German to French Translation

This direction comes into play when a German document has to be put before a French-speaking authority. The pair is needed most often in countries where the two languages are official side by side: documents moving from a German-speaking canton to a French-speaking one in Switzerland, papers travelling from the German-speaking Community of Belgium to Wallonia, and procedures in Luxembourg. Submitting a document issued in Germany or Austria to a procedure in France also falls into this direction.

The typical users are people living in these multilingual countries or dealing across borders: a family moving from a German-speaking Swiss canton to Geneva or Lausanne, someone applying to an institution in Wallonia from the German-speaking part of Belgium, a specialist seeking professional recognition in France with a German diploma. What they have in common is a document drawn up in one legal culture and carried into the language and administrative vocabulary of another.

The particular difficulties of this pair

Since both languages use the Latin alphabet, transliteration of names is not an issue; the real difficulty is matching the terms of two different legal cultures. German’s long compound terms usually open out into prepositional phrases in French; a word such as Aufenthaltstitel is matched not by a single term but by its definition. In number formats the German full stop becomes the French space; umlauts and ß are aligned with the spelling in the person’s passport.

The second difficulty lies in regional differences. Swiss French and French as used in France diverge on certain administrative words (for example some institution and degree names); the target region has to be specified. The fine distinctions between German and Austrian legal terms on one side and French, Swiss and Belgian ones on the other are preserved; company forms (GmbH) are not converted straight into a French abbreviation but kept in their original form and explained. Educational and professional titles are not equated either; the recognition decision is left to the relevant body.

Third, Switzerland’s cantonal structure affects both approval and terminological preferences; which canton the application goes to can change how the document is to be presented. Abbreviations in German documents (i.V., gem.) are not carried into French as they stand but unpacked. Registry and file numbers are not translated; the record they belong to is stated. The positions of seals and signatures in the source document are preserved in the translation with a note; in multi-document files, names and the renderings of institution names are kept consistent across every document.

What is most distinctive about this pair is that the target is often not a single country but a particular language region or canton. Since notarial practice in the French-speaking Swiss cantons can vary from canton to canton, a document going to Geneva may have to be presented differently from one going to Vaud. In Belgium, a document from the German-speaking Community is translated into French if it is to be submitted to an institution in Wallonia; which language region is the counterpart has to be clear from the outset. As Luxembourg uses three official languages, it is confirmed whether the institution in question prefers French or another language. These regional distinctions determine not only the right language but also the right administrative vocabulary and approval procedure; that is why, when the target region and institution are shared before the document is sent, the process can be set up on the soundest footing. The educational and professional titles in the German document are carried over without being forced into an equivalence with the recognition body of the target francophone country, and the decision is left to that body. The apostille for the document is obtained in the country of issue (Germany, Austria or Switzerland), and the translation has to be presented in a way that is consistent with that apostille; when these details are attended to together, the document is processed by the institution in the target region without prompting requests for further explanation. Telling us which canton or language region is the counterpart lets us choose the right administrative vocabulary and the right approval procedure from the start.

Which documents call for this direction

Diplomas, transcripts and professional qualification documents lead the way; they are followed by civil registry, residence and criminal record documents and then by trade registry extracts, contracts and company documents. Relocation and professional recognition files are common in this direction in multilingual countries.

• Diplomas, transcripts and professional qualification documents
• Civil registry, residence and criminal record documents
• Trade registry extracts, contracts and company documents

The chain of approval

What decides matters is the target region. France works with the traducteur assermenté on the court of appeal list, Belgium with a sworn translator (traducteur juré), and Switzerland with cantonal notarisation; Luxembourg asks for a traducteur assermenté. In Switzerland the canton applied to can change the form of approval. To choose the right route, look at the target’s country approval regime and the document requirements.

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The account here summarises the typical case; notarisation and apostille steps are costed as separate items. Clarifying the form the institution wants at the outset saves repeat work later.