In zwei Sprachen
schreibt sich’s besser!

Of course you can write yourself – but if writing isn’t your core competence, then why not save yourself the time and the hassle. Let me provide the right words for everything you want to express: as letters, mailings, ads, websites, collateral, presentations and whatever else you have to say – in English and in German.

Starting with the first idea via all intermediate steps right to the finished product: if it has to do with text, it’s in good hands with me.

Of course, you may also order only individual modules – just headlines, just a slogan or a claim, polishing the text for a presentation or condensing a paper into an Executive Summary.

But then again, I’ll also be happy to turn your 200-page input into a 24-page brochure featuring both consistent headline structure and reading flow – you call the tune.

Whatever I do, I want to make things as easy for you as I can – from the creative brief via checks and potential copy alternatives all the way to the final approval. 

You can tell most translations by their not-quite-perfect diction. Yet, there are ways and means to avoid this. Many people think that the fabled ”native speaker“ will automatically solve all problems. But that’s only partly true. 

What’s vital is the felicitous combination of excellent language proficiency in both the original and the target language, plus the aptitude to write fluently in both languages. 

Add to that comprehensive knowledge of the respective countries, from geography via history to current issues – gathered in theory as in practical experience – plus culture and life across all registers: from classic literature to trash, theatre to TV, business, politics, and the economy, problems and jokes, music and architecture, cars and cooking, in a word: everything. 

This combination is not frequent, and learning never stops. That’s why it’s a good thing for a translator to stay right on top of things. So that translations are as smooth as originals. In both German and English. Like mine.

Interpreting is like juggling: if you have to think too much, you lose it – everything has to flow absolutely smoothly and seamlessly.

For this, you need talent, discipline, a very extensive active vocabulary in at least two languages, a healthy dose of curiosity, wide-ranging all-round education, and most of all: loads of experience.

This may sound as if not everybody could do this, and that’s right: of course you can speak German, too. But are you really able to express every nuance that’s important to you? Do you know all the words, even the far-flung, opaque, and outlandish ones? Do you understand your German-speaking conversation partners even when their accent is thick as a brick, as is often the case?

With many years’ experience in interpreting (German-English / English-German) in a wide range of situations and topics (except medicine and law), I’ll be happy to provide clear communication for your project or event, your market research survey or conference.

Don’t you just know the situation: you hand over your printed brochure, fresh from the press, to your important business partner who opens it, and the first thing they see is … a typo. Argh.

If you want me to, I’ll put on my pedant’s cap, reading every word and each and every letter. If a word on page 26 is spelled differently than on page 126, I will find it, and align it. So that errors can get corrected in time.

For this, I’ll have to accept that no-one likes a proofreader. Pointing out mistakes is not nice. You’re not making any friends that way. People are like that, alas. I have to live with that.

Meanwhile, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the law of Entropy, causes chaos wherever it can. Correcting errors is the vain battle against this law of nature. Still, I try it over and over again. 

So that your freshly printed brochure (or flyer, mailing, even your live website …) will make a positive impression.