The short answer is yes, notary publics are legally allowed to notarize documents from any state as long the notarial act is conducted within the geographical boundaries of the notary's state of commission.
In some countries, such as the Netherlands, France, Italy, or Québec (Canada) among others, they also retain and keep a minute copy of their instruments—in the form of memoranda—in notarial protocols, or archives. Notaries generally hold undergraduate degrees in civil law and graduate degrees in notarial law.
Effective January 1, 2021 the Notary division is going paperless ALL applications, communications, etc. will be electronic. Every notary is responsible to ensure that SOS has a current e-mail, street address, and business phone number on file at all times.
Similarly, a notary public of another state may not act as a notary public in Maryland, unless the person also holds a commission issued by Maryland. However, a notary can notarize documents from another state as long as the document is notarized in Maryland.
Can a U.S. notary notarize a foreign document? Yes, but as before, the notarial certificate is required to be in English.
Remember, you can still notarize a document written in a foreign language provided the signer understands the document and your notarial certificate is written in English.
In countries that are part of the Hague Convention, get your document notarized by a local notary. You can have the document authenticated for use in the United States. U.S. embassies and consulates may authenticate documents in countries not in the Hague Convention.
Signatures can be usually also notarized by a U.S. “Notary Public”, however in some cases an apostille is required as well. Please clarify beforehand with the German authority in question, to whom you need to submit the document, whether an apostille is additionally required.
Walgreens offers notary services at select stores at select times while online notarization through Notarize can be a convenient and accessible alternative.
In addition, certifying a translation typically requires the translator to sign a declaration certifying that the translation is accurate, then have the signature notarized. If you as the Notary also were the translator, you would be notarizing your own signature.