Hungarian to German Translation

This direction is used when a Hungarian document has to be submitted in a German-speaking country. The typical applicant studied or worked in Hungary and is now moving to Germany, Austria or Switzerland; because of the geographical and historical closeness to Austria, the flow towards Vienna is particularly heavy. The document carries the Hungarian administrative order, while the authority that will read it assesses everything against the German regime.

A few concrete cases make the direction clearer: someone seeking professional recognition in Austria with a Hungarian university diploma, a family transferring the registration of a child born in Hungary to a German registry office, a business presenting the registry documents of a Hungarian company to its German partner. What these documents have in common is that the Hungarian administrative structure and the Hungarian name order are not directly legible to a German authority.

Hungarian number and date conventions are watched during the transfer as well: the decimal separator is a comma, and dates are written in year-month-day order; when they are converted into the German day-month-year pattern, spelling out the name of the month prevents confusion. Since recognition of a diploma in the medical and engineering professions in Hungary calls for a detailed breakdown of the curriculum and the practical hours, the volume of translation in those files grows noticeably.

Technical issues specific to Hungarian into German

The clearest trap in this pair is the name order: in Hungarian official documents the surname is written first and the given name second (e.g. Nagy Péter). When the details are carried onto a German form the order is corrected to given name then surname, but only after checking against the passport which element is the surname; read the wrong way round, the given name is taken for the surname and the whole file becomes contradictory as to identity. The Hungarian long vowels (ő, ű) are preserved.

The date format changes too: Hungarian uses the year-month-day order and the month is usually spelled out; in German it is rendered as day, month, year with a full stop as the separator. Hungarian institution names and the long expressions built up with agglutinative suffixes are matched by function rather than word by word.

The Hungarian 1–5 marking scale is not converted into the German scale, and it is stated that 5 is the highest mark. Seals and registration dates in the document keep their position; registry numbers are not translated but given with a reference to the record.

The historical closeness to Austria means that Hungarian documents are called for particularly often in the direction of Vienna; in that context it should not be forgotten that a translation falling outside the register of court-sworn translators will be refused from the outset. Alongside the surname-given name order, the name forms women take on marriage in Hungarian documents (for example the -né suffix) call for separate attention; since this suffix is derived from the husband’s name, it is not left as it stands on the German form but explained. Registry and file numbers are not translated; they are given with a reference to the record.

Which documents call for this direction

• Diplomas, the bizonyítvány (certificate/school report) and transcripts
• Birth, marriage and civil registry records (anyakönyvi kivonat)
• 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 German recognition unit can complete its assessment. In family files, correcting the name order and its spelling consistently across 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 the company type and the registry number are given in their original form.

Hungarian agglutination loads a concept into a single word through layer upon layer of suffixes; in the move into German these suffixes are first unpacked and then rebuilt according to the German case and article system. Hungarian institutional abbreviations are not carried over as they stand but expanded. In terms of length the Hungarian source is compact, so the German rendering runs to more words and the line layout has to be reworked in narrow-column tables. In the medical and craft professions a diploma on its own is not enough; the curriculum, the practical hours and the examination content are requested as well.

Chain of certification

Where the destination is Germany or Austria, a translation by a court-sworn translator is expected; where it is Switzerland, cantonal notarisation is. A document coming from Hungary has to carry an apostille. It should be borne in mind that in Austria the register of court-sworn translators (SDG) is the official one and that a translation from outside that register is not accepted.

For these expectations, look at the certification regime of the destination country and the requirements for the type of document. Tell us the surname-given name order and the destination institution before you send the document.

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The information below is indicative; in this language pair the level of certification is set by the destination institution. We recommend following the practice in force through official announcements.