Serbian Translation

Serbian is one of the few languages that officially uses two alphabets. A person's birth certificate may be in Cyrillic and their diploma in Latin script; the two documents look nothing alike while carrying the same text.

4 min readLast updated 1 September 2026

Two alphabets, one language

Оверени превод / Overeni prevod

Overeni prevod

A certified translation

Serbian is written in both Cyrillic and Latin, with a one-to-one correspondence between them: every Cyrillic letter has a single Latin counterpart and vice versa. Both alphabets have thirty letters. This is a rare arrangement, and conversion between the two loses nothing.

One person, two documents, two alphabets

Cyrillic is the primary script in official use in Serbia, but the Latin alphabet is also widespread and lawful. The result is that one person's documents may be issued in different scripts: a birth certificate in Cyrillic, a university diploma in Latin.

This looks harmless to a Turkish institution, but in practice the Latin spelling of a name can differ between two documents. Moving from Cyrillic to Latin, the special letters of Serbian Latin (č, ć, š, ž, đ) are simplified in passports, producing a third spelling.

Where three spellings collide
Cyrillic	Serbian Latin	Usually in the passport
Ђорђевић	Đorđević	DJORDJEVIC
Јовановић	Jovanović	JOVANOVIC
Стевчић	Stevčić	STEVCIC
Шешељ	Šešelj	SESELJ
Живковић	Živković	ZIVKOVIC

Where three spellings collide

Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian: one language or several?

These varieties are mutually intelligible; their speakers understand one another without an interpreter. In law, however, they are separate official languages, and that distinction has a concrete consequence: a sworn translation requires an oath record for the language in question. A Serbian oath record does not authorise a translator for a Croatian document.

Four languages and what separates them for documents
Language	Country	Writing system	Apostille
Serbian	Serbia	Cyrillic and Latin	Party
Croatian	Croatia	Latin	Party
Bosnian	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Latin (Cyrillic also official)	Party
Montenegrin	Montenegro	Latin and Cyrillic	Party

Four languages and what separates them for documents

This is why telling us which country your document comes from matters. The label "Serbo-Croatian" is not used in official procedures today; each country uses its own language name, and oath records are issued against that name.

Ekavian and Ijekavian: one word, two spellings

The region has two pronunciations of the same word, and the difference carries into writing. Serbia uses mainly Ekavian; Bosnia, Croatia and Montenegro use Ijekavian. The difference looks small but can make a word unrecognisable on a document.

The same word in two spellings
Meaning	Ekavian (Serbia)	Ijekavian (Bosnia, Croatia)
Milk	mleko	mlijeko
Place	mesto	mjesto
Time	vreme	vrijeme
Child	dete	dijete
River	reka	rijeka

The same word in two spellings

Documents from the Yugoslav period

Documents issued before the 1990s pose two structural difficulties: the issuing state no longer exists, and the place of issue may now lie in a different country. Diplomas, birth certificates and employment record books arrive frequently in this group.

01
Which country issues the apostille
Whichever country the place of issue lies in today. A diploma issued in Sarajevo goes to the Bosnian authorities, a document issued in Zagreb to the Croatian ones.
02
The institution name is preserved
The issuing institution's name at the time is translated as it stands; the name of today's successor is not substituted.
03
Place names are given twice
Changed place names are preserved and today's equivalent noted in brackets.
04
The language is established
In the Yugoslav period documents were labelled Serbo-Croatian. Which of today's languages that corresponds to is determined from the content.

letters in each of the two alphabets: 30letters in each of the two alphabets
correspondence between Cyrillic and Latin: 1:1correspondence between Cyrillic and Latin
four mutually intelligible official languages: 4 countriesfour mutually intelligible official languages

Serbian documents and how we render them

Frequently seen documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
Извод из матичне књиге рођених	Extract from the register of births	Its scope differs from a Turkish civil registry extract
Уверење о држављанству	Certificate of citizenship	A separate document; not to be confused with a birth certificate
Уверење о некажњавању	Criminal record certificate	Scope and validity period are noted
Диплома / Додатак дипломи	Diploma and diploma supplement	Two separate documents
Радна књижица	Employment record book	Used to calculate length of service; every page is translated

Frequently seen documents

Frequently asked questions

My document is in Cyrillic. Is that a problem for the translator?

No. A Serbian translator reads both alphabets, and because the correspondence is one to one, conversion loses nothing. The script does not make the translation harder; what needs settling is which spelling of the name governs.

Can a Serbian translator handle my Croatian document?

Not for an official procedure. However mutually intelligible the languages are, a sworn translation requires an oath record for the language named. Tell us which country your document comes from and we will assign the right translator.

How will the ć and č in my surname be written in Turkish records?

The latinised spelling in your passport governs, and there those letters are usually simplified to c. The translation also shows the original Latin and Cyrillic spellings, so the institution can see that the difference is not an inconsistency.

Where do I get an apostille for a diploma issued in Yugoslavia?

From whichever country the city of issue lies in today. Belgrade goes to Serbia, Sarajevo to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zagreb to Croatia. Tell us the place name on your document and we will work out which authority applies.