German-to-English translation
(AI-assisted)

I translate from German into UK and US English, specialising in the following areas:

Marketing
Automotive
Corporate governance and general business
Culture, history and architecture

Like many other language professionals these days, I use machine translation (AI-assisted translation) to speed up the translation process for certain types of document. Machine translation has become ubiquitous in the translation industry in recent years and is very effective when it comes to producing translations of informational texts that are neutral in tone. I work with these translations, using my linguistic and subject matter expertise to adjust and harmonise terminology, for example, or to rewrite sentences that have been translated too literally.

Clearly, the input of a human language expert remains an indispensable part of the translation process. However, since the process is now (somewhat) quicker overall, I am able to charge lower prices than I would have done in the past for traditional translation. My word rate is between 6 and 10 cents based on the complexity of the text in question. Please get in touch for more information.

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My specialisms

Corporate governance

My expertise in this area is based on my four years of experience as a designated translator for the Supervisory Board of a major German corporation. Examples: Annual reports, financial and audit reports, documentation for executive and supervisory boards e.g. minutes of meetings, rules of procedure, resolution texts

Culture, history, architecture

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Automotive industry

I am well-versed in this area thanks to my educational background in the humanities and my experience in academic book publishing, as well as the many years I have spent pursuing my passion for German history and architecture. Examples: Visitor information for museums and galleries, corporate magazines on art and culture sponsorship, brochures for architecture firms

I have ample experience in this field thanks to the five years I spent translating in-house at a car manufacturer. Examples: Owner's manuals, press releases / press information packs and website material for new vehicle launches, presentations and guidelines on manufacturing and logistics processes, articles on historic vehicles

I regularly translate marketing material for a number of mail order and e-commerce businesses and love working together with clients to make sure their message comes across effectively to an English-speaking audience. Examples: Promotional emails, customer letters, social media posts, adverts, website content, brochures

Marketing

AI technology can save translators time and effort by producing translation, or machine-translation, text may initially appear to read well, this often conceals inaccuracies. AI is generally good at constructing grammatically correct and readable sentences, but these do not necessarily accurately replicate the content of the source text. And sometimes the translations are just plain wrong, particularly when there is a lack of context (e.g. an individual word that appears on a list or a button). A post-editor will pick up on a range of errors and generally give you the confidence that your translation is ready for publication.

What does a translator look out for when editing a machine-translated text?

● Instances where AI has "misinterpreted" the source text or translated it too literally

● Incorrectly used terminology (just because a word has been translated in a particular way many times before does not mean that this translation is correct, i.e. that this is the term actually used in English-speaking contexts)

● Instances where the source text is unclear, leading to an unsuitable translation - the post-editor will query these with the customer/author or will use their own reason to deduce what the author intended

● Inconsistency, e.g. in the use of terminology

● Stylistic elements (capitalisation, punctuation etc.) that do not align with the house style

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