Balkan language translation and localization
Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek and Romanian from one vendor, with native linguists for each market. For enterprises and as a vendor to LSPs.
8 Balkan languages, one team
El Turco translates and localizes into Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek and Romanian with native linguists in each market, for enterprises and as a vendor to language service providers.
Every job is reviewed by a second native linguist under ISO 17100, with ISO 18587 for post-editing and project management kept in-house.
- Cyrillic and LatinSerbian
Native Serbian linguists for software, game, e-commerce and finance content in Cyrillic or Latin script, plus Serbian AI training data.
- LatinCroatian
Standard Croatian for software, games, e-commerce and regulated EU content, with case, gender and plural rules handled in every string.
- Latin, Cyrillic on requestBosnian
Native Bosnian linguists for software, e-commerce, finance and game content aimed at Bosnia and Herzegovina, plus Bosnian AI training data.
- LatinAlbanian
Standard Albanian for Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, with definite endings, linking articles and market conventions handled in every string.
- CyrillicBulgarian
Bulgarian Cyrillic for software, games, e-commerce and EU-regulated content, with articles, gender and count forms handled in every string.
- CyrillicMacedonian
Macedonian Cyrillic for software, games, e-commerce and regulated content, with three-way definite articles, clitics and denar formatting handled per string.
- Greek alphabetGreek
Modern Greek for Greece and Cyprus: software, games, e-commerce and EU-regulated content, with accents, case endings and all-caps rules handled.
- LatinRomanian
Romanian for Romania and Moldova: software, games, e-commerce and EU-regulated content with correct diacritics, gender agreement and plural forms.
Scripts
Latin, Cyrillic and Greek
The script is agreed for every content type at scoping and locked in the style guide and translation memory.
- Serbian is digraphic: the same text can be written in Cyrillic or Latin script. Products often ship sr-Cyrl-RS and sr-Latn-RS as separate locales, so we translate once in the agreed master script and produce the second version with controlled transliteration and a native review.
- Bulgarian and Macedonian use their own variants of Cyrillic. Bulgarian readers expect Bulgarian letterforms, and fonts built for Russian often lack the Macedonian letters ѓ and ќ.
- Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian and Romanian use the Latin alphabet with their own letters, such as č, ć, đ and ž, ë, or the comma-below ș and ț that legacy files replace with a cedilla.
- Greek uses its own alphabet, with an accent mark on most words of more than one syllable and two shapes of lowercase sigma.
Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are three deliverables
Speakers of the three languages understand one another, yet each standard follows its own national norms for vocabulary and spelling, with its own locale code.
Croatian is written in Latin script. Serbian uses both Cyrillic and Latin. Bosnian is mostly written in Latin. Serbian in Serbia uses ekavian forms where Croatian and Bosnian use ijekavian forms: the word for milk is mleko in one and mlijeko in the other, so one target text cannot serve every audience without readers noticing.
El Turco assigns separate native linguists for each language and shares terminology work across the three projects, so the brand voice stays aligned in every market. More in our Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian translation guide.
For LSPs
One vendor for the region
One vendor to onboard for all 8 languages: one account manager, one set of quality steps and one invoice instead of a separate supplier per country. When an end client adds markets, the same team adds the languages.
- A free test translation of up to 300 words in any of our language pairs before you onboard us
- Jobs through your own vendor portal, through your TMS by API or by file exchange
- Work in your CAT tools, such as RWS Trados, memoQ, Phrase or XTM, to your style guides, glossaries and QA checklists
- Linguist queries collected by the project manager and sent to you in one batch
- Language takeovers mid-program, with the translation memory, glossary and query history imported
Services in every Balkan language
Every service below is available in all 8 languages. Pricing is per-word, hourly or project-based, quoted after scoping.
- TEP translation
Translation by a native linguist plus independent editing and proofreading by a second one under ISO 17100.
- Software, website and game localization
String files, CMS content and game text, with plurals, cases and script handled per language.
- MTPE
Post-editing under ISO 18587 once an engine has been tested on your content.
- LQA and testing
Native testers check the build for truncation, mixed scripts and broken agreement.
- Continuous localization
We work inside your TMS, so new strings are picked up with each release.
- AI training data
Speech, text annotation, RLHF and moderation datasets built by native speakers.
FAQ
Balkan translation questions
Which Balkan languages does El Turco translate?
El Turco translates and localizes Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek and Romanian. Each language is covered by approved native linguists, with a second linguist reviewing every job under ISO 17100. The work spans Latin, Cyrillic and Greek scripts, and Serbian can be delivered in Cyrillic, Latin or both.
Can one Serbian translation be used for Croatian or Bosnian?
No. Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are mutually intelligible but each standard has its own vocabulary, spelling conventions and locale code. Readers notice quickly when content was written for a neighboring market. El Turco assigns separate native linguists for each language and shares terminology work across the three projects so the brand voice stays aligned in every market.
Do you translate Serbian into Cyrillic or Latin script?
El Turco translates Serbian into either script, and into both when a product ships two locales. Our linguists translate once in the agreed master script, then produce the second version with controlled transliteration and a native review that protects brand names, code, URLs and placeholders. The script for each content type is recorded in the style guide.
Can an LSP place one job for several Balkan languages?
Yes. An LSP can place one multi-language job with El Turco, for example Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Albanian. Every target language then comes back from one team. One project manager schedules all languages, applies the same QA steps and confirms a delivery date for each, so the LSP has a single contact instead of separate single-language suppliers.
How are Balkan translation projects priced and scheduled?
Per-word, hourly or project-based pricing, quoted after scoping. Turnaround is agreed at scoping, with a 24-hour option for small urgent updates. LSPs can start with a free test translation of up to 300 words in any of our language pairs, and enterprises with a free pilot, both requested through the contact form.
Add one vendor for the Balkans.
Tell us which language pairs, tools and volumes you work with. A project manager comes back with capacity, onboarding steps and a rate card.
A project manager reads your brief, usually the same working day.