Certified translation Spanish–German

An apostille and a translation are two different things

This distinction costs more time than anything else on Spanish-language documents. The Federal Foreign Office describes the apostille as confirmation that a public document is genuine, for which the original has to be presented; legalisation is the same thing for states outside the apostille procedure, confirmed by the mission of the destination country. Neither says anything about what the document says. A translation does the exact opposite: it carries the content over and says nothing about authenticity. We issue no apostilles and arrange no legalisation — both are available only in the issuing state.

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

Inside the EU: Regulation (EU) 2016/1191

For documents from Spain a European simplification applies. As the European Commission sets it out, Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 abolishes the apostille requirement for certain public documents — among them birth, name, marriage, registered partnership, domicile and the absence of a criminal record — and simplifies the formalities for their certified copies and translations. On top of that you can ask the issuing authority for a multilingual standard form, whose purpose is to avoid having to provide a translation.

Source: commission.europa.eu (checked 5 November 2026)

Certificación literal and the Libro de Familia

Besides short certificates, the Spanish Registro Civil issues the literal copy (certificación literal): the complete entry with every later marginal note on names, recognition or divorce. For German procedures that is the more useful version, because the marginal notes show the current state of affairs. Older proof often comes from the family book (Libro de Familia), a booklet with several entries — in which case usually only the page that fits your purpose matters.

Documents from Latin America

Spanish is an official language in some twenty states, and the forms differ widely: a machine-generated form with a barcode and a register number from one country, a handwritten book page with a certification note from the next. We translate Spanish-language documents whatever state issued them. Whether the receiving office wants an apostille as well for a document from outside the EU is a question for them — it turns on the state and the procedure, not on the translation.

Who may translate in Germany

The Standesamt in Cologne sets out the requirement for registering a marriage concluded abroad: a foreign-language document also needs a translation by an interpreter or translator, who must be publicly appointed or sworn in Germany, and document and translation are to be presented in the original. A translation made in Madrid or Bogotá usually does not meet that, however carefully it was done.

Source: stadt-koeln.de (checked 5 November 2026)

Why German at all?

§ 23(1) VwVfG: the official language is German. Under subsection 2 the authority may require a translation of foreign-language papers, and in justified cases one whose accuracy has been certified. The Federal Foreign Office puts the same practice more briefly: German authorities and courts frequently call for a translation of foreign-language documents.

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