In the world of translation, the first week of September brought two critical topics concerning the industry's future onto the agenda at the same time. According to a report by Anadolu Agency dated 7 September 2026, artificial intelligence is transforming the way the profession works by increasing speed and workload capacity in the translation sector; experts, meanwhile, note that technology cannot replace humans and that the future will be shaped around translators who work alongside AI. Yet the most striking part of the report lies in a detail that has received far less public attention: the Federation of Translation Organisations prepared a project to resolve the sector's problems and submitted it to the Ministry of Justice, stating that a minimum threshold should be set in the tariffs in order to eliminate pricing uncertainty.
Read together, these two developments suggest that in the coming period, both the way translators work and the process faced by citizens and institutions commissioning official document translations may change. In this article, we read between the lines of these statements and assess the possible implications of the minimum tariff proposal, the liability debate and the productivity figures for sworn and notary-approved translation processes.
The industry agenda in September 2026: What was said in the statement?
Ahmet Varol, President of the Turkish Translators Association and the Federation of Translation Organisations, said that rather than completely changing the translation profession, artificial intelligence is making translation processes easier. Varol's message is clear: "A professional translator cannot succeed without working in harmony with artificial intelligence". This statement points to a professional profile that does not resist technology but uses it under human supervision.
Another important dimension of the statement concerns the volume of work. Varol said that artificial intelligence has not reduced the volume of work in the translation sector, but that customers' price expectations have changed. In other words, demand is not falling; however, the perception that "the machine already translates" is leading people to question the value of the labour-intensive quality control process. This tension is precisely the starting point of the minimum tariff debate.
Why does liability remain with the human?
For those commissioning official document translations, the most critical sentence in the statement concerns liability. Varol noted that no matter how well artificial intelligence translates, it carries neither predictability nor liability. He stated that responsibility for the accuracy and consequences of a translation will continue to rest with humans, and that the human element will therefore retain its importance in the profession.
This observation is not an abstract principle; it is the expression of a legal reality. The sworn translator who signs beneath the translation of a court ruling, a title deed or a diploma declares, under their own legal liability, that the translation is faithful to the original. When an AI model uses an incorrect term, there is no accountable party to bear the cost; the sworn translator's signature, by contrast, is a guarantee mechanism both for the receiving institution and for the document's owner. Particularly in fields such as legal translation, where a single word can affect the outcome of a case, this chain of liability cannot be delegated to a machine.
The project submitted to the Ministry of Justice and the minimum tariff proposal
The project the Federation submitted to the Ministry of Justice puts its finger on a wound long discussed within the sector: pricing uncertainty. Varol stated that there is an imbalance in the market for official document translations and proposed setting a minimum threshold in the tariffs as a solution. As of the publication date of this article, this remains at the proposal stage; whether it becomes a binding regulation depends on the Ministry's assessment.
So what would change for the customer if such a regulation came into force? First of all, pricing would become more predictable; the problem of "five different prices for the same document" would diminish. Secondly, the unfair competition created by providers who work at extremely low prices and skip quality control would be balanced out. That skilled translation is a matter of labour and liability would also gain official recognition through the tariff debate. For corporate clients, budgeting in procurement processes would become easier. It is worth following developments; once the regulation is finalised, we will share the details on our blog page.
Productivity figures: From 250 words per hour to 1,800
The academic assessment included in the statement quantifies the scale of the transformation. Prof. Dr. Sevinç Arı, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Marmara University, noted that a translator can translate an average of 250 to 350 words per hour, and that with AI support this figure can rise to as many as 1,800 words. According to Arı, artificial intelligence has lowered prices but greatly increased work capacity.
This productivity gain translates into a tangible benefit on the client side: delivery times are getting shorter. For texts dense with repeated phrasing, such as long technical manuals, multi-page contracts or catalogues, a technology-assisted agency can complete the same job in far less time. However, as Varol emphasised, the resulting translation must always be checked to determine whether it has been correctly understood. The approach at Ziya Translation follows the same line: technology for speed, human expertise for accuracy and liability. Time-sensitive jobs and urgent translation requests are handled through this hybrid model.
For which documents is AI on its own never sufficient?
