Swedish Translation

In Sweden, official translation rests on a title earned by examination rather than by court appointment. That is the third model you meet in Europe, and it decides directly what you need to do with a document leaving Türkiye.

4 min readLast updated 2 September 2026

Short answer

In Sweden the title of authorised translator (auktoriserad translator) is earned through a state-supervised examination, and a holder's translation counts as official. Because Sweden is a party to the Convention, an apostilled document from Türkiye is accepted by most institutions.

Title: Auktoriserad translator, by examination
Identity number: Personnummer, encodes the date of birth
Alphabet: 29 letters; å ä ö come last
Apostille: Sweden and Türkiye are both parties

The third model in Europe

There is no single European arrangement for sworn translation. Across these pages you meet three distinct models, and Sweden represents the third.

Three models compared
Model	How it is acquired	Example country
Court appointment	A court swears the translator once; the status persists	Germany
An oath per translation	A separate oath for each document	Italy
Authorisation by examination	A state-supervised exam confers the title	Sweden
No institution	The translator attaches their own statement	United Kingdom

Three models compared

The Swedish examination is demanding, and the number of holders can be very small for a given language pair. For pairs such as Turkish and Swedish, finding an authorised translator in Sweden can take time, so an apostilled translation made in Türkiye is often the faster route in practice.

The personnummer: the key to every procedure

The Swedish personal number is asked for in almost every official procedure: opening a bank account, receiving healthcare, signing a tenancy, taking out a phone contract. Its first six digits give the date of birth; the remainder serve registration and verification.

Decoding the date of birth inside the number is not the translator's job; the number is carried across unchanged. Knowing that it contains a date of birth does explain one thing: even where the document has no separate date field, the information is in the number.

å, ä and ö come at the end of the alphabet

The Swedish alphabet has 29 letters, with å, ä and ö placed after z at the very end. Turkish sorts ö and ü in their own places; Swedish does not. This explains why a list of names on a document appears in an unexpected order.

The difference in alphabetical order
Names	Swedish order	Turkish order
Öberg, Andersson, Åkesson	Andersson, Åkesson, Öberg	Andersson, Åkesson, Öberg
Sjöberg, Svensson	Sjöberg, Svensson	Sjöberg, Svensson
Ängström, Zetterberg	Zetterberg, Ängström	Ängström, Zetterberg

The difference in alphabetical order

The last row shows the difference: because Ä follows Z in Swedish, Ängström falls after Zetterberg. When a multi-page list of names is translated, which alphabet governs the ordering has to be agreed in advance.

The -sson pattern in surnames

A large share of Swedish surnames were formed by adding -sson (son of) to a father's name: Andersson, Johansson, Karlsson. These are inherited today, so the surname no longer indicates the father's name. The meaning of the ending is not written in translation; the surname is carried across as it stands.

letters in the Swedish alphabet: 29letters in the Swedish alphabet
placed after z: å ä ö: 3 lettersplaced after z: å ä ö
in a personnummer: 10 digitsin a personnummer

Swedish documents and how we render them

Frequently seen documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
Personbevis	Certificate from the population register	Several types exist for different purposes; which one is stated
Utdrag ur belastningsregistret	Extract from the criminal record	Its scope varies with the purpose applied for
Examensbevis	Degree certificate	The list of courses is a separate document
Arbetsgivarintyg	Employer's certificate	Shows length and conditions of employment
Uppehållstillstånd	Residence permit	Its type and duration are always stated

Frequently seen documents

Frequently asked questions

Is an apostille enough for a document going to Sweden?

Sweden is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so the apostille chain is valid and accepted by most institutions. Some may want a translation by an authorised translator in Sweden; asking the receiving institution avoids paying for a second translation.

I have no personnummer, only a coordination number. Is that a problem?

Not for the translation: the number is carried across as it stands with its type stated. Whether it is a problem for the procedure is for the receiving institution to say; the two numbers are not interchangeable everywhere.

How will the å in my name be written in Turkish records?

The latinised passport spelling governs, and there å usually appears as a. The translation also shows the original spelling, so the institution does not read the difference as an inconsistency.

Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are close. Can one translator handle all three?

Not for official procedures. The three are largely mutually intelligible but are separate languages, and a sworn translation requires an oath record for the language concerned. The three countries also have separate administrative terms and document names.