Greek to German Translation

This direction applies when a document in Greek has to be submitted in a German-speaking country. The large Greek community settled in Germany keeps demand for it constant: people who present a diploma, a civil registry record or a registry document issued in Greece or Cyprus to a university, an employer or an authority in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. The document is written in the Greek alphabet, whereas the authority that will read it assesses it within a Latin-script German administrative order.

Concrete examples bring the direction into focus: a student who has finished a Greek upper secondary school and is applying to a university in Germany, a family transferring the registration of a child born in Greece to a German registry office, a healthcare worker seeking professional recognition in Germany with a Greek diploma. What these documents have in common is that Greek institutional reality, and the Greek alphabet with it, are not directly legible to a German authority.

Greek Orthodox church records and military service documents are also requested in this direction from time to time; because the dates and the names of authorities in them follow a different pattern from civil registry records, they are transferred with separate care. Where the documents of one family were issued in different periods, the Latin transliteration of the name has to be brought into line with the current form in the passport.

Technical points specific to Greek into German

The first difficulty in this pair is the change of alphabet: personal and place names in the Greek alphabet are carried into Latin script by transliteration. That transliteration is not a matter of preference; the Latin spelling in the person’s passport is taken as the basis and the same form is kept throughout the file, because one name transliterated two ways in two documents is on its own a ground for refusal. A consistent set of correspondences is used for the particular Greek letters (e.g. Θ, Χ, Ξ, Ψ).

The second matter is the institutional equivalent of terms: Greek educational and administrative concepts are carried into German by function rather than word by word. The marking system, usually a 0–20 scale, is not converted into the German scale; the scale is explained and the recognition decision is taken by the German body.

In Greek civil registry records the father’s name appears as a separate field; this information is not removed from the German translation but carried across as a separate line. Seals and registration dates in Greek official documents keep their position in the translation; registry numbers are not translated but given with a reference to the record.

Greek marks are given on a numerical scale in higher and in upper secondary education alike, and neither the pass threshold nor the upper limit can be left unexplained to a German reader; the scale is explained, not converted into a letter system. Greek institution names are built on their counterpart in the administrative structure: they are rendered by function, not by likening them to the system of Türkiye or of any other country. Registry, registration and file numbers are not translated; only the record to which they belong is stated, so that a German official can establish the relationship between the numbers in two documents belonging to the same person.

Documents in which this direction is requested

• Diplomas, the αναλυτική βαθμολογία (transcript) and course descriptions
• Civil registry, birth and marriage records
• Employment, service and criminal record certificates
• Pension and social security correspondence
• Powers of attorney and court documents

In diploma files a detailed breakdown of the courses and credits is needed before the recognition body can complete its assessment. In family files, carrying the father’s name and the transliteration of names consistently through every document safeguards the matching of identity.

In pension files, rendering the periods worked and the employer titles exactly as they stand has a direct bearing on the calculation made in Germany. In commercial documents, registry numbers are given with a reference to the record.

One situation peculiar to the Greek diaspora in Germany is that the documents of a single family may have been translated at different times and by different hands, so the Latin transliteration of a name may have shifted over the years. In a new translation the current spelling in the passport is taken as the basis, and where that conflicts with older documents the applicant is told in advance. Greek institutional abbreviations are not carried into an English or German text as they stand; they are expanded and, where needed, given in their original form in brackets. In professions such as medicine and engineering a diploma on its own is not enough; the curriculum and the practical hours are requested as well, which increases the volume of translation.

Chain of certification

Germany and Austria expect a translation by a court-sworn translator, whereas Switzerland works through cantonal notarisation. A document coming from Greece or Cyprus must carry an apostille. In diploma recognition, checking the anabin classification in Germany beforehand speeds the work along.

For these expectations, which vary with the destination, look at the certification regime of the country concerned and the requirements for the type of document. Send us the passport spelling of the names and the destination institution before you send the document.

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The fee and turnaround details on this page are based on the current tariff and may vary with the features of the document. Settling the format the institution wants at the outset saves repeat work later on.