German Super Words Have no Literal Translation

German translation is in a world of its own. German as a language is linguistically similar to several other European languages, but seems to be unique in its ability to construct complex words by combining several others together into a ‘super word’. These super words cannot easily be translated literally. In fact, if you have a German dictionary you might not even see some of these words in it unless it is a very comprehensive one. Professional German translators need to have a very extensive vocabulary if it is to include the rich diversity of German super words. Not sure what we are talking about?

Here are some examples below. 

Have you ever eaten ‘comfort food’ if you were bored, lonely, or just stressed out? If you do that on a regular basis, you may just put on a few extra kilos of weight, what is called in German Kummerspeck, literally ‘grief bacon.’

If you do end up with too much Kummerspeck, you will have to fight quite hard against your natural tendency to do nothing about it to shed those kilos. What is called in German Innerer Scheinehund is the tendency in each of us to put off doing now what could be done later, our ‘inner laziness’. In fact, the German term literally means ‘inner pigdog,’ which somehow or other becomes something quite different!

Have you ever thought you really wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere altogether more exotic than the place you are right now? Of course, you have. It’s common in winter, when the skies are grey and drab. Germans feel it a lot and call it Fernweh, or in English literally ‘distance pain’. Perhaps that’s why so many Germans can be found all over the world in exciting locations. They just love to listen to their Fernweh!

Some of us keep working and living the same old life until suddenly we get the feeling that we really should have done something more exciting. Maybe it’s now too late? That funny feeling that we might be missing out on something is what Germans call Torschlusspanik. It literally means ‘closing gate panic’ or in other words a fear that an opportunity is going to disappear!

Have you ever been caught out doing something you shouldn’t and have given some kind of lame excuse? Some of us do it all the time, especially kids! A poor excuse in German is called Erklärungsnot, although the literal explanation is ‘explanation poverty’!

As you can see from just these few examples alone, learning German is actually a lot of fun, so don’t leave it all to the professional German translator. German words might seem like Zugenbrechers, (tongue twisters) but most of them are easier than that and once you’ve mastered a few yourself, you can try them out on your German speaking friends!

Why is Legal Translation so Specialised?

Legal translation from German to English or vice versa may involve any sort of text that is used within the legal system or systems in the two countries that are corresponding. Given the fact that there are several countries where German is spoken, each with their own legal system and specific terminology and correspondingly there are several ore countries where English is the principal language, you can see straight away that German English translation of legal documents is a highly specialised task.

The variety of legal documents that may need translating is impressive:

• patents;
• transcripts;
• witness statements;
• depositions;
• official reports;
• financial documents;
• identity documents;
• wills and testaments

The documents in the list above are just some of the sorts of documents that may need to be translated for one reason or another. The fact that most western countries are becoming more multicultural through increased migration means inevitably there are more documents that have to be made available for things like student and employment visas, residence, marriage, birth, divorce and citizenship.

Many businesses and government agencies are finding that they need to deal with a variety of organisations in another country where the language is different and legal documents must be made available.

Legal document translation must be in the hands of not just translators who have an excellent command of German and English but must be specialists in the legal field as well as having an excellent understanding of legal terminology in both languages.

In many instances, even small mistakes in English German translation can lead to costly misunderstandings, lost or delayed contracts and other significant legal consequences.

In some countries, translators must be accredited to a nationally recognised body which means that their training and qualifications are suitable for most translation tasks. In some European countries, translators must swear before a court that their legal translations are accurate and in other countries (e.g. Italy), a legal translation must be accompanied by a certification that it is an accurate legal document. This level of accreditation is not uniform and in Britain and the U.S., for instance, accreditation and sworn statements are not mandatory by government authorities but they may have their own trade recognition which should satisfy the client who wants some confidence that they have chosen the right translator to work on their legal documents. 

Do Your Potential Customers Know You Exist?

  

Perhaps it’s the arrogance of the native English speaker that everyone else in the world should or could understand English well enough to think they don’t need to bother with learning another language themselves. In the business world, this arrogance, or misunderstanding, means that an astonishing number of companies think they can communicate with the rest of the world in English. 

For some businesses, it’s more about a false economy than arrogance or ignorance. The thinking is that all a business has to do is to advertise its products or services on its website and millions of people around the world will be glued to their screens in anticipation.

To be honest, this is a failing of English language based businesses more than any other language. It doesn’t take too much persuasion for a German company, for instance, that is considering expanding its market beyond the borders of Germany and a few other European countries where German is widely spoken. Few people really are able to understand German, so there is an obvious need to include German translators in the budget when it comes to expanding a market, even if it is just having an English, French or Spanish website version available.

Some startling gaps in the business plan of U.S. companies, for instance, illustrate where some businesses are failing to grasp their mistakes. One translation firm did some research into what languages a sample of 160 U.S. based businesses translated their marketing material into. The answer was that nearly half of them did not even bother to translate into Spanish, despite the huge Spanish speaking population in that country and that the same language is spoken throughout Central and South America, which is a key international market target for U.S. businesses.

German companies, by contrast, accustomed to having to communicate in other languages, are at a distinct competitive advantage in having no compunction in hiring German English translation services if they are targeting English language based markets and no doubt finding professional translators to translate their marketing material into other key languages, too. There is an old saying that you get what you pay for and in terms of paying out for translation services, international wannabe businesses that allocate part of their budget wisely will reach the people they intend to reach while others will never be heard.

The Police Need Translators and Interpreters Too

The amount of money that police in one of Britain's counties is paying out for translation services has become a controversial topic with local politicians claiming that the money could be better spent on tackling important local crime issues, like rural crime.

