My Translating History
I am a native English speaker and am basically fluent in German and can translate text. I have traveled in Germany and Switzerland and have lived in the Austrian Alps. I have translated a variety of subjects, although I don’t do legal or super serious material. I did, however, translate a graduate thesis for an Austrian osteopath. But the majority of my translating so far has been translating fairy tales and stories from German into English. Although I can usually translate accurately word for word, I’m at my best when maintaining the spirit, the mood, the humor, and/or the allegory involved; using colloquial English is more important. Also maintaining any poetic elements, such as the rhythm, the mood, or finding English words or expressions to maintain alliteration and word plays where they appear in German.
I have also translated a website into English for a native German speaking storyteller for her English version of her website. Again maintaining poetic elements, such as rhythm, mood, word plays, etc. I am also very good at “cleaning up” the work I translate, I would never make changes without clearing it with the person who I am working for first, but in the aforementioned website I did some organizing, making things neat, consistent, and getting the spelling and capitalization correct. And in the graduate thesis that I translated I found some errors in a table that I brought to his attention. There was no translating to be done in the table but I have a knack of catching such things.
For more information or to discuss the possibility of hiring my services contact me here. We can also discuss rates. I have, at this time, no fixed rate.
References
For a reference from a very satisfied customer, contact Karin Tscholl. She is the storyteller whose site I translated and for whom I translated several stories. Contact information for her may be found on her Frau Wolle website. Click the KONTAKT button. Also you can view her English version, most of which I did, by clicking the British flag.
German Studies
In the course of learning German myself I have organized some references that I would be willing to share with anyone interested. Contact me about that. Fill me in a little about what your interest is and what level of learning German you are at.
Also as a recommendation for German reading for the beginner I found reading fairy tales and such a good place to start. Not too hard, short, and fun.
I once received this very special award for my work and spirit.
It translates as follows:
The Garden Knows Wherefrom The Growing Comes
Official Appreciation-Award of the Storytellers Committee of the Middle Mountain Republic Township of Vill, Austria for Special Extraordinary Indescribable Merits Bestowed for Lifetime and a Further 18 Years upon Roger Brown
Sincerely, Frau Wolle, June 13, 2001
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.
‒ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe