Looking for expert Swedish translation services? Since 2003, Green Crescent has been providing professional translation services between English and Swedish to clients worldwide. We specialize in a range of industries, including legal, technical, marketing, and business sectors. Our experienced team delivers accurate, high-quality translations tailored to your specific needs. Get a fast, free Swedish translation quote today!
Our Comprehensive Swedish Translation Services
Green Crescent’s skilled team of Swedish translators includes subject matter experts for industry-specific needs. We provide translations tailored to all major Swedish dialects, ensuring that your content resonates with native speakers across various regions:
- Standard Swedish (Rikssvenska)
- Finland Swedish (spoken by Swedish-speaking Finns)
- Götamål (spoken in southern Sweden)
- Norrland dialects (spoken in northern Sweden)
We specialize in both English to Swedish and Swedish to English translations, offering the following services:
Simple Translation
Our simple translations in the English/Swedish language pair are designed for basic communication needs. These translations are completed by a single Swedish translator without the involvement of an editor or proofreader, and therefore should not be considered final or polished work for most professional or formal use cases. While they are typically of high quality, simple translations are essentially "rough drafts" that do not go through additional editing, proofreading, or other quality control processes. These translations are ideal for personal letters, informal communications, initial drafts that will later be revised, or for situations where you need to quickly understand the general meaning or "gist" of a Swedish text.
Standard Translation (TEP)
Our Standard Swedish Translation service is designed to provide high-quality translations for everyday use, including business correspondence, websites, reports, presentations, and similar content. This service includes translation, editing, and proofreading (TEP) to ensure the highest level of accuracy and clarity in your Swedish communications.
Organization Critical Translation (TEP+)
Our Organization Critical Swedish Translation service is designed for situations where perfection is essential. This option is recommended for texts intended for large-scale printing, technical documents, legal contracts and patents, medical documents, or any case where an error could be critical or costly. Each translated line is reviewed by a minimum of three linguists, with multiple rounds of proofreading. Subject matter experts (SMEs) may be involved as needed throughout the Swedish translation, editing, and proofreading (TEP) process.
Bilingual Editing
Bilingual Editing for Swedish Translation is the process of editing a translated text by comparing both the source and target texts in the English/Swedish language pair. The editor, fluent in the source language and a native speaker of Swedish, ensures that the translation is accurate, consistent, and faithful to the source text while also maintaining clarity and fluency in Swedish. This step occurs after the initial translation in our TEP (Translation, Editing, Proofreading) Organization Critical and Standard Translation services. We also offer this service as a standalone option for translations completed by individuals or organizations not affiliated with Green Crescent.
Proofreading
With each additional round of editing and proofreading, the error rate of a document approaches the perfection horizon. Our proofreading service for English to Swedish and Swedish to English translations involves reviewing a single-language text to identify and correct surface-level errors, such as spelling mistakes, grammar issues, punctuation errors, and formatting inconsistencies. This step is the final phase in our TEP (Translation, Editing, Proofreading) Organization Critical and Standard translation services. We also offer proofreading as a standalone service for translations completed by individuals or organizations not affiliated with Green Crescent.
Legal Translation
Green Crescent's elite team of linguists, each with subject matter expertise in specialized legal fields, is ready to assist you with the translation of a wide range of judicial, administrative, and private legal documents between Swedish and English. Nearly all countries recognize that submitting documents for translation does not compromise attorney-client privilege. Furthermore, we can implement enhanced security measures to ensure strict confidentiality upon request.
Technical Translation
Technical translations involve any text that features specialized vocabulary or language registers, necessitating additional research and terminology verification. Common technical subject matter includes legal, medical, scientific, engineering, and IT topics, but any text that utilizes industry-specific terminology or neologisms may be considered technical in nature. These translations cannot be executed by generalists alone; they require the expertise of linguists with in-depth knowledge of the relevant technical field in both Swedish and English.
Medical Translation
Green Crescent has established protocols to ensure compliance with HIPAA and HITECH regulations, which you can learn more about here. Our Swedish medical translations are treated as "organization critical," unless otherwise specified, and we are committed to implementing the necessary digital security measures and legal safeguards for every project subject to HIPAA and HITECH requirements. Our team of skilled linguists, specialized in medical terminology, ensures that your translations are both accurate and secure.
Localization
Our translation services are tailored for specific target markets that require non-standard varieties or dialects of the Swedish language. Green Crescent is equipped to accommodate requests for localized Swedish translation, ensuring that your content resonates with the intended audience. For example, we offer translations in regional dialects such as "Northern Swedish" and "Southern Swedish." Our experienced linguists are well-versed in the nuances of these dialects, allowing us to provide translations that are not only accurate but also culturally relevant and engaging. By focusing on the unique linguistic characteristics of each Swedish dialect, we help you effectively connect with your audience and enhance the impact of your message.