Machine translation is often good enough to understand an everyday email or a tourist menu. But for documents requiring official status, the picture changes entirely; what is required here is not merely an "understandable translation" but a translation verified by signature and stamp and accepted by institutions. For the following document types, AI output alone is not valid at any official institution:
- Judicial documents: court rulings, powers of attorney, statement records
- Educational documents: diplomas, transcripts, student certificates — for recognition/equivalency and international university applications
- Civil registry and civil status documents: birth, marriage and death records
- Commercial documents: signature circulars, certificates of activity, contracts, tender documents
- Medical reports: translations of discharge summaries and reports used in treatment processes and insurance procedures
For these documents, the process proceeds with the source text being translated by a specialist translator, certified with the sworn translator's signature and stamp, and, depending on the requirements of the requesting institution, the addition of a notary-approved translation stage. For documents to be used abroad, an apostille certificate is added to the chain.
Sworn translator certification, notarization, apostille: Who does what?
These three concepts are frequently confused with one another; yet each is a separate procedure carried out by a separate authority. Sworn translator certification means that a translator who has taken an oath before a notary declares the accuracy of the translation with their signature and stamp. Notarization means the notary verifies that translator's signature against their own records; the notary certifies the signature, not the content of the translation. The apostille, meanwhile, is the procedure of an entirely different authority: in Türkiye, the authorities empowered to issue apostilles are the governorships and district governorships; for judicial documents, this power rests with the relevant commissions at the courthouses. A translation agency does not issue apostilles; it only helps you plan the process in the correct order.
| Procedure | Who performs it? | What does it certify? |
|---|---|---|
| Sworn translator certification | Sworn translator | That the translation is faithful to the original |
| Notarization | Notary | The translator's signature and sworn status |
| Apostille certificate | Governorship/district governorship or judicial authority | The validity of the official signature and seal on the document |
Digitalisation is also transforming the apostille leg of this chain. The e-Apostille system enables official documents bearing an apostille issued by the authorised institutions to be created, approved, transmitted and verified electronically; from the system's launch in 2019 to the end of March 2026, 70,616 e-Apostilled document transactions were carried out. Since which documents can proceed with a physical apostille and which with an electronic one varies by document type, you should clarify the requirements of the destination institution before starting the apostille attested translation process.
Sample scenario: Diploma translation for a recognition application
Let us use a scenario to illustrate what this debate means in practice. An engineer who completed an undergraduate degree in Germany is going to apply for degree recognition (denklik) in Türkiye. The diploma and transcript are in German; the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) requires translations of these documents. Machine-translated output is invalid here; the documents must be translated and certified by a sworn translator, with notarization added depending on the institution's requirements. Since even a single incorrect rendering of a course title can adversely affect the credit-transfer assessment, such jobs should be handled by a team with academic translation experience.
There is also a third-party cost item that applicants planning their budget should be aware of: according to the announcement by YÖK, a fee of TRY 1,250 applies for 2026 to diploma/graduation equivalency certificate applications and requests for re-examination. This amount is valid as of the publication date of this article and is the official application fee paid to YÖK; we recommend confirming the current amount on the YÖK Recognition and Equivalency Unit's page before applying.
Factors affecting cost and the next steps
Until the minimum tariff debate is resolved, translation fees will continue to be determined by market conditions. The main factors affecting the price of a translation job are: the source and target language pair (the difference between common and rare languages), the length of the document and its page/character volume, the level of specialisation of the text (legal, medical, technical terminology), whether notarization is required, and the urgency of the delivery deadline. If notarization is required, the notary fees and charges calculated according to the annual fee tariff of the Union of Notaries of Türkiye are a separate item from the translation fee and are paid directly to the notary.
The most reliable way to establish a clear budget for your document is to have it assessed on sight; even two documents of the same type can differ greatly in volume and terminology. You can submit your document via our free quote form and receive a tailored assessment based on your language, certification and deadline needs. The industry's September 2026 agenda has shown once again that technology brings speed, but for official documents the guarantee still rests with the liability of the human who signs. A correctly planned translation-certification chain protects you from both wasted time and the risk of duplicated costs.
Sources
- Anadolu Agency — Translators see artificial intelligence not as a rival but as a new generation colleague
- Cumhuriyet — 'Translators should not see artificial intelligence as a rival'
- Ekonomist — Is artificial intelligence destroying the translation profession, or transforming it?
- İstanbul Ticaret Gazetesi — Artificial intelligence is transforming the translation sector: Is the human element indispensable?
- Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure — With e-Apostille, official documents reach the world digitally
- Council of Higher Education (YÖK) — Recognition and Equivalency Application (2026 application fees)