Translate Latvian PDFs & documents to English scanned or digital — without breaking the layout
Latvians who work and raise families in Ireland, the UK and Norway may need English versions of a marriage certificate, a child's birth certificate or their diplomas. People who have inherited farmland or forest in Latvia need to read extracts from the land register (zemesgrāmata) and decisions from the municipality. Foreign timber and logistics companies often ask Latvian partners for their details from the Register of Enterprises (Uzņēmumu reģistrs) to check. In the English version place names keep their Latvian spelling, and tables, handwritten signatures and figures stay where they were; only the descriptive text changes to English.
Long vowels and consonants with a comma
Latvian marks long vowels with a macron: ā, ē, ī, ū. One stroke makes a different word, as pile is a drop and pīle a duck. The letters ķ, ļ and ņ carry a small comma below, lowercase ģ has it above, and on a scan these are easily taken for specks. Place names are inflected too: a document says Cēsu novads, and the English needs Cēsis Municipality, which means recovering the name itself first. Numbers use a decimal comma (0,98 km) and dates are written day.month.year. Some municipal documents open with an Apstiprina: (approved) block signed by hand, and the signature sometimes runs over the title below it.
Common scanned Latvian documents we translate
These are the Latvian-language documents people most often translate to English — each keeps its original layout, seals, and tables.
- Birth and marriage certificates (dzimšanas apliecība, laulības apliecība)
- Land-register folio extracts (zemesgrāmatas nodalījuma noraksts)
- Extracts from the Register of Enterprises (Uzņēmumu reģistrs, izraksts)
- Extracts from council session records (izraksts no domes sēdes protokola)
- University diplomas and diploma supplements (diploms, diploma pielikums)
- Certificates issued by authorities (izziņa)
How to translate a scanned Latvian document
Upload your PDF
Drop in a scanned Latvian PDF (one from your phone's scanner app works) or a digital PDF. Image-only PDFs are fine — no text layer needed.
We read & translate
OCR extracts the Latvian text, then it's translated to English while the original text is erased from the page.
Download, layout intact
Get a clean PDF where tables, figures, stamps, and numbers sit exactly where they were.
Latvian → English — frequently asked
Our family's forest land in Latvia is being transferred. Can the zemesgrāmata extract be translated to English first?
Yes. Scan the extract to PDF and upload it; the English version follows the original's columns and entry numbers. A land-register folio (nodalījums) has four parts, recording the property itself, its owner, other property rights burdening it, and mortgages, and the cadastral number (kadastra numurs), area and shares stay in their original positions. Which kind of translation is required depends on who handles the transfer, and a certified one is the common requirement. Reading the English version first tells you what questions to bring to the notary.
Will place names and personal names keep their macrons?
Yes, they keep their Latvian spelling and marks. Generic words in place names are translated, so ceļš becomes road, ezers lake and pagasts parish. In the original, place names are often in an inflected form and the English has to restore the base form, a step that occasionally goes wrong. Check any name you will use elsewhere against the original.
Will numbers and subtotals in tables change?
Figures in tables are generally kept as printed, decimal commas included. Figures in running text are sometimes converted to English notation, so 0,98 becomes 0.98. Check totals, areas and other key figures against the original.
Choose your plan
Simple, scan-friendly pricing. Pages are pages — no multiplier for scanned files.
Pay-as-you-go
Translate a few pages. No commitment.
$0.30 a page, from 10 pages — you pay for exactly 10 pages.
- Pages never expire
- Up to 300 pages and 100 MB per file
Lite
Most popularFor individuals with scans to translate every month.
- $0.09 / page
- 100 pages every month
- 5 bonus pages, refreshed daily
- Up to 300 pages and 100 MB per file
- Pages reset each month
Pro
For high-volume users with scans to translate every week.
- $0.06 / page
- 500 pages every month
- 5 bonus pages, refreshed daily
- Unused pages roll over (up to 1,500)
- Up to 300 pages and 100 MB per file
Translate scanned PDFs in other languages
Guides on translating scanned documents
Can ChatGPT Translate a Scanned PDF? What Works and What Doesn't
Getting a scanned PDF into ChatGPT takes a workaround, and what comes back is text, or a rebuilt page you'll want to check. Here's how to do it and where it breaks.
Read guideTranslate a Scanned PDF on Your Phone (iPhone & Android)
Camera-translate apps are great for reading a page on the spot, but they don't give you a file — here's how to get an actual translated PDF from your phone.
Read guideWhy Does My Scanned PDF Translate to Gibberish? (And How to Fix It)
Random symbols, blank pages, or 'PDF tools are temporarily offline' — the cause is almost always the same one thing, and it's fixable.
Read guide