Website, App, and Software Localization for Swedish
At Green Crescent, we leverage our extensive experience in software development to provide specialized Swedish localization services. We excel in adapting your website, app, or software’s content, design, and functionality for Swedish-speaking audiences. Whether you need a fully multilingual solution or specific adaptations for Swedish, our services encompass translating text, adjusting images, and modifying layouts. We also adapt and program code for both mobile and desktop applications, ensuring that your app functions seamlessly across Swedish-speaking regions while adhering to platform-specific guidelines. Let us help you create an engaging and culturally relevant experience for your Swedish-speaking users.
Back-translation
Back-translation is often a crucial component of the quality control process, particularly when translating highly technical documents or for critical translations in the Swedish/English language pair where an error could have significant consequences. This process involves an independent linguist translating a previously translated text back into its original source language—either Swedish or English—without reference to the original document. The resulting text is then compared to the original translation to verify its intelligibility, accuracy, and suitability for its intended use. Back-translation is also relevant in situations such as the translation of legal documents, medical texts, and marketing materials, where precise wording is essential. It can be particularly beneficial when adapting content for different cultural contexts, ensuring that the intended message is preserved and resonates appropriately with the target audience in both Swedish and English.
Peer Review
Green Crescent offers professional focus group services that include a comprehensive "read-through" conducted by one or more linguists who were not involved in the original translation process. This approach allows for an unbiased assessment of the translation's quality, style, and overall fitness for its intended purpose. The focus group can evaluate various aspects of the text, including linguistic accuracy, cultural relevance, and the effectiveness of the messaging in reaching the target audience. Feedback is provided on how well the translation conveys the original intent and nuances of the source material, ensuring that it resonates with readers in both Swedish and English contexts.
SME Review
Subject Matter Expert (SME) review is a specialized form of peer review conducted by non-linguist professionals with deep expertise in specific fields. This process is particularly important for Swedish to English or English to Swedish translations of highly technical texts, ensuring that the content is both linguistically accurate and technically precise. In fields such as legal, medical, scientific, and engineering, SMEs help verify the correct use of industry-specific terminology, adherence to regulatory or technical standards, and the contextual relevance of the translated material. By incorporating SME review into the translation process, we ensure that your final product is not only fluent and culturally appropriate but also technically sound and ready for professional use in both Swedish- and English-speaking markets.
Transcreation
Our Swedish Transcreation Service goes beyond simple translation by creatively adapting your content to resonate with Swedish-speaking audiences. At Green Crescent, we ensure that your brand’s messages, campaigns, and communications maintain their original intent, emotional impact, and tone, while aligning with the cultural and linguistic nuances of the target market. Whether it’s marketing, branding, or advertising, we reimagine your content to feel authentic and compelling in Swedish, helping your brand connect meaningfully and effectively with Swedish-speaking audiences.
MTPE-Full (Machine Translation Post-Editing - Full)
MTPE-Full (Machine Translation Post-Editing - Full) refers to the comprehensive post-editing of a machine-translated text between Swedish and English, ensuring the final product meets the highest standards of linguistic quality. In this process, once the machine generates the translation, a skilled human editor thoroughly reviews the entire content, ensuring that it is not only accurate in meaning but also flows naturally and fluently in the target language. This detailed editing process includes correcting grammar, syntax, and terminology, adapting the text for the intended audience, and ensuring it adheres to any stylistic preferences or regulatory requirements. MTPE-Full is suitable for business-critical texts where precision and quality are paramount.
MTPE-Light (Machine Translation Post-Editing - Light)
MTPE-Light (Machine Translation Post-Editing - Light) is a more streamlined version of post-editing, designed for situations where speed and cost-efficiency are prioritized over linguistic perfection. In this process, the human editor focuses primarily on fixing major errors and ensuring that the overall meaning of the machine-translated text is clear and understandable in the target language (Swedish or English). While MTPE-Light may not deliver a translation that is fully polished or ready for publication, it provides an efficient and cost-effective solution for internal documents, reports, and communications where basic comprehension is sufficient.
Additional Language Services and Options for Swedish
Certified Translation
Green Crescent provides certified translations of a wide range of legal documents, including birth, marriage, and death certificates, diplomas, school transcripts, passports, and much more, in both Swedish and English. Our certified translations are recognized for their accuracy and compliance with legal standards, making them suitable for official use. You can receive hard copies of our standard certificate of translation mailed directly to your home or business.
Rush Service
If you require expedited service, Green Crescent can usually accommodate such requests. However, please note that rushing translations often comes with trade-offs, which may affect both price and consistency. Please consult with a project manager for more details.
Discounts
Volume discounts are available for large projects, long-term clients, and for non-profits, charities, NGOs, and government organizations.
