Swedish to German Translation

This direction is used when a document issued in Sweden has to be submitted in a German-speaking country. The typical applicant studied or worked in Sweden and is now moving to Germany, Austria or Switzerland: people closing a chapter in Scandinavia and moving on to the labour market or a university in Central Europe. The document carries Swedish institutional reality, yet the authority that will read it assesses it against the German administrative order; this passage between the two countries is what makes the work a translation of institutions and not only of language.

Concrete examples make clear who needs this direction: a student who has completed a bachelor’s degree in Sweden and is applying for a master’s programme in Germany, an employee attaching a Swedish employer’s service certificate to a German employment contract, a family transferring the registration of a child born in Sweden to a German registry office, and someone who worked in Sweden and is transferring pension rights to Germany. The common thread is that the document makes sense within the Swedish system while the German authority does not recognise that context of its own accord.

Technical points specific to Swedish into German

Both languages share the letters ä and ö, but the Swedish letter å does not exist in German and is preserved rather than simplified; conversely, the German letters ß and ü are not found in Swedish text. The real difference lies in the way the noun phrase is built: the Swedish definite suffix (-en, -et) turns into the preposed German article and case inflection, which requires the translator to rebuild a grammatical structure rather than find a word for a word. A wrong genitive can shift the meaning of an official text without a sound.

The personnummer that appears in Swedish documents is not a date of birth but a number identifying the person; on German forms this number is not written straight into a date field, and it is explained that the entry is the identity number of the record. The date format changes too: Sweden uses the ISO order (year-month-day), whereas a German text expects the day, month, year order with a full stop as the separator; assuming the order is preserved leads to the day and the month changing places.

Institution and degree names are matched by function, not word by word. Swedish higher education concepts (for example högskoleexamen, kandidatexamen) are not forced into an equivalence with a German degree; the original name is kept and explained, because the recognition decision is taken by the German body. Official seals and registration dates in Swedish documents are carried into the translation together with their position.

Length behaviour is taken into account as well. Even though Swedish and German are close in structure, the German rendering can make lines overflow in narrow-column tables and in the limited space of sealed documents because of its long compound nouns; this is solved by rebuilding the table layout, not by shortening the word. In the address field the street name comes first and the postcode precedes the name of the town, and the Turkish-Swedish source order is rearranged to follow the German convention for service of documents.

Documents that call for this direction

• Swedish upper secondary school and university diplomas and the betyg (transcript)
• Civil registry and residence records (personbevis)
• Employment contracts, service certificates and payslips
• Pension and social security correspondence
• Birth, marriage and divorce records

Education and family files form the backbone of demand. In a recognition assessment the Swedish marking system is not forced into an equivalence with the German scale; the scale is explained and the decision is left to the German recognition unit. On diplomas the detailed breakdown of courses and credits is carried across with names and terminology kept consistent with the other documents belonging to the same person; an abridged translation leaves the assessment at a dead end.

In pension and social security files, rendering the periods worked and the employer titles exactly as they stand determines the accuracy of the calculation made in Germany; date ranges call for particular attention. In family reunification files, birth, marriage and divorce records are expected to be translated in one place and with the same spelling of names.

Chain of certification

Because the destination is a German-speaking country, certification follows the regime of that country: Germany and Austria look for a translation by a court-sworn translator (beeidigter Übersetzer), while Switzerland uses cantonal notarisation; in Austria a translation from outside the register of court-sworn translators (SDG) is not accepted. A document coming from Sweden is expected to carry an apostille as well.

Where a diploma is concerned, checking the classification in the anabin database in Germany in advance speeds the work along; the state of recognition matters as much as the translation of the document. 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.

So that we can determine the right level of certification, tell us the destination institution before you send the document; upload your document to see the page count and the current fee on the card above at once, and compare the unit prices item by item.

The fee and turnaround details on this page are based on the current tariff and may vary with the features of the document. We advise learning the latest position from the authority that will handle the matter.