German translation services & German interpreter services
Professional German interpreter
& expert German transcription services
Certified & notarized German-English and English-German translation services
Established English <> German translation partners since 1990, our BS EN ISO 17100- & 18841- accredited German translation services and expert German interpreter team work with both English and German businesses across the technical/engineering, logistics, insurance, legal and financial sectors.
We price to be the most cost-effective we can while retaining the finest professional translators and interpreters. That means if you really, really just want the cheapest solution, it probably isn’t us – but before leaving, do check out these examples of low-cost “professional” translation – and yes, these are all real…
Our expert mother-tongue German translation services go to and from Spanish, Chinese, English and French, Dutch, Polish, Russian and more, all professionally translated and fully proof-read as standard – not as an extra-cost option.
We’ve a great client base and reputation particularly in engineering, logistics, insurance, legal, healthcare, environmental, and health & safety translation.
Notarized & Certified German translation
Official business? You need certified translation in the UK, or sworn in Germany. Both validate your stuff for official use (we also notarize for legal purposes).
Not business at all? Don’t worry, we’ve helped hundreds of private individuals and families with certified and sworn documents – more info here.
Only well-qualified and highly-experienced translators can legally certify, and we do this in-house.
German typesetting and multimedia
Need that translation in a Quark brochure or Illustrator flyer? How about as a training video or cool animated presentation? Our multilingual typesetting and multimedia services are just what you need.
With SME-friendly pricing and decades of experience, what’s not to like? And it’s all in-house too – unlike many providers we don’t subcontract your stuff to the cheapest supplier.
SME-friendly German interpreter and German translation services
With over 30 years’ experience in a wide range of sectors and specialisms we now handle most subjects, and with 3,000+ professional confidentiality-assured partners, and our built-in double review process – included in the translation price – we know our German translation will be spot-on, whether it’s a tender, technical manual, brochure or legal contract.
In the same way our expert German interpreter services, drawing on our wide network of highly-experienced well-qualified professional interpreters across the UK and Europe, will ensure that your interpreting need – whether meetings, training, a site visit or something else – is delivered smoothly, cost-effectively and hassle-free.
As exporters ourselves, we’d love more SMEs to win the export success you deserve. So our SME-friendly pricing assures you of great quality and great service. Even if you’ve never bought translation before, don’t worry – our helpful expert PMs are here to help.
Check out this press release to see how well that’s working for this SME.
Looking for German translation and German interpreter services for your business?
Here’s a few things to know.
German has a number of peculiarities it’s well worth knowing – not least, so that you don’t assume our German punctuation is wrong, and “correct” it in your new catalogue! That actually happened … very embarrassing for the client…
A little about German…
The national language of Germany, German is also spoken in Austria and Switzerland, and to a small extent in Belgium, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. It’s important to note that Swiss German is different to German German – make sure you use the right translator.
Mark Twain in his 1880 essay “The Awful German Language” had a rather harsh take on the German language, writing ‘A person who has not studied German can form no idea of what a perplexing language it is. […] surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp.’
Well, it’s a view – although I think our German translation specialists may disagree!
German translation punctuation & grammar
German grammar is quite unlike English. The sentence structure is very different, and German nouns take Capital First Letters: so the car => das Auto. German also has three genders and four cases – which all have to agree, meaning that even a simple “the” has at least five possible translations! In addition, German quotemarks and number format are quite different too, so in English to German “Berlin” becomes „Berlin“ and 234.56 becomes 234,56. It’s disappointing how many “German typesetting services” get those – and many other points – wrong.
Punctuation is actually different in Swiss German, so please use the right translator!
Because German may use the same word in many different ways, a word may have many different contextual meanings. Consequently, really understanding what you’re translating is essential – which is one key reason that so much German-English translation is actually not that good!
Our FAQ and Really Helpful Friendly Guide to Language Translation offer advice on sourcing translators and getting better translation.
German uses fewer accented characters than French, but in the same way as French their correct use matters enormously, again actually changing the meaning of the word. The characters are the three “umlauted” ones – ä, ö, ü – and the “Eszet” ß and it’s VERY important to note that a number of fonts – especially “designer” fonts created for a company or other purpose – often omit these characters. If in any doubt, don’t guess – get your document proofread!
Like to know more about German?
Germany’s famed Goethe-Institut is a fantastic resource if you’re looking to learn German yourself for business or fun, or just to discover more about this remarkable language. And if the country itself interests you then this is a great starting point!
German typesetting services
Translation from English to German typically grows 10-20%, using compound words like “Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften” (4 English words becoming one German word – if you’re interested, this is “legal expenses insurance companies“) – proper hyphenation can consequently be critical. Do watch out for the ß – and umlauted characters ä, ö and ü which REALLY affect meaning. Because these are omitted from many designer fonts, we strongly recommend having your German typesetting proofread.
Or, better, you can use our own professional foreign language typesetting available in Quark, InDesign and more – which of course include in the price full proofreading by our mother-tongue linguists
German interpreter services
We provide a full range of German interpreter services, both in the UK and Europe-wide. Whether you need remote, face-to-face, or conference, we’re happy to help – and with BS EN ISO 18841 accreditation you can be sure of excellent service.
Notarized and certified German translation
Certified translation is the UK equivalent to Europe’s “sworn translation”. To be able to certify translation a translator needs excellent qualifications and experience, and is normally a full member of either the CIoL or the ITI.
Non-UK use may require sworn or notarised translation, or a Consulate-registered translator – see our certified page for more info.
German transcription services
Popular for research and conferences, this can be mono- or bilingual (with a German to English translation). For legal use we offer certified German transcription too – there’s more on our Transcription page.
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German translation voiceover or subtitling
Most providers offering “German voiceover” services are much more interested in recording and video than in translation accuracy.
Not us. We’re first and foremost a translation company, so accuracy is key. We translate and review all our German subtitling and voiceover scripts ourselves, with every word translated by professional mother-tongue translators and reviewers. So our German voiceover doesn’t just sound good – it IS good. And our German subtitling is to the same high standard. There’s more information on our voiceover page.
USEFUL TIP: watch script length. Assessing translated script length for voiceover read is generally by wordcount, but German’s compound words can produce highly deceptive results – for example the “legal expenses insurance companies” translation above. An experienced translator – like ours – knows to go by syllable count and will usually read their translation alongside the original video. Our Really Helpful Friendly Voiceover Guide has more info that you may find helpful.