Minimum Fee
There is a minimum project fee of $75.00 USD per language, which can be reduced or waived for regular clients.
Additional Language Services
In addition to translation, Green Crescent offers a range of other Swedish language services, including interpretation, transcription, website design and development, and desktop publishing.
About the Swedish Language
Swedish, known locally as "svenska," is spoken by over 10 million people, primarily in Sweden and Finland, where it holds official status. As a member of the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, svenska shares close linguistic ties with Norwegian and Danish, facilitating mutual intelligibility among speakers of these languages.
The Cultural Context, History, and Linguistic Features of Swedish
Swedish has a rich cultural and historical legacy. It traces its origins back to Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, and has undergone significant transformations over the centuries. Modern Swedish developed from Old Swedish, with the major shift occurring around the 16th century. This transformation was spurred by the translation of the Bible into Swedish, which standardized the language and solidified its modern grammatical rules.
Swedish is known for its melodic and rhythmical qualities, making it a language well-suited for literature, music, and theater. One of the most iconic works in Swedish literature is "The Emigrants" series by Vilhelm Moberg, published between 1949 and 1959, which explores the Swedish emigration to America in the 19th century. This work holds a place of importance in Swedish literary history and captures both the struggles and aspirations of the Swedish people during a pivotal era.
The Writing System: Latin Alphabet
Swedish uses the Latin alphabet with the addition of three special characters: Å, Ä, and Ö. These letters play a crucial role in differentiating words and their meanings, and they reflect the unique phonetic qualities of the Swedish language.
Vowels and Consonants: Swedish has a relatively large inventory of vowel sounds, many of which come in pairs of long and short variants. Consonant sounds are generally stable, although some, such as "r" and "sj," can vary regionally.
Diacritics: The Swedish alphabet’s distinct letters, such as Å, Ä, and Ö, add nuance to pronunciation and meaning. For example, "å" represents a sound akin to the English "aw" in "saw," while "ä" and "ö" represent sounds that don’t exist in English.
Swedish Alphabet
The Swedish alphabet consists of 29 letters, which includes the standard 26 letters found in the English alphabet, plus the three additional characters: Å, Ä, and Ö.
- Vowels: A, a, E, e, I, i, O, o, U, u, Y, y, Å, å, Ä, ä, Ö, ö
- Consonants: B, b, C, c, D, d, F, f, G, g, H, h, J, j, K, k, L, l, M, m, N, n, P, p, Q, q, R, r, S, s, T, t, V, v, W, w, X, x, Z, z
The Swedish alphabet is written from left to right and is phonetic, meaning that the pronunciation of most words aligns closely with their spelling. This makes the language relatively accessible for learners once the phonetic rules are understood.
Key Linguistic Differences Between Swedish and English for Translation
When translating between Swedish and English, several linguistic factors must be taken into account to ensure an accurate and culturally sensitive translation. Below are some of the key differences:
Sentence Structure: Both Swedish and English follow a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) sentence structure, but Swedish tends to allow more flexibility in word order, especially in subordinate clauses and questions. Translators need to ensure that this flexibility does not disrupt the intended meaning in the target language.
Definite and Indefinite Articles: Unlike English, where definite and indefinite articles ("the" and "a/an") are separate words, Swedish expresses definiteness by attaching a suffix to the noun itself. For example, "house" in Swedish is "hus," but "the house" is "huset." Understanding how to manage these articles is crucial when translating Swedish to English.
Gendered Nouns: Swedish has two grammatical genders: common and neuter. While not as complex as languages with more extensive gender systems, the use of gendered nouns in Swedish still requires attention in translation to ensure the correct agreement with adjectives and articles.
Compound Words: Swedish often creates long compound words that combine several elements into a single unit. For example, "samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten" means "the faculty of social sciences." Breaking these compounds into more natural structures for English while preserving the meaning is a key task in translation.
Pronouns and Formality: Swedish has undergone changes in the use of pronouns over the last century, shifting towards a more informal and egalitarian approach. The formal "ni" has mostly been replaced by the more familiar "du" in everyday conversation, but understanding the right level of formality remains important in certain contexts.
By acknowledging and adapting to these linguistic differences, Green Crescent ensures that our Swedish translation services are accurate and culturally informed. Whether translating legal documents, technical manuals, or creative content, we aim to provide translations that resonate effectively with Swedish-speaking audiences.
An Insight into Swedish Expression
This passage is from The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg, first published between 1949 and 1959. This monumental series is a cornerstone of 20th-century Swedish literature, chronicling the journey of Swedish emigrants to America in the 19th century, reflecting themes of hardship, hope, and identity.
- Swedish: "Människan är gjord för att skapa sitt eget öde, men aldrig att undgå det."
- English Translation: "Man is made to shape his own destiny, but never to escape it."