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The interpreter is usually the last thing people think of — once the tickets are bought and the appointment is fixed. And it almost always turns out not to be a detail: how your conversation with the doctor is interpreted decides whether they understand your complaints correctly and whether you understand correctly what you are agreeing to. Here is how this service is organised in Germany, who pays for it and what makes up the price.
Why the clinic does not provide an interpreter free of charge
This is the first thing that surprises new arrivals. In Germany the services of an interpreter are not among the things a statutory health insurer pays for. The position is settled in case law: back in 1995 the Federal Social Court held that the insurer does not reimburse the cost of an interpreter, and later decisions of the regional social courts have confirmed it. The reasoning is that the health insurance act lists medical services, and interpreting is not one of them and is not subject to medical supervision.
Hence the practical conclusion: interpreting is a separate item of your own expenditure, to be budgeted for alongside travel and accommodation. Some large hospitals keep their own international departments with staff who speak your language — it is worth asking about this in advance, but it should not be counted on as a given.
Interpreting and document translation are different things
They are often taken for one service, but the requirements differ.
The word “translator” is not a protected profession in Germany: anyone may call themselves one. The formal confirmation of qualification is the status of a sworn translator — a specialist sworn in at a regional court and entered in a publicly accessible register. Their stamp is needed above all for documents: medical records for the clinic, certificates for a visa and papers for an insurer usually require a certified translation, not just any.
For interpreting at an appointment there is no formal requirement, but there is a substantive one. A medical conversation means terms, dosages, drug names and an explanation of the risks before consent to a procedure is signed. Someone with everyday German will not manage here, and a mistake costs more than the difference in an hourly rate. On orders of magnitude, incidentally: in German court proceedings the interpreter’s rate is set by law at 93 euros an hour — that is not a medical tariff, but it is a useful benchmark for what such work is worth on the market.
What the bill consists of
Interpreting is charged by time, and what is usually paid for is not the “pure” conversation with the doctor but the whole accompaniment: the journey to the clinic, the wait, and the appointment itself. An hour with the doctor easily turns into three or four hours of the interpreter’s time — worth bearing in mind when comparing rates. Written translation is charged by the page, where a “page” is a unit of account based on a number of characters rather than a sheet of paper, so a single densely typed report may come to two pages. Certification by a sworn translator, urgency and work at weekends are usually charged separately.
Orders of magnitude: a guide
Below are the rates for organisational services from a former price list. They are given purely as a guide, so that the scale of the sums is clear: this is not a current offer, the list was drawn up several years ago and has not been revised, so always check the current cost before travelling.
- Medical interpreter — €45 (the unit of account was not stated in the former price list; please check whether it is per hour or per accompaniment)
- Translation of medical documents — €25 per page
- Invitation letter and visa support — €350
- Extension of a visa in Germany — €200
- Meeting at the airport, transfer to the clinic or hotel — €100
What to ask before agreeing
Three questions remove most of the misunderstandings. First: how the time is counted — from the moment you meet or only for the appointment, and whether there is a minimum booking. Second: whether the interpreter has experience specifically in medicine and in your field — oncology, orthopaedics and childbirth call for different vocabularies. Third: who produces a certified translation of documents if one is needed, on what terms, and whether certification is included in the price quoted.
And separately, about a video consultation. A video conversation with a German doctor with an interpreter costs appreciably less than a trip and often makes it possible to understand in advance whether there is any point in travelling at all, which examinations are needed and what to bring.
This material is for information only. The sums given are a guide from a former price list, not a current commercial offer; the current terms and cost are confirmed before work begins. Questions of diagnosis and treatment are decided by a doctor after an examination in person.