French or Dutch: which translation language?
The wrong language means the file comes back — not because the translation is poor, but because the office does not work in that language. The answer follows the municipality or institution, not your own preference.
Checked on 8 September 2026 Last updated 10 September 2026
In brief
- Certification level
- Sworn translator (Belgium) + Apostille
- Estimated time
- One question; the consequences of guessing are a full cycle
- Destination country
- Belgium
Accepted under conditions
This is a small question with a disproportionate cost attached, and it is decided before any translation is ordered.
The rule
Belgian public offices work in the language of their linguistic area. A document translated into the wrong one is not partially acceptable — the office simply does not process files in that language, and it comes back untouched.
How to know
It follows the municipality or institution that will receive the file, not your own fluency and not the language you use at home. If you are dealing with a municipality, its linguistic area answers the question. If you are dealing with an institution — a university, a community body — the institution’s own working language does.
Brussels
Both languages operate in the capital region, and institutions there belong to one community or the other. This is where guessing is most tempting and most expensive. Ask the specific office; do not infer from the postcode.
Bilingual documents do not solve it
A translation in both languages is not a safe compromise: some offices treat a bilingual document as neither, and it also doubles the volume and the cost. Choose one, on the basis of an answer rather than an assumption.
The related question
Language is only half the requirement. The other half is who may produce the translation — for Belgian files, typically a translator on the national register. Ask both questions in the same email. See the Belgian sworn translator system.
What language means for us
If a Belgian office asks for a registered Belgian translator, the language question is theirs to answer. Where a translation from Türkiye is acceptable, we work into French; for Dutch-language files our group’s Dutch and Flemish desk is Holland Tercüme. Either way the language is settled with the receiving office before anything is translated.
The reverse direction
A Belgian document going to a Turkish authority is translated into Turkish here, whether the original is in French or Dutch. The source language changes the work slightly and the principle not at all. See using Belgian documents in Türkiye.
Keep the answer
Note who told you and when. Practice within a single office can vary between staff, and a written reply is what settles a disagreement later.
Order in the right language the first time
A translation is not convertible: rendering a Belgian file from French into Dutch afterwards means commissioning a new translation from the original, not editing the one you have. That is why this question belongs at the very start, alongside the choice of translator, and why guessing on the basis of your own language is the expensive option. One email answers it definitively.
Frequently asked questions
Generally not for a Belgian public office, which works in its own linguistic area’s language.
No. Some offices treat it as neither, and it costs more. Choose one after asking.
Our working languages here are Turkish, French and English. Dutch-language files are arranged locally.
Each office applies its own language. Two offices can mean two versions.