What is a Leaving Certificate (Abgangszeugnis)?
We recently received a request for the translation of a German Leaving Certificate (Abgangszeugnis). This is a certificate issued to secondary school students in Germany upon leaving Year 11. The certificate states how the pupil has performed in their various subjects and gives them an average grade.
At TransAction we have experience of translating a variety of academic certificates such as school performance records, exam certificates and university records. These can be needed for various purposes, such as applying for university in the UK or abroad, applying for a job or applying for a passport. In this case the client needed it to apply for university study in the UK, as she did not have the GCSE certificates usually asked for in the application process.
What is a certified translation?
For most official purposes a certified translation is required, and this was the case here. A certified translation includes stamps and a certificate which states that the translation is true and has been carried out by a qualified professional, and is signed by one of our Directors. As we are a member of the Association of Translation Companies (ATC), our certified translations are accepted by all official UK bodies, such as the Home Office, Passport Office etc as well as many authorities abroad. For more information on certified translations read our recent blog post.
How much does it cost to translate a German Leaving Certificate?
As the certificate was a short, one page document, we were happy to inform our client that it would be covered by our minimum charge of £65. This price includes VAT, certification and first class post or, as this client lived outside the UK, airmail. Our client was applying to several universities, and they then informed us that they required 6 additional copies. Normally we charge £10 per additional copy but, as this was such a short translation, we decided to only charge £5, bringing the total up to £95.
TransAction’s Pricing Policy
It is worth noting that at TransAction we are transparent about our pricing policy; the quote we provide immediately gives the total cost of your certified translation. This policy is much clearer than the practice of giving an initial price and then adding on postage, certification costs and VAT separately at a later stage, meaning that your final price is much higher than the original quotation. The client also requested a PDF copy of the translation and certification, which we provide free of charge.
Getting the go-ahead
Once we had received payment, we were able to translate the document quickly and have it checked twice by our qualified in-house linguists. Please note that this service is also included within the original cost, and gives you a level of assurance and quality for which other companies charge extra. As the details of certificates can make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful application, we feel these checks are important.
Satisfied that the translation was impeccable, we added our declaration and stamps and sent the client both a PDF and hard copies of the document. All of this was achieved within 4 days of the client’s initial enquiry.
For a free quote on your certificate translation, contact TransAction.