Portuguese to German Translation

This direction comes into play when a Portuguese document has to be submitted in a German-speaking country. Applicants arrive from two different worlds: Europeans moving to Germany with documents issued in Portugal, and people entering the German labour market or university system with documents issued in Brazil. The first thing to settle is therefore which variety of the language the source belongs to; European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese differ in spelling and terminology, and the variety of the source has to be established at the outset.

Real cases show what the direction covers: a student applying for a master’s programme in Germany with a Brazilian university diploma, a family submitting a civil registry record issued in Portugal to a German registry office, a business producing the registry and signature documents of a Brazilian company for its German partner. The document carries the administrative reality of a Portuguese-speaking country, but a German authority does not recognise that context of its own accord.

Technical issues specific to Portuguese into German

Marks such as ã, õ and ç in Portuguese do not exist in German; in personal and place names they are preserved rather than reduced to German letters. Portuguese official style builds long single sentences held together by conjunctions; in the move into German that chain is rebuilt along the German subordinate clause pattern, where the verb falls to the end, and every condition is made to take the right case.

Name structure is a separate area of care: in Portuguese names, and Brazilian ones in particular, several surnames (the mother’s plus the father’s) follow one after another. Squeezing that sequence into a single surname field on a German form breaks the matching of identity; which of the surnames is the official family name is determined by the spelling in the passport. In documents belonging to the same person the sequence is kept consistent.

Marking systems are not converted either: Portugal’s 0–20 and Brazil’s 0–10 scale are explained, not translated into the German 1–6 system. Institution and degree names are matched by function; registry and file numbers are not translated but given with a reference to the record. Where an amount is not in euros it is not converted; only the German convention for separators is applied.

Health tourism and medical documents form a heading of their own in this direction: when the discharge summary and test results of someone treated in Portugal or Brazil are put before their doctor in Germany, giving the names of medicines by active substance rather than by brand bears directly on patient safety. Moreover, since a person’s paternal and maternal surname appear separately in Portuguese documents, which conflicts with the single surname field on the German form, the element that is the official surname is fixed according to the passport and the same form is kept throughout the file.

Which documents require this direction

• Diplomas, the histórico escolar (transcript) and course descriptions
• Birth, marriage and civil registry records (certidão)
• Employment, service and criminal record certificates
• Company registry documents and commercial contracts (Brazilian ones in particular)
• Pension and social security correspondence

Brazilian documents often bear the seal of a public sworn translator (juramentado) entered on the commercial register; keeping that seal and its registration details plainly visible in the translation is what allows the German authority to verify where the document came from. In education files a detailed breakdown of the courses and credits is requested.

In commercial files, rendering the names of the parties and the company types exactly as they stand is what keeps liability under the contract where it belongs. In family files, showing the sequence of surnames identically in all documents is what makes the application consistent.

Which variety of Portuguese the source belongs to affects not only the spelling but also the way the issuing authority is named; Brazilian state bodies and Portuguese central bodies are differently structured, and each is matched by function. In terms of length the Portuguese rendering generally runs to more words than the German, which can make lines overflow in fixed-box forms and in the limited space of sealed documents; the problem is solved by reworking the table layout, not by reducing the point size. In medical or technical documents, giving abbreviations in their international form is watched as well.

Chain of certification

For Germany and Austria the expectation is a translation by a court-sworn translator (beeidigter Übersetzer); Switzerland relies instead on cantonal notarisation. On the apostille side there is a distinction: Portugal is within the Hague system, and Brazil is a party too, but it should not be forgotten that the apostille for a document is obtained according to its source.

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. Tell us whether the source is Portugal or Brazil, and which institution the document is going to, before you send it.

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The information below is indicative; in this language pair the level of certification is set by the destination institution. For definitive information, rely on the current announcement of the institution concerned.