Russian translation
Russian for several
markets, not one
Russian is read well beyond Russia: it is an official language in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, widely used in Kazakhstan, and common among communities across the former Soviet Union and the Baltic states. Institutions, legal terms and product vocabulary differ by country, so the readers decide the terminology.
Russian has six cases, verbs with aspect, and plural rules that depend on the number: one file, two files and five files take different forms. Software and templates built from fragments break on this, so strings with counters need full plural forms for each category.
Language and locale facts
Russian
conventions to specify
Russian is Cyrillic with its own typographic habits. Some of them, such as the letter ё and the spacing of dashes, are easy to lose when text moves between systems.
| Convention | Russian |
|---|---|
| Alphabet | 33 letters; ё is usually printed as е in running text but required in dictionaries, teaching material and some names |
| Quotation marks | « … » with nested „ … “ |
| Dash | Em dash with spaces, kept with the preceding word by a non-breaking space |
| Numbers | Decimal comma, non-breaking space between thousands: 1 250,50 |
| Date | DD.MM.YYYY; months in lower case and genitive case (31 октября 2026 г.) |
| Address | Formal вы (capitalised Вы in letters to one person) or informal ты |
| Transliteration | ISO 9, GOST 7.79, BGN/PCGN and passport rules coexist; one should be specified |
Typical source material
Russian documents
and their translation focus
Russian material moves between headquarters, suppliers and regulators in several countries, and each text needs its target market named.
| Material | Translation focus |
|---|---|
| Contracts and corporate documents | Legal terms chosen for the target country; names transliterated by one system; formal register |
| Technical manuals and specifications | Case endings on part names, units and standards references; plural forms in tables and lists |
| Medical and regulatory texts | Established terminology of the target market; dosage figures and decimal commas preserved |
| Websites and software | Plural forms for counters, a clear ё policy and Cyrillic fonts with proper italic and bold |
Language-specific checks
Details that change
the finished translation
Russian shows its traps in letters, plurals and the choice of market.
Ё and the letter policy
Most Russian text writes е for ё, but some documents, names and teaching material require ё, and omitting it can change meaning, as in все and всё. The brief should state the policy.
Transliteration systems differ
ISO 9, GOST 7.79, BGN/PCGN and passport rules give different Latin spellings for the same name. One system is fixed for a document set, and passport spellings take priority for people.
Russian is not Ukrainian or Belarusian
The three are distinct languages with different alphabets and grammar. Russian is not a substitute for Ukrainian or Belarusian, and the requested language must match the readers and destination.
Target country, name transliteration and Cyrillic setup for Russian
The Russian brief identifies the target country, since Russian is read in several markets with different institutions and usage. It names the transliteration system for personal and company names and states whether ё is to be used. Production staff set the correct language tag so browsers and typesetting software choose Russian hyphenation and fonts.
A native Russian translator living in the target country does the translation, and the agency’s ISO 17100-certified process adds revision by a second qualified linguist. Manuals and specifications go through technical translation, and medical files through medical translation.
Buyer questions
Questions about
Russian translation
Which Russian-speaking market should a brief name?
Name the country where the readers live. Russian is official in Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan and widely used in Kazakhstan, and legal terms, institutions and product vocabulary differ between them. The target country also decides which regulatory terminology applies, so it should be in the brief before work starts.
Can Russian be used when Ukrainian or Belarusian is requested?
No. Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian are distinct languages, each separately listed. Request the language the readers use, since one is not a substitute for another. Their alphabets differ in several letters and their grammar, vocabulary and spelling rules differ as well, and readers notice a wrong choice at once.
How should Russian names be transliterated into Latin script?
Several systems exist, including ISO 9, GOST 7.79, BGN/PCGN and the rules used for Russian passports, and they produce different spellings for the same name. For people, the spelling in the passport takes priority. For companies and place names, the brief should name one system or an approved list so documents match.
Does Russian translation need the letter ё?
Most Russian text prints е in place of ё, which readers accept. Some documents, dictionaries and educational texts require ё, and it distinguishes words such as все and всё and fixes the pronunciation of names. The brief should state whether ё is to be used throughout, only where ambiguous, or not at all.
How are plurals handled in Russian software translation?
Russian nouns take different forms after one, after two to four and after five or more, with exceptions for numbers ending in 11 to 14. A string such as ‘{n} files’ therefore needs several forms, supplied through the platform’s plural mechanism. Translators need the string keys to provide each form correctly.
Which documents are commonly translated into Russian?
Typical requests are contracts, corporate documents, technical manuals, medical and regulatory material, product information and websites. The project manager assigns each text by subject and target country. Sending files in editable formats with any approved glossary lets the translator and reviewer follow the client’s terminology instead of guessing it.