Translation Services and Interpreters for Oberhausen – Right Next Door

Key facts at a glance

• ✓Certified translations by translators authorised by the court, generally accepted throughout Germany
• ✓Interpreting in Oberhausen on site, by video or by telephone – with generally sworn interpreters for courts and notaries
• ✓S-Bahn line S3 from Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof to Mülheim (Ruhr)-Styrum with no stops in between
• ✓Drop-off without an appointment, Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, or online as a photo or scan
• ✓No-obligation quote with a fixed price and date before any costs are incurred

How far is our translation agency from Oberhausen?

The RAGUNATHAN translation agency is located in Styrum, a district of Mülheim that borders directly on Oberhausen: on S-Bahn line S3, Mülheim (Ruhr)-Styrum station is the first stop after Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof. Even the name shows how closely the two cities are linked here. The northern part of the former municipality of Styrum now belongs to Oberhausen, the southern part to Mülheim an der Ruhr. The Oberhausen district of Alstaden also borders Mülheim-Styrum.

• By train: S-Bahn line S3 from Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof (central station) towards Hattingen; get off after one stop at Mülheim (Ruhr)-Styrum.
• In person, no appointment needed: Limburgstraße 7, 45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. You will find all the ways to reach us on our Contact and directions page.
• No trip needed at all: send a photo, scan or PDF via the request form on this page, by email or WhatsApp. We will send the finished translation to you in Oberhausen by post.

Which offices in Oberhausen require a certified translation?

Public authorities and courts in Oberhausen generally only accept foreign-language documents with a certified translation into German. The most important offices and typical documents:

• City of Oberhausen immigration and citizenship office (Ausländer- und Staatsangehörigkeitsangelegenheiten): this office decides on residence rights and naturalisation. Depending on your application, you will need translated birth and marriage certificates, divorce decrees or proof of qualifications. See also Marriage certificate translation.
• Oberhausen registry office (Standesamt): for example to give notice of marriage, to register a birth or to make a declaration on your name after naturalisation. More information: Birth certificate translation.
• Oberhausen Local Court (Amtsgericht): foreign judgments, rulings and agreements, for example in divorce, custody or maintenance proceedings.
• Work and social affairs: employment contracts, official notices and pension documents for the Oberhausen job centre (Jobcenter), Oberhausen Labour Court (Arbeitsgericht) or Duisburg Social Court (Sozialgericht), which is also responsible for Oberhausen.
• Driving licence and career: driving licences to be exchanged for a German one (Driving licence translation) and school and professional certificates for job applications and recognition (Diploma and certificate translation).

For companies in Oberhausen, we also translate contracts, technical documentation and commercial register extracts – with or without certification. You can read about all our types of translation on our Translation page.

Who may produce certified translations in Oberhausen – and who interprets in court?

In North Rhine-Westphalia, certified translations are produced by translators authorised by the court (ermächtigt), and court interpreting is done by generally sworn interpreters (allgemein beeidigt). The state justice administration reviews both groups on application. The legal basis is the North Rhine-Westphalia Justice Act (Justizgesetz NRW) and the Court Interpreters Act (Gerichtsdolmetschergesetz). A joint public database run by the justice system lists these professionals with their languages.

You can recognise a certified translation by its certification statement: in it, the authorised translator confirms with stamp and signature that the translation is complete and accurate. In everyday language, these professionals are often called sworn translators. The certification is in principle valid throughout Germany.

For court hearings: Oberhausen Local Court belongs to the Duisburg regional court district. Where the regional court (Landgericht) has jurisdiction, the case is therefore heard at Duisburg Regional Court. For the hearing itself, the court generally calls in the interpreter. For meetings with your lawyer, you book an interpreter yourself – a generally sworn one, if you wish.

In Turkish, a sworn language professional is called a yeminli tercüman. Oberhausen'de yeminli tercüman mı arıyorsunuz? Türkçe belgelerinizi onaylı olarak Almancaya çeviriyoruz; resmî randevularınız için sözlü tercüman da sağlıyoruz. In English: Looking for a sworn translator in Oberhausen? We provide certified translations of your Turkish documents into German and can also arrange interpreters for your appointments with the authorities. More information: Certified Turkish–German translation.

When do you need an interpreter in Oberhausen?

