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Norwegian translation services provide Norwegian ⇄ German for authorities and courts, produced by sworn, court-authorised German translators who are Norwegian native speakers. The correct written standard — Bokmål or Nynorsk — is kept, never blurred into Danish or Swedish, and translations are certified on request for German registry offices and courts. Norwegian ⇄ English covers energy, maritime and international contexts. Prices start from €0.99 per standard line.
Native Norwegian specialists · Bokmål & Nynorsk fixed up front · certified translations recognised by German authorities
Short & clear
Norwegian carries two official written standards and a look that is deceptively close to Danish — which is exactly why it needs a native specialist. Whether it is a supply contract with a partner in Oslo, offshore documentation, a certificate for an authority in Bergen, or paperwork for an English-language project: the work is done by native Norwegian specialists with a proven field — in the correct standard, not an approximate Scandinavian blend.
We work in both directions and both pairings. Norwegian ⇄ German is what German authorities, courts and partners need — including certified translations and passport-true handling of Æ, Ø and Å in names. Norwegian ⇄ English covers international life and business in Germany: applications, contracts and technical documentation in energy, maritime and industry that circulate in English.
Who it's for
Most people who search for this are already fluent Norwegian speakers dealing with a German system — or internationals who use English as their working language across Norwegian projects. Both are covered.
Birth, marriage and name-change certificates, diplomas and police records for a registry office (Standesamt), the immigration office or recognition of qualifications — as a certified German translation, with Æ/Ø/Å names and the fødselsnummer kept true to the document.
Tenders, HSE documentation, technical specifications and contracts in oil, gas, offshore wind, shipping and aquaculture that a partner or employer expects in English rather than German. Same specialists, same care with the standard and terminology.
German certificates, contracts, powers of attorney and rulings that must be presented to authorities, courts or partners in Norway — in the agreed written standard, in the form that is valid there.
Companies working with Norwegian energy and maritime firms, or teams that run in English while the paperwork is German or Norwegian. We assign a specialist for the direction and field you actually need.
Language & standard
Norwegian has two equal official written standards: Bokmål, used by roughly 85–90 % and close to Danish, and Nynorsk, built from the western dialects. Municipalities and the state regulate which is used where, and some documents or regions require Nynorsk specifically — translate “just into Norwegian” and you may hit the wrong standard. The language is watched over by the council Språkrådet. It also has the three special letters æ, ø, å (with “aa” surviving in some names) and a postposed definite article (et hus → huset, “the house”). In writing Bokmål resembles Danish, but the two are separate languages: rar means “strange” in Norwegian and “nice” in Danish.
For authorities, names and place names are decisive: Æ, Ø and Å must not be freely resolved to ae/oe/aa, and Norwegian place names are regulated by law. For official use an authorised translator issues a certified translation; whether an apostille is also needed is something we check in advance — it is issued by the competent authority, not by the translation agency.
Quality you only notice at the receiving end
Norwegian, Danish and Swedish look alike — and Norwegian has two written standards on top of that. These pitfalls separate a native professional translation from a literal one. Each is specific to Norwegian and demonstrable.
| Pitfall | Why it goes wrong | How the FÜD solves it |
|---|---|---|
| Bokmål or Nynorsk | Norwegian has two official written standards. Bokmål (widespread, Danish-close) and Nynorsk (from the western dialects) differ in forms and vocabulary. The wrong standard reads foreign or is – depending on the authority and region – simply not admissible. | The target standard is agreed before the project and held, with terminology, consistently across the whole document. |
| Æ, Ø, Å & the “aa” spelling | The special letters æ, ø, å sit at the end of the alphabet and must not be freely resolved to ae/oe/aa; “aa” still stands historically in some names. Wrongly transliterated, the name on the certificate no longer matches the ID. | Special characters and sorting are kept true to the document, not “Germanised”. |
| Postposed definite article | Norwegian attaches the article: et hus → huset (the house), en bil → bilen. Treated as a separate word, wrong forms result. | Definiteness and gender are formed as a suffix, per Norwegian grammar. |
| Three genders (boka vs boken) | Bokmål allows masculine, feminine and neuter – the feminine form (boka) versus the common one (boken) is both a style and a norm question; Nynorsk keeps three genders strictly. Arbitrary mixing reads unprofessionally. | Gender and forms are chosen consistently per target standard – never mixed. |
| Norwegian ≠ Danish | Bokmål looks like Danish but is a different language; rar means strange in Norwegian, nice/kind in Danish. A Danish text sold as “Norwegian” is spotted at once. | Only a native Norwegian specialist translates, in the agreed standard. |
| False friends – Norwegian, German, English | “gift” means both married and poison; rolig means calm in Norwegian but funny in Swedish; frisk means healthy, øl is beer. One word flips the statement. | Native specialists with a field translate the meaning, not the resemblance; terms are fixed in checked terminology. |
| Place names & spelling | Norwegian place names are regulated by law (lov om stadnamn) and often carry specific endings; Å replaces the old “Aa” in many places. Freely “translated” or misspelt places corrupt addresses and certificates. | Place names are taken in the official spelling, not adjusted or back-translated. |
| Fødselsnummer, date & number formats | The Norwegian personal number (fødselsnummer, 11 digits), date and number formats (comma as decimal mark) appear on certificates in a fixed form. Reformatted, the document diverges from the original. | Personal numbers, dates and amounts are taken verbatim and reproduced in the layout. |
None of these is a grammar mistake. They arise from the two written standards, the closeness to Danish and the fixed formats of Norwegian certificates, and only surface at the receiving end: the municipality in Bergen, the partner in Oslo, the German registry office. That is exactly where native professional translation earns its place.
