Why specialist translation?

The assumption that a person with a good command of a foreign language can automatically translate well, is rather dubious. The assumption, however, that mastering translation technique qualifies a person to translate any type of texts, is probably an even more widespread misconception. Contents, rather than words are translated and these require first to be well understood in the source language. Because of that, machine translation (offered by e.g. Google Translate) will not offer you suffcient quality.

It is true that one should be guided by fixed terms while translating e.g. a court judgement or operating instructions. Nonetheless, in many cases it is vital to first thoroughly determine the meaning of a sentence before it can be precisely translated into another language. This requires specialised topic knowledge and goes further than mere proficiency in a foreign language. Due to a gathering trend in specialisation in all areas of commerce and science, the understanding of translation as a profession has undergone dramatic changes in the last years. Translators have become experts for international communication in specialised fields as even the widest general knowledge does not cover all topics. Specialisation in particular fields is therefore absolutely paramount.

The specialised fields described below follow the categorisation of the Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators BDÜ. Please note that my competencies are proven by Letters of Reference from my customers. As a rule, I reject translation assignments with texts not related to topics that I specialise in for the reasons of professional ethics. For instance, with the exception of medical certificates, health insurance attestations and simpler medical reports, I do not translate any specialist medical texts. You will find translators specialising in the medical and any other fields not covered by myself by using the search engine on the website of the Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators BDÜ.

Specialist translation in law

I have a particularly strong knowledge of the following branches of law: contract law, penal and police law, family law, aliens' law, inheritance law, trademark law, labour law, social insurance law, Terms & Conditions

Expertise: many years of experience as a court translator at the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court; interpreting at court trials and police interviews on a regular basis; cooperation with international law firms

You will find more information on legal translation here.

Specialist translation in commerce and marketing

My most relevant specialities in the field of commerce and marketing are: balance sheets/annual accounts, insurance industry, logistics; advertising, tourism, press and PR, journalism and the publishing industry

Expertise: cooperation with Deutsche Vermögensberatung's advising offices; cooperation with the transport company Pawtrans; localisation projects for the companies Webcraft, Supralift and Vocando; working as an employee of the daily newspaper "Nordkurier" (2003-2005), the German Press Agency dpa (2007-2010), the media content company Bulls Pressedienst (2009-2010) and the PR agency Fleishman-Hillard (2010-2012)

Specialist translation in IT and technology

My areas of expertise are in the electrical and electronics industry, health & safety, and particularly magnet and forklift technology. In the IT field, I have acquainted myself with computer applications, database systems, software localisation as well as documentation.

Expertise: cooperation with Hyundai in the field of technical translation; interpreting at company trainings in health & safety; maintaining the website of the Webcraft company which specialises in the production of magnets for the industry; cooperation with the internet company Supralift which offers a B2B platform for forklift dealers; software-related translation projects for numerous translation companies; working as an employee in the documentation unit of the German Press Agency dpa (2007-2010)

Specialist translation in humanities

I possess extensive knowledge in the following disciplines: philosophy, sociology, education systems as well as linguistic and literature studies

Expertise: I hold a Master of Arts' degree in Philosophy, German literature, and British cultural studies & English language and have a strong knowledge of the terminology commonly used in these subjects. In 2019, my translation of a book on Rene Descartes' philosophy will be published at Akademie Verlag. Furthermore, I am currently working on a German-Polish dictionary of philosophical terms.

Fees

When giving a quote, I take into consideration the difficulty level of the text and the time needed for processing the translation. The basis for calculating the quote is the price per line that consists of 55 characters (without blanks).

Should you own reference material, company terminology, glossaries etc., which could influence the accuracy of my translation positively, then please send me these whilst placing your order.

The invoiced fee reflects the working time, which consists not just of the actual translating process, but also of the preparation and post-processing of your order, terminology search, text formatting, spell checking and possible issuing of a certification clause. Should you have relevant TMs at your disposal, then depending on the quality of terminology various 'match' rates can be agreed. Should you be interested in cooperation on a regular basis, a framework agreement with attractive discounts can be arranged.

You will find more information on calculation of prices here.

In certain cases translation costs can be paid or refunded for you. For more details click here.