Lincolnshire is a large county in the Midlands of England. One might wonder, like one of the candidates vying for election as the county's Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, why the police in this largely rural county might need to spend over $500,000 on translating services.  These are not German translators or French translators but mostly translators who can interpret and translate languages spoken by some of Britain's most recent immigrants including those from Eritrea, Somalia and the Philippines.

When contacted by media representatives, a spokeswoman from the Lincolnshire Police, Deputy Chief Constable, Heather Roach, said that the county had become more diverse over the last decade and there was a need to be able to communicate with victims, offenders and witnesses who could not speak or understand English well enough. She went on to say that the police force regretted the amount of money being spent but thought that it was unavoidable in this era.

Marc Jones had made the comment about the expense of translating and interpreting services being astronomical and suggested that he might set different priorities if he won the position of Police and Crime Commissioner. He said that the Lincolnshire force had already overspent far too much on legal help to remove a former Police Commissioner.

Presumably, whatever Mr. Jones thinks about one specific government agency, this trend towards an increasing need for translation and interpretation services in many areas of life is something being experienced all over Europe where there has been a surge in immigration recently. Germany is one of those European nations that has chosen to take in many immigrants during the Syrian Civil War crisis and it can only be guessed how many German translation services will be asked to provide help to communicate with these immigrants.

What’s Behind the Scenes of Success as a Translator?

A freelance translator is unlikely to boast success immediately, as it takes time to build up experience. In fact, it involves years of learning and working with text in order to reach a successful outcome. It is difficult to shortcut when it comes to translations and there are no keys that will allow instant access to success as a translator.

There are some things you can do to help you on the road to be a successful translator. The first thing is to get qualified as a translator through undertaking an advanced degree followed by a professional certificate in translation. Certification may not necessarily be required but it is a good way to begin. The second stage is to ensure you have proof of your competency in your second language. This can be in the form of a formal test. The third stage is gaining experience and this could mean at first acting as an interpreter for people in need. Maybe a new immigrant needs help with difficult parts of the language when it comes to translating.

Once you have started to build up a portfolio of your German translation achievements you can start marketing your skills as a translator. You will be surprised how many different organisations you can approach who need translation services. These include police stations, law firms and your local hospital.

You can also start up your own website where you can showcase some of your translation achievements. You can list your rates for the services you offer as most translators work on a freelance basis rather than being tied to one company.

As you move forward you may find that you have become more specialised in certain translation areas and you are familiar with terms related to particular industries as an English German translator. This will benefit your ability to get German English translation work too. Learning the language of specific industries makes you an expert compared to other translators which offers you more openings with less competition.

So What is so Different about Legal Document Translation?

Legal document translation is as different to any other type of translation as the legal language is to any other technical language. It’s a bit like asking a French translator to translate an English document into German if you ask a marketing translator to deal with a legal document for you.

German translators who are capable of handling legal documents and legal document translation should be experienced first and foremost in the two languages of English and German, of course, but also should have working knowledge of the two legal systems as well and preferably have experience in translating legal documents. You will probably pay a bit more for this sort of specialised service, but if you want your Mercedes looked at by a mechanic, you don’t necessarily want to employ a mechanic who has only been used to Volkswagens, do you?

Legal documents include things like birth, death and marriage certificates, deposition records, financial statements, patent confirmations and certificates, letters of application, wills and covenants, business contacts and litigation material amongst others. The German translation service you choose should be aware of what these documents are all about and have had experience in translating them. This means they are well versed in legal terminology but have a working knowledge of the intricacies of German law as well as that of the English speaking country you are based in.

It hardly bears stressing that the outcome of even the slightest mistake in a legal translation might have important and expensive ramifications, so the English German translators used must be professionals in terms of their standards of accuracy and their editing and proofreading. Legal document translation should never be left to a bilingual staff member or, worse still, an online translation tool, whatever may seem to be the savings in cost of doing this.

Finally, two more important aspects of legal document translators are the speed of delivery and the requirement for confidentiality. While you are not expecting a German translator to rush through an important legal document translation you will most likely have deadlines of your own and you will need to know whether the translator can deliver by the specified date. In addition, you will want to be assured that the document contents are totally secure and cannot be made known to any other person or organisation because of lax confidentiality standards. Most businesses or organisations that regularly require legal document translation will usually work with the same trusted translation service once they are happy with the level of service they offer.

Preparation is Definitely Needed for Quality Machine Translations

Many machine German translations are actually quite good, particularly when translations take place between German and the most commonly used languages. Sometimes, complaints are made about the poor quality of machine translations. With a bit of pre planning you can normally sort these out yourself. All you have to do is study the original text before the English German translation begins and then make a couple of quite simple changes.

Firstly, keep the text simple and ensure it is well thought out and a pleasure to read. Complicated sentence structure and ideas that are written in a more complicated way than they need to be, but do not necessarily have the desired effect on the audience. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. Machine translators work well with simply written text. If your business wants your product descriptions translated into German for your international audience, keep to simple text which means short sentences and straightforward vocabulary.

Secondly, correct any typos as a machine German translator has difficulty focussing on typos and other small grammatical errors. If there are words without spaces between them a machine translator will not be able to translate properly. It’s important to use a spellchecker before presenting the information before a machine translation too.

Thirdly, sentence structure needs to be considered as well and the preference is to use the active voice as it is common in many languages. The active voice has similarities in many languages and machine translators are often able to read and fit in the correct translations for active sentences. In contrast, the passive voice does present more of a challenge because it does vary between languages.

Finally, choose vocabulary carefully as sayings and idioms often do not translate correctly across other languages and neither do words that have more than one meaning.  

Using the points mentioned above will help you get the best return out of a machine translation. However, in the long run, if it is quality you are after and you need your translation to be spot on and perfect, then there is no substitute for a professional translation done by a professional German translator.