Danish Translation Services

Where Danish is spoken and where your translation is accepted

Danish is the official language of Denmark, an official language of the Faroe Islands, together with Faroese, and a language widely used in Greenland, in administration and in schools, next to Greenlandic. It is also a recognized minority language in Schleswig-Holstein, in the north of Germany, and it has been an official language of the European Union since 1973. It has more than 5 million speakers. Between the middle of the 19th century and the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of Danes emigrated to the United States, many of them to the Midwest and to Utah, and their descendants still look for Danish family records. The destination decides the type of translation.

Danish translation services for Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands

Written Danish is very close to Norwegian Bokmål, and many readers of one understand the other, but documents from Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands follow their own formats and their own official terms. A good translation follows the Danish of the original, keeps every letter of the names and reads naturally to whoever receives it.

• Letters: Danish uses the Latin alphabet with three more letters, æ, ø and å, which come after z. American documents often drop or replace them, so Søren becomes Soren and Ærø becomes Aero. Some names and places keep the old spelling aa for å, as in Aalborg. The translation keeps every name exactly as in the original, so tell us the form used in your US documents when you order.
• Greenland and the Faroe Islands: many documents from Greenland come in Greenlandic and Danish side by side, and documents from the Faroe Islands may come in Faroese, Danish or both. We translate from the Danish text; if your document is only in Greenlandic or Faroese, tell us when you order and we confirm the options before quoting.
• Names: many surnames end in -sen, such as Jensen, Nielsen and Hansen, a trace of the old patronymics, which became fixed family names after a decree of 1828. In the United States some families changed them to Jenson or Hanson. The translation never adapts a name: it keeps the spelling of the original, and differences between your documents are something to point out when you order.
• Dates and numbers: documents write dates in day, month and year order, with a period after the day, so 3. oktober 2026 or 03.10.2026 is October 3, 2026, and the months are lowercase. Decimals use a comma and thousands a period, so 1.500,00 is one thousand five hundred. The personal identification number (CPR-nummer) begins with the date of birth.
• Documents from Denmark: the birth and name certificate (fødsels- og navneattest), usually issued by the parish of the Church of Denmark, the marriage certificate (vielsesattest), the certificate of residence (bopælsattest) and the degree certificate (eksamensbevis). The translation reproduces every stamp, seal and note.