Certified Translation in Munich by Sworn Translators

Only translators publicly appointed and sworn by a German court may produce a certified translation. Berlin Translation Center has worked with these professionals for around 15 years and serves Munich digitally and by post. You do not need a shop front in the city centre – what counts is the qualification of the person who signs.

You never have to appear in person. A clearly legible scan is enough to start, and you receive the finished translation digitally first, then as a certified paper original by post. If you are unsure which version the office will accept, tell us when you enquire – we clarify that before we begin.

No. Certification by a translator publicly appointed and sworn in Germany is valid in all 16 federal states. The Standesamt, the Kreisverwaltungsreferat and the Bavarian universities accept our documents exactly as they would those of a provider next door. Where the translator was sworn in makes no difference.

What matters is not the address but the form: certification statement, stamp, signature and a translation that reproduces the original in full, including seals and handwritten notes. That is where applications fail, not on the letterhead. Some offices additionally ask for the paper original by post or an apostille – check that before you order.

In Munich, seven offices ask for them most often: the Kreisverwaltungsreferat with its immigration office, the Standesamt, the universities LMU, TUM and Hochschule München, the Zeugnisanerkennungsstelle, the IHK, the Amtsgericht together with Munich notaries, and health insurers, pension insurance and the employment agency.

Which documents exactly depends on the occasion. For a residence permit it is usually the employment contract and your qualifications, for marriage the birth certificate and a certificate of no impediment, for university a school leaving certificate and transcript, for a driving licence the licence itself including the back. Ask the office for its list – we then translate exactly those documents.

In most cases a clearly legible scan or photo is enough, with all four edges of the page visible. Only a few offices insist that the translation is attached to the paper original. Ask about this in advance and you save a step and usually several days of postage.

The certification statement records whether the work was based on the original, a certified copy or a plain copy. That entry is binding and cannot be changed afterwards – so we agree with you beforehand which version you can supply and what the receiving office accepts.

Prices cannot be quoted as a flat rate. We calculate every document individually, using five factors: language pair, number of pages, legibility of the original, subject area and the delivery time you need. A one-page civil status certificate costs considerably less than a multi-page degree with a transcript.

Flat-rate offers online almost always refer to standard certificates without complications. As soon as stamps, seals, handwritten notes or a complex layout are involved, the effort changes – and so it does when the target language uses a different script. A professional translation reproduces all of that instead of leaving it out, which is precisely why offices accept it.

The turnaround depends on three things: the length of the document, the language pair and how legible the original is. A one-page civil status certificate is ready sooner than a multi-page degree with a transcript. Rare languages take longer because fewer sworn specialists are available. You receive the binding delivery date with your quote.

If you already have an appointment with a Munich authority, tell us the date when you enquire. We plan around it and tell you honestly whether it is realistic. Express handling is possible; we state the price for it in the quote. You then receive the digital version by email first, with the paper original following by post.

Over 30 languages, including English, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, Croatian, Turkish, Arabic and French. For every job we choose a sworn specialist who commands the target language and knows the legal and administrative vocabulary of the source language. With certificates, a single term often decides whether an office accepts the document.

For rarer combinations we find the right translator from our network and tell you in advance whether and in what time it is feasible. If your documents go into several languages at once – for example when setting up a company abroad – we coordinate that as one package: consistent terminology, one contact, one delivery date.

Yes. Our services go beyond certificates: legal translations such as agreements, powers of attorney, register extracts and court decisions, technical translations such as manuals, data sheets and safety documentation, as well as medical and business texts. Each is handled by a translator with experience in that field.

We assign every project to a subject area and, for larger jobs, build a terminology list so that terms stay consistent across all documents. On request we also localise website content, adapting it to the market, units and legal framework of the target country. Tell us what the text is for – that determines how literal or free the translation has to be.

No, and the confusion is common among people from the United States or the United Kingdom. There, a notary public certifies a signature. In Germany the translator certifies the translation – publicly appointed and sworn by a court, and their stamp is what makes the document official. A German notary does not certify translations.

So if a form asks you for a “notarised translation”, what German offices need is a certified translation by a sworn translator. If the authenticity of the foreign original also has to be confirmed, that is what an apostille is for – see the next question. If you are unsure, send us the wording of the request and we will tell you what is actually required.

An apostille confirms that the foreign original is genuine; the certified translation renders its content. These are two different things, and some Munich offices ask for both. An apostille is always issued by an authority in the country that produced the document – we cannot replace it.

So ask the office receiving your documents whether an apostille is needed, ideally before you order the translation. If it is required, it must be attached to the original before we translate: the apostille is translated along with it and forms part of the certified version.