The difference shows not in the text, but at the receiving end.
So: native speakers with a field, the agreed written standard (Bokmål/Nynorsk), and checked terminology.
Certification & recognition
For submission to German authorities and courts, a court-authorised translator (in German, ermächtigter Übersetzer, publicly authorised under German state law) produces a certified translation with stamp, signature and certification note — recognised nationwide. Norway follows its own logic.
In Norway there is the protected title statsautorisert translatør (state-authorised translator); the examination is set by the NHH business school, and the language council Språkrådet oversees Bokmål and Nynorsk. For certificates to be used in Norway such an authorised translation is often required, frequently with an apostille. A German authorised translator is competent for submissions in Germany and is not automatically authorised for Norway. We apply the form valid in the target country — following FÜD's documented quality process; where the service is delivered under DIN EN ISO 17100, the required second-person revision is included. Norway is not in the EU but is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; the apostille is issued by the competent authority — the FÜD does not issue apostilles.
Use cases
Purpose, target country and written standard decide tone, terminology and process. Three common jobs — from the starting point to the result.
Work & recognition
Energy & maritime
German authorities
Quote & price
We review volume, field, language direction and written standard (Bokmål/Nynorsk) and name a binding fixed price. Standard certificates are usually a flat fee per document; longer texts are priced per standard line — certification on request, advance PDF and postal delivery included.
| Native Norwegian professional translation | ✓included |
| Agreed written standard (Bokmål / Nynorsk) | ✓included |
| Certification by an authorised translator on request | ✓included |
| Advance PDF & postal delivery of the original | ✓included |
| Quality management & final check | ✓included |
Norwegian is priced in language Group 2, from € 0.99 per standard line (55 characters incl. spaces); we name the exact amount after a brief review. How the price is made up →
Norwegian documents & texts
We translate Norwegian – German and Norwegian – English – from certified records to specialist texts. Commonly requested from Norwegian: Fødselsattest (birth certificate), Vigselsattest (marriage certificate), Politiattest (police clearance certificate), Vitnemål (diploma), Førerkort (driving licence).
FAQ
Our tenders and technical documents for Norway now run consistently in Bokmål — the terminology fits, place names and the fødselsnummer are right. Before, it was often unclear which standard was even meant.
H. Larsen · project lead, maritime & energy
Next
Work with us
Our Norwegian translations are produced by native-speaker specialists — the reason German authorities, universities and courts accept them without queries. Beyond the language itself, that rests on German at C2 level, a specialist field the translator can defend, and — for certified work — court authorisation. If you bring that combination rather than bilingualism alone, we work with Norwegian translators employed and freelance, and the way in is also open through an internship.
The path
Native Norwegian is your starting capital; the market rewards what you build on top. German at C2 — the level at which you read a German ruling or medical report without hesitation — is the real gate, because certified work means rendering official German with precision, not just understanding it. Add a field you can defend (law, medicine, technology, finance) and its terminology. In the German market Norwegian is above all an energy and maritime language, alongside sensitive certificate and authority work — that combination, not language alone, is what a registry office or a partner relies on.
Why it holds up
For certified translations you apply to the competent Regional Court (Landgericht) to be authorised under state law. And Norwegian is exacting, specialist work: two written standards, a treacherous closeness to Danish, and Æ/Ø/Å names that have to match the ID the first time. Norway is a small but well-funded market whose energy, shipping and technology sectors carry a steady demand for certified and technical translation. Careful human work here is what the receiving authority requires.
FÜD