Certified translation German–English

The Arbeitszeugnis

Under § 109(1) GewO an employee is entitled, on termination of employment, to a written reference, which under subsection 2 must be worded clearly and comprehensibly and must carry no hidden statements. The document is a German peculiarity: it grades without naming grades, and its formulas are unknown abroad. We carry the reference over in full and without reinterpreting it — an explanation of German reference conventions is not part of a translation, and we convert no assessment into a grade.

Source: gesetze-im-internet.de (checked 5 November 2026)

Final certificates and transcripts

An application abroad usually travels with two documents: the certificate of the qualification, and the list of individual results. In our catalogue you order the Abitur, bachelor's or master's certificate as a Diploma / Educational Degree, and the list of marks separately as a College Transcript. They are separate orders because one order covers exactly one document, even when that document runs to several pages. If your certificate carries no explanation of the marking scale, the translation carries none either.

What offices in the United Kingdom expect

For paperwork not written in English or Welsh, gov.uk sets out what a certified translation should carry: the translator's confirmation that the translation matches the original document exactly, the date of the translation, and their full name and contact details. Those are precisely the entries in the certification note of our court-sworn translators, together with the stamp and the signature.

Source: gov.uk (checked 5 November 2026)

Certification, apostille and over-certification

Where a German document is to be used abroad, the Federal Foreign Office describes the apostille as confirming the authenticity of the signature, where applicable of the seal, and the signatory's authority. It is issued by a German authority, not by a translator — we issue no apostilles and arrange no over-certification. The two do not interlock either: the apostille concerns the source document, the certification of the translation concerns the rendering.

Source: auswaertiges-amt.de (checked 5 November 2026)

Documents for a registry office abroad

Marrying abroad, a child's birth, how a name is carried: these are where German birth and marriage certificates come in. The Berlin Standesamt FAQ recommends that people who will be living abroad for a while also obtain the certificate in international, multilingual form. For the English-speaking world that route does not help: the multilingual form comes from the CIEC conventions, and the list of contracting states the Federal Foreign Office prints holds neither the United Kingdom nor Ireland, the United States, Canada or Australia — the exemption from every formality applies in the contracting states only. For an office in London or Dublin it therefore stays as it was: your German certificate and a certified translation of it.

Source: berlin.de (checked 5 November 2026), auswaertiges-amt.de (checked 5 November 2026)

What the translation contains

The translation reproduces the structure of the original: letterhead, tables, seals and signatures are described and carried over, stamps are not skipped. Added to that is the certification note with the date, stamp and signature of the sworn translator. What we do not supply is an assessment: no conversion of marks, no placing of a qualification inside a foreign system, and no statement about how an office abroad will weigh your papers.