is confirmed case by case with the receiving Thai body, since the standard chain may not be available. Points that matter: the translator pool for both languages in Thailand is minimal — the work may be routed through translators abroad; the timeline is long (8+ weeks); and where the chain is unavailable, the receiving body may accept alternative evidence. Practice points: confirm the receiving body's acceptance and the available route before starting.