Finnish to English Translation

This direction is used when a Finnish document has to be submitted in an English-speaking country. The typical applicant is someone who studied or worked in Finland and is now applying to an institution in the USA, the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia. The document carries the Finnish administrative order, while the authority that will read it assesses it according to Anglo-Saxon culture.

Concrete examples make the direction clear: a researcher applying for a doctorate in the USA with a Finnish university diploma, the service records of a specialist who worked in Finland and then moved to the United Kingdom, the civil registry records of a family relocating to Canada. What they have in common is that the document is meaningful within the Finnish system while the receiving side does not recognise that context directly.

Education files are the backbone of the demand; the international standing of Finnish higher education keeps diploma and transcript translation in constant request in this direction. The second group is employment and civil registry documents.

Some Finnish documents may have been issued in Swedish alongside Finnish; which language is to be translated is settled at the outset. This bilingualism has a direct bearing on which part of the document is taken as the source.

Finnish universities issue the summary of the student record (opintosuoritusote) as a detailed document; every course is listed with its credits and its date. That structure is preserved in the English translation, because the recognition and admissions body reads the courses one by one and a summarised rendering leaves the assessment incomplete.

Because of Finland’s bilingual municipalities, some documents are issued in both Finnish and Swedish; the translation states which language has been taken as the basis and the information in the two languages is compared. This prevents a possible discrepancy from going unnoticed.

Finnish personal and place names appear in the document together with the personal identity number (henkilötunnus); that number is an identity detail and is not confused with a date of birth. The translation states the distinction explicitly.

As long compound terms are broken up and paraphrased in English, the integrity of their meaning is preserved; the official clarity of the source is carried across without lapsing into needless ornament.

Technical points specific to Finnish into English

Finnish is a non-Indo-European language and loads information inside the word by means of a large number of case endings; as it passes into English that affixal structure is resolved into prepositional and multi-word renderings. Long compound words (for example opintosuoritusote) are broken into their parts and paraphrased, because a single English word cannot render them.

The double vowels and double consonants of Finnish (aa, kk) distinguish meaning and are preserved in names and terms. The letters ä and ö are rendered according to the spelling in the passport. Finnish has no grammatical gender and no articles; in the English rendering these are supplied from the context.

Institutional names are rendered according to their function; a henkilötunnus (identity number) is not a date of birth, and this is explained. The marking system is not forced into equivalence with an English one but explained.

The seal and the record details in the document are kept in place. In documents belonging to the same person, conveying personal and institutional names consistently keeps the application free of contradiction as to identity.

Since the Finnish diploma system rests on the European higher education framework (ECTS credits), the credit and level information in the transcript is explicitly preserved in the English translation; the recognition body assesses on the basis of those figures.

Finnish official style is plain and direct; that plainness is not made ornate as it passes into English, and the clarity of the source is preserved. Terms are chosen according to their function in the context.

In bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) documents it is checked whether both languages carry the same information; if there is a difference, this is noted in the translation and the language taken as the basis is stated.

Documents for which this direction is requested

• Diplomas (tutkintotodistus), transcripts and course descriptions
• Birth, marriage and civil registry records
• Employment, service and criminal record documents
• Bank and income documents
• Professional qualification documents

Diploma files call for a detailed listing of courses and credits; the Finnish marking system is not forced into equivalence with an English one but explained. The passport spelling of names is preserved across all the documents.

In employment files the accurate rendering of the service record and of job titles is important. In family documents the relationships between relatives are set out explicitly.

Chain of certification

Because the destination is an English-speaking country, the sworn translator system does not come into play: the USA and the United Kingdom ask for a signed statement of accuracy, Canada for a translator registered with a provincial association or an affidavit, Australia for NAATI accreditation. A document arriving from Finland is expected to bear an apostille.

For these differing expectations, look through the certification regime of the destination country and the requirements for the document type. Tell us the language of the document, Finnish or Swedish, and the destination institution before you send it.

By uploading your document you can see the page count and the current fee, and compare the unit prices.

The fee and timing information on this page rests on the current tariff; it may vary with the characteristics of the document. We advise learning the latest position from the authority that will handle the transaction.