Following the last entry, I should add a footnote on birth certificates, because that term Abstammungsurkunde is one of the problems for translators who haven’t encountered it before.
There are three kinds of birth certificate in Germany:
Geburtsschein (minimum details)
Geburtsurkunde (most details)
Abstammungsurkunde (most details – including natural parents)
The Geburtsschein has minimum details, for the sake of privacy, but it will enable someone to prove their age, for instance when they receive a pension.
There’s also a multilingual birth certificate: cheaper than getting a translation. Any register office should be able to issue one.
I have no idea how the Abstammungsurkunde works with adopted children, since I thought it wasn’t that easy to see your natural parents. Anyway, you need one of these to get married, to avoid incest. As the Zeit article quotes:
Herr L., der »Verlobte«, fragt trotzdem nach dem Sinn der Abstammungsurkunde. Die Standesbeamtin, die das Leben zu kennen scheint, sagt, dass das Leben voller Überraschungen sei. Es gelte eben zu verhindern, dass zwei Geschwister, die durch Adoptionen als Babys getrennt worden seien, einander ohne Kenntnis ihrer Abstammung heiraten, was zu dem Vergehen eines Inzestes führe, das durch Vorlage einer Abstammungsurkunde leicht hätte verhindert werden können.
Herr L. erkennt den Humor der Erklärung und scherzt: »Das kommt in Altona ja sicher zweimal in der Woche vor.« Frau Z. hingegen hat es gar nicht komisch gemeint und sagt: »Nein, so oft nicht. Aber das Leben kann sehr bunt sein.«
Some Geburtsurkunden contain the line ‘Mit Abstammungsurkunde identisch’, which means they can be used instead of an Abstammungsurkunde. I would translate Abstammungsurkunde as ‘birth certificate showing natural parents’ or ‘long form birth certificate’, although the latter may not be a precise equivalent and its definition may vary from country to country. Don’t translate it as ‘certificate of descent’ – sounds a bit like a pedigree dog.
Here’s something on Britain:
There are two types of birth certificates:-
* the full certificate. This is a copy of the entry in the birth register, giving all the recorded details
* the short certificate. This only gives the child’s full name, sex, date and place of birth. It does not give the name and particulars of the mother or father. A short certificate is issued free of charge when a birth is first registered and is sufficient for most official purposes.