You need an interpreter in Oberhausen whenever an important conversation cannot reliably succeed without a shared language – RAGUNATHAN provides interpreters in 170 languages and dialects for exactly this. Typical assignments include:

• Courts: Oberhausen Local Court, Oberhausen Labour Court (which also covers Mülheim an der Ruhr) and the regional court and social court in Duisburg.
• Public authorities: appointments at the immigration office (Ausländerbehörde), the wedding ceremony at the registry office, meetings at the job centre, the youth welfare office (Jugendamt) or advice centres.
• Medicine: informed consent discussions at the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oberhausen and other hospitals, appointments at doctors' surgeries and therapy sessions.
• Notaries and business: notarisations, contract negotiations, factory tours and training sessions.

The quickest way to request an interpreting appointment is via the appointment request on our Interpreting page. The request form on this page is intended for documents that need translating.

Request an interpreter for Oberhausen

Simultaneous, consecutive or by video – which type of interpreting is right?

For conferences, conventions and works meetings in Oberhausen, RAGUNATHAN provides simultaneous interpreters; for conversations in court, at public authorities and at the doctor's, consecutive interpreting is the usual form.

In simultaneous interpreting, the speech is rendered at the same time, usually from a booth; listeners follow via headphones. For longer events, two simultaneous interpreters usually work in turns. In consecutive interpreting, the interpretation follows section by section. For one or two listeners, for example on a factory tour, whispered interpreting is a good choice.

Short conversations can often be interpreted by video or telephone, frequently on the same day – via Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Jitsi, or on request via our own secure video platform. Our Interpreting page describes all the options.

Which languages do we translate and interpret for Oberhausen?

RAGUNATHAN covers 170 languages and dialects for Oberhausen – including the languages of the city's largest foreign population groups. According to the City of Oberhausen's statistics, at the end of 2022 these were people with Turkish, Syrian and Ukrainian citizenship.

• Turkish: civil status certificates, divorce decrees and diplomas, plus interpreting at appointments with authorities and doctors.
• Arabic and Kurdish: official documents and certificates from Syria and other countries. Please tell us the country of origin – that way we can find an interpreter who reliably understands the right dialect.
• Ukrainian and Russian: birth and marriage certificates, driving licences, school reports and employment references.
• Other languages: for example Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Farsi, Dari, Pashto and sign language.

There are dedicated pages for Montenegrin, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian translation, for a Tamil–German interpreter and for interpreters for rare languages. More city pages in the region: Translation agency for Duisburg, Translation agency for Essen, Translation agency for Gelsenkirchen and Translation agency for Krefeld.

How does your order work – and what does it cost?

Whether it is a translation or an interpreting assignment: RAGUNATHAN gives you a no-obligation quote in advance, and costs are only incurred once you accept. This is how a certified translation for Oberhausen works:

1. 01
   Send your document

   photo, scan or PDF via the request form, by email or WhatsApp – or in person without an appointment in Mülheim-Styrum.

2. 02
   Receive your quote

   you get a fixed price and a binding delivery date.

3. 03
   Translation and certification

   an authorised translator for your language translates the document in full.

4. 04
   Delivery

   an advance copy as a PDF by email, the original with stamp and signature by post to Oberhausen or for collection at our office.

The price of a translation depends on length, language pair, subject area, certification and delivery time. For interpreting, what counts is the duration, the language, the location and the type of interpreting – simultaneous interpreting at a convention is calculated differently from an hour at the registry office. Express orders and short-notice appointments are best discussed by phone.

Request a translation for Oberhausen

Why RAGUNATHAN?

• Right on the city boundary

  Our office in Mülheim-Styrum borders on Oberhausen – one stop on the S3 from Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof.

• Everything from a single source

  Certified translations, specialist translations and interpreting on site, by video and by telephone.

• Over 1,000 language professionals

  Authorised translators and generally sworn interpreters for 170 languages and dialects.

• Since 1986 and certified

  ISO 9001:2015 by TÜV SÜD. Owner Ayadurai Ragunathan is a member of the BDÜ – the German Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators.

Do you have questions about your translation or your appointment in Oberhausen? Call us on +49 208 99 04 77 (Mon–Fri 8:30 am – 4:30 pm) or send us a WhatsApp message on +49 176 31323611.