How to translate a document from Ukrainian to English

Ukrainian, not Russian

Ukrainian shares the Cyrillic alphabet with Russian but has its own letters: і, ї, є and ґ. A tool that treats a Ukrainian certificate as Russian misreads names and terms. LoreAI detects Ukrainian on its own, so Олександр comes back as Oleksandr and not as the Russian Aleksandr.

Many older records are in Russian or in both languages, especially Soviet-era birth certificates. LoreAI reads either and translates both into English.

How to translate a Ukrainian PDF to English with LoreAI

1. Get a clear copy. A scan, a PDF extract or a straight phone photo of each page works.
2. Type your email at the top of this page. The 6-digit code we send opens LoreAI. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB.
3. Choose English. LoreAI detects Ukrainian or Russian on its own.
4. Download the Word file. Fields come back as Word tables, label next to value, in the order of the original.

Ukrainian terms and how they read in English

Свідоцтво про народження

Birth certificate

Витяг з Державного реєстру актів цивільного стану

Extract from the State Register of Civil Status Acts

Відділ державної реєстрації актів цивільного стану

Civil status registration office, the issuing office

По батькові

Patronymic, kept as part of the full name

РНОКПП

Individual taxpayer number, kept digit for digit

Атестат, диплом

School-leaving certificate, diploma

Ukrainian dates run day first, as 05.03.1990. Write March 5, 1990 with the month in words so a US reader does not take it as May 3.

Names in Latin letters

LoreAI romanizes Ukrainian names. If the person has a passport for travel abroad, its Latin spelling is the one to use everywhere in the file, even when it differs from LoreAI's form, because every document in an immigration file has to match. Patronymics such as Іванович become Ivanovych and stay with the name.

Where a certified translation is still needed

USCIS asks for a full English translation of any foreign language document, with the translator's certification that it is complete and accurate and that they are competent to translate from Ukrainian into English[1]. Ukraine has been a party to the Apostille Convention since December 22, 2003[2], which matters when a US office asks for the Ukrainian original to be apostilled.

LoreAI is not a certified translation service. A person fluent in Ukrainian and English reviews the Word file and signs. The USCIS translation guide has the wording, and the Russian image guide covers Soviet-era certificates in Russian.

Questions people ask