Translation

I specialise in translating technical documents from German to English across a range of subjects, including the following specialist areas:

• Agriculture and Horticulture
• Environmental Issues
• Chemical Manufacturing
• General Engineering

Document styles include scientific articles, product literature, manuals, operating instructions, laboratory reports, technical specifications etc.

Recent commissions:

• For a number of years I have been collaborating with Ros Mendy to translate the English version of the biosicherheit website, the information hub for GMO safety research in Germany http://www.gmo-safety.eu/en/
• Articles for the special English language edition of "Wasser und Abfall", the technical journal for the Association of Water Resources, Waste Management and Land Reclamation Engineers (BWK), published by Vieweg
• A series of engineering plant standards and technical specifications for the Munich-based chemical company Wacker-Chemie

Proofreading and reviewing

I increasingly get asked to proofread or review other translators' work.

This could involve simply checking grammar, punctuation, typos, formatting errors etc. and making sure nothing has been missed out, or has crept in by mistake. Or it could be a more detailed review, involving stylistic improvements, terminology checks and so on (this is also known as copy editing).

It is very helpful to get "a second pair of eyes" to look at a translation and identify errors which have been overlooked.

According to Wikipedia, copy editing can be summarised by the "Five Cs": "make the copy (i) clear, (ii) correct, (iii) concise, (iv) comprehensible, and (v) consistent; that is: make it say what it means, and mean what it says."

It seems to me that this applies equally to translation!