Certified translations

This is a translation of which a state-certified translator authorized by a higher regional court confirms the accuracy and completeness.

It is often needed for submitting Japanese public documents to German authorities. For example, certified translations of the following documents are required in their respective scenarios: a “certified copy of commercial register” to open a business account; a “copy of family register” and a “certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage” to proceed with an international marriage; a Japanese driver’s license to apply for an EU driver’s license.

The Federal Republic of Germany only certifies translators for languages paired with German. If you need an English document translated and certified into Japanese or vice versa, please contact a translator located in/certified by an English-speaking country.

A certified translation consists of

• Translation (the original layout will be reflected as reasonably possible)
• Certificate (signed and sealed declaration of accuracy and completeness of the translation)
• Printout of the source text

These pages will be stapled together and sealed on the back, so that no pages can be removed or added.

Please provide scans of the translation material at the quotation stage, or at the latest, when making the order.

The scans will be used as source material for translation, then printed out and affixed to the certified translations. Therefore, please make sure these scans meet the following criteria (please contact me, if there is any difficulty):

• All pages are provided (including any pages that are out of scope for translation, such as “apostilles”)
• All printed letters/characters are readable (including seal inscriptions, fine print and handwriting)
• Colored scans if the original documents are also in color
• Documents are scanned in full with no edges cropped out
• No background shown

Please inform if the document size exceeds A4.

When certifying a translation, the type of its source (original document, copy, electronic copy etc.) needs to be disclosed.

Under normal circumstances, certification based on copied documents is accepted as long as the original documents can be presented to the recipient. However, in some cases, recipients may specifically ask for a certification based on the original documents (please confirm with your recipient if this is applicable to you). In such cases, I request the original documents to be provided instead of their copies.

Please ask the recipient before ordering if certification based on copied documents is accepted. By ordering a certified translation based on copied documents, you confirm that the recipient will accept such a certification.

If posting such important documents, I recommend that you send these via registered mail. If you prefer not to send via mail, you can present them at pickup.

Original documents sent in via mail will be returned via registered mail at the delivery.

I will need your postal address to issue an invoice.

Japanese source material

Please specify the spelling in Latin characters for names of persons and places . These are usually recognizable from the Japanese characters, however exceptions may exist.

Please pay particular attention to outdated names of places (e.g., birthplace of grandparents) and/or names of persons and places in a foreign language.

In addition, the spelling of company names, job titles and/or (if applicable) names of persons found in documents such as copies of commercial registry should match the spelling already used on business cards, websites and so forth. Please indicate any spellings that are already in use. If such names have already been translated in English but not yet in German, the German translations can be aligned to the English. For example, the Japanese job title “代表取締役 (Daihyo-Torishimariyaku)” can be translated literally to German as “vertretungsberechtigtes Vorstandsmitglied (board member, authorized to represent the company)”. However, if the English business card uses the translation “President”, the job title would be translated to German as “Präsident”.

German source material

Please specify (if applicable) the spelling in Japanese characters for names of persons and places. If you have already submitted documents to the recipient using a specific spelling, I strongly recommend making the spelling consistent.

For outdated names of places (e.g., birthplace of grandparents), please provide the present name and the present country as applicable.

Please also inform any alternative pronunciations of names that differ from the “usual” German pronunciation.

Pickup
Please provide 2-3 possible dates and times for pickup.

Via Mail
If different from the billing address, please provide a delivery address.

Although any English apostilles that are attached to the original documents may be translated, certifications only apply to translations made from Japanese to German. Please confirm with the recipient whether apostilles need to be translated.

Apostilles issued by German authorities are generally issued in German, and translation of such can be certified.

Please note that any attached apostilles, regardless of whether they are translated or not, form a part of the document and need to be addressed in the certificate. Therefore, please make sure to send in scans of any apostilles.

Different recipients may have different form requirements, such as stapling the translations together with the originals. Please make sure to check with the recipient in advance and inform me of any requirements when making an order.

Please place your order via e-mail. The order receipt will also be sent back via e-mail.

Unless agreed otherwise, an invoice will be issued and you will need to transfer the amount in full to the specified account. Delivery will be made only after receipt of your payment, so please be aware of the processing time for your bank transfer.

The processing time will depend on the schedule and workload. As a rough estimate, a certified translation of a “certificate of family register” and a “certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage” together takes about 2-3 business days (excluding postage time).

Unless agreed otherwise, delivery will be made only after receipt of your payment.

Pickup
Please make an appointment for pickup at the business address below:
Krefelder Str. 11, 40549 Duesseldorf
(Public Transport: “Nikolaus-Knopp-Platz”, via U75/M2/828/833 etc.)

A simple pickup takes less than 5 minutes.

If it was agreed to present the original documents at pickup, the original documents will need to be checked with the provided scans before the certification is finalized. This takes about 15 minutes.

If original documents were sent in, you will receive the certified translations, the original documents and the invoice via registered mail.

If no original documents have been sent in, you will receive the confirmed translations and the invoice via ordinary mail.