OBJECTIVES: The Alcohol Timeline Followback (TLFB), developed in English (US), is a drinking assessment method that obtains estimates of daily drinking. Using a calendar, people provide retrospective estimates of their daily drinking over a specified time period that can vary up to 12 months from the interview date. Several memory aids can be used to enhance recall, such as 24 key dates and country specific holidays for calendar year 2012 serving as anchors for reporting drinking, or use of standard drink conversion. The objective of this study is to present the translation of the TLFB in Czech, Slovak, Italian, and Hungarian. METHODS: The following translation method was used: concept definition, forward translation in the target languages, backward translation and test on five individuals (cognitive interviews) in each country. RESULTS: Difficulties encountered during the process were twofold: 1) ensuring that the standard drink conversions were correct, i.e., reflecting US standards, and culturally appropriate, and 2) adapting the 24 US key anchor dates to each country. For the standard drink conversion, the main change was the use of the metric system instead of the US customary units, i.e., use of liter and sub-units instead of ounces. In addition, quantities had to be adapted to fit cultural uses. For instance, in Slovakia and Czech Republic, “one 12 oz can/bottle of beer” was adapted to “one beer in a can / bottle of 0.5 liter.” Thirteen anchor dates in the US calendar had to be deleted in all countries, e.g., Martin Luther King day (01/16/2012) or President’s Day (02/20/2012), as culturally inappropriate. Other key dates were added, e.g., Labor Day (05/01/2012) or Easter Monday (04/09/2012) in all four countries. Patients were key in discussing changes or proposing solutions. CONCLUSIONS: The multistep process proved crucial to ensure cultural relevance and cross-cultural equivalencies across different languages.