• Introduction
Wrongly translated documents could destroy your chances of working in Germany, or make it a nightmare. Because:
(1) Please rather do NOT expect that the medical license authorities (🇩🇪 die Approbationsbehörden) will think:
“Oh, probably the translator made a mistake”
But rather:
“This is an attempt of fraud”.
(2) For non-EU/EFTA doctors: If the translation was not good enough, your curriculum might be judged not equal (🇩🇪 nicht gleich) when applying for the 🇩🇪 Gleichwertigkeitsverfahren (Article: 🇩🇪 The medical knowledge exam (🇩🇪 die Kenntnisprüfung) for doctors who studied in non-EU/EFTA countries 🇪🇺 & how to avoid it).
• Where to translate outside of Germany?
The translation could be done outside of Germany in a translation office recognized by the German embassy in the country where the embassy is located. German embassies in some countries do not have a list of recognized translators. Try to email them asking what to do, or ask in our main Facebook group what other persons from your country did. Ask them if they can authenticate your documents without a translation.
Some send their documents via email to recognized translators in Germany. I do not know how this is exactly done. Do you know?
Example
Tareq is a Jordanian doctor who studied medicine in Ukraine and did his internship year (🇩🇪 das Praktische Jahr – PJ) in Jordan. So, he needs to authenticate the medical certificate (🇩🇪 der Uniabschluss) in Ukraine and the certificate for the internship year in Jordan.
💡 Most German embassies have a list of recognized translators. You cannot simply google a translator and send your documents to them; regardless how many positive reviews that have in Google Maps 🙃
Facharzt JETZT!
– What are the advantages of doing the translation outside of Germany?
(1) The main goal of the translation outside of Germany is to get all the relevant documents authenticated by the German embassy. Some German embassies do NOT accept authenticated documents in foreign languages if they are not first translated into German. Therefore, you would be forced to do the translation outside of Germany. Documents in English are usually accepted without a translation into German.
(2) You can apply for a German permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation) before coming to Germany. Many documents must be translated into German (list of documents here). This application saves time and allows you to apply for a visa. We explained more about the reasons for applying for a German visa here: “🇩🇪 Applying for a German visa: How? Reasons for coming to Germany?”
(3) The translation is cheaper in many countries than in Germany.
Note: When the German embassy authenticates a translation, the authentication (stamp) should be placed on the original and translated version, even if the two were stapled together!!! To me, this does not make sense, as both are stapled together in a special way, which means that they are the same. But this is how some authorities see it.
A true story… click here if interested
A colleague of mine had this problem. As a solution, he was asked that a translator in Germany to certify that the translation is correct. Otherwise, my colleague had to repeat the translation here in Germany (this means that he wasted his money translating the English documents in Jordan because the embassy authenticates English documents. Translating the Arabic documents in Jordan was still a must because the embassy does not authenticate Arabic documents). In the end, my colleague found a translator here in Germany who agreed to read the translations and verify that it is correct. However, most translators refused that and wanted to repeat the translation.
💡 Your documents should be authenticated (🇩🇪 die Beglaubigung) in the country where you got the documents from.
Facharzt JETZT!
– What are the disadvantages of doing the translation outside of Germany?
Some employees in some medical license authorities might nonetheless ask you to re-translate the documents in Germany in rare cases, even if a German embassy authenticated them. 😱😱😱 You should get used to that because, for example, students from the same batch might get recognition for their documents, and another group might not, although all have similar documents.
But this is not the typical case. And again, getting the documents authenticated through the German embassy is NEVER a mistake. So, if the German embassy accepts to authenticate the documents WITHOUT a translation, and you are not in a rush to apply for the approbation, then do the translation in Germany.
Tip: If you know which of the 16 German medical license authorities ( die Approbationsbehörde) (List of them) you are going to apply for the German medical license ( die Approbation), check their websites and ask in Facebook groups if they require translations in Germany.
• Where to translate inside of Germany?
If you want to translate documents in Germany, here is how to find officially recognized translators: Link.
• Tips for having the perfect translation
(1) Do the translation ONLY through recognized translators
(2) Control the spelling of your personal information
(2) Even if you let a recognized translator do the translation, please re-read your personal information (for example, the spelling of your name, birthdate, birthplace, name of the university, etc.). No one can recognize such mistakes better than you! 😊
(3) Control the translation yourself
Moreover, you will probably have learned some German when you start translating your documents. Try to read the whole translation. Ultimately, the translator is not a medical doctor and some medical terms might be wrongly translated.
In a “true story”, an officially recognized translator wrote the following…
He wrote: “Die Studentin hat Operationen an Bohnen durchgeführt” (The student performed operations on beans)
A correct version is: “Die Studentin hat Operationen an den Nieren durchgeführt”
– Source:Teddy Kabel
(4) The name should be written the same on all documents
Be sure that your name is spelled and written the same in all your documents (Passport, university certificate, birth certificate, etc.).
(5) All documents should contain your birthdate
(6) Authenticate your documents
(4) If you did the translation outside of Germany, then letting the documents be authenticated in the country where these documents were created is a great thing and never a mistake. But in some authorities (like in Bavaria), doctors are asked to do the translation again in Germany. Please read the details here to avoid any painful surprises: “What is authentication (die Beglaubigung) & where to do it“.
• This article was written with help from Mr. Teddy Kabel, admin of the largest English group for foreign doctors in Germany. Vielen Dank 🙂
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