As well as general texts, I also offer expert translations in the specialist areas of medicine, economics, and law.
MEDICAL TRANSLATION
Translation of medical reports, articles for medical journals, medical questionnaires, general medical texts or web content on food intolerances, thyroid diseases, diabetes, pregnancy, paediatrics, etc.
ECONOMICS / FINANCIAL TRANSLATION
Translation of company balance sheets, stock market & investment news, general financial articles, etc.
LEGAL TRANSLATION
Translation of certificates, contracts, and other legal documents, which can be certified on request.
Translation Rates
The cost of a translation is generally calculated based on the number of words in the source text.
My basic fee for general translations from English into German is € 0.25* per word. The actual fee for a particular translation contract may be higher, depending on the deadline, difficulty of the text, file format, etc. My rate always includes editing/proofreading by a colleague, so that you can be sure to receive a flawless text ready for publishing.
My minimum charge is € 50.00*.
Factors that could increase the word price:
- File format. For translating from .ppt, .xml, .html, .jpg, .pdf files or similar, I add a surcharge of at least 10 %. Please provide me with your files in Word format if possible.
- Delivery date. More urgent translations attract a higher surcharge. My usual daily output is a maximum of 2,000 words and a translation requiring more than this will be more expensive.
- ‘Out-of-hours’ work. Although I am willing to work over the weekend, on bank holidays, and during the evening, a surcharge of at least 50% will apply for this. I will gladly provide you with an individual quote if you send me the text (or at least an extract from it).
*All the prices quoted on this page are intended for corporate customers and are calculated without statutory German VAT at the current rate of 19%.
Frequently Asked Questions—Translation
I have a business meeting next week; could you come and translate for me?
No. What you need is an interpreter, not a translator; translators work with written texts and interpreters work in spoken situations. Although there are interpreting translators and translating interpreters (the umbrella term is “linguist”), I choose to restrict myself to translating written texts and am not available for spoken language assignments.
Do you translate user manuals as well?
Not usually. A good translator will only work in specialist areas in which they are competent. You are probably familiar with the situation in which a mechanic starts to explain how a motor works: however plain and simple their English is, the explanation is simply all Greek to you. This is exactly how it is for me, so I tend to stay away from technical texts. The exception to this is if the manual is about an appliance with which I happen to be very familiar. For all other cases, I am more than happy to use my wide network of colleagues to recommend a suitable translator for you.
Do you translate into Russian as well?
No; the only exception being legal documents, which I translate from Russian into German and vice versa. Russian is a very difficult language and the mother-tongue principle generally applies to translation work. Under this principle, translators only work out of the foreign language into their mother tongue, not the other way round. This is because, in the vast majority of cases, you can only be stylistically confident in your mother tongue. However, I am more than happy to use my wide network of colleagues to recommend a suitable Russian translator for you.
Do you translate into English as well?
No; the only exception being legal documents, which I translate from German into English and vice versa. But I am more than happy to use my wide network of colleagues to recommend a suitable English translator for you.