Meet an English German Translator: Conversation with Katharina, Professional Translator German

Meet an English German translator. Katharina, Translator German, offers an insider's viewpoint on her craft. At the bottom, you'll find information about typical prices for translation services, along with other helpful resources. (Looking for an online free English German translator?)

Conversation with Katharina Wawrzon, Professional Translator German - Part 1

Q: Why did you become a translator?

A: It all started a few years ago when a friend of mine in marketing asked me to translate some marketing materials to German. I worked all night and wasn't really happy with the result, but I enjoyed doing it, and I thought: What if I learn to do this properly? So I signed up for courses and eventually got a diploma in translation. I arranged with my employer to work part-time in the beginning. Then when I was confident enough and had enough clients, I began to translate full-time.

I enjoy working as a freelancer. You don't always actually control your time -- that's dictated by the needs of your clients -- but you can work in your pyjamas, make yourself lunch, and so on. And I'm well-connected in the translation community, so if I want to socialize, I can talk with other translators.

A: Many people who aren't familiar with translation assume that knowing the language is enough, and, in my case, languages were always my strength -- I was always good at languages in school. But every single language has its own logic, its own syntax, its own way of expressing ideas. For example, in English, the sentence structure is generally noun-verb-object, but in German, this can sound very boring, so more variation is needed.

Translation is an art. Training is important, and it's also important to keep up your language skills. You have to go to the country, listen to the media, keep up with the contemporary language. Language changes, and you have to keep up.

A: Even if some people are really adament that only native speakers are qualified, I think there are some exceptions -- for example, if the target language is the person's language of habitual speech, and this is someone who has been living in a country for thirty years, and is married to a national. It's not just about speaking the language, it's about being immersed in the culture.

It's not just about language that's grammatically correct -- it's also how easily the text flows, the feeling of the language. It's something difficult to quantify. A native speaker has a feeling for the language, and there will be something that just doesn't feel right.

During my translation training, everyone there was a native [German] speaker, but we had been in the UK for a long time, and our German was not up to scratch. We would make punctuation mistakes, or use words that weren't up to date. We had to bring the language up to scratch and keep it up to date. A translator has to be a committed linguist, a specialist. If you were choosing a doctor, you would want to go to a specialist, and it's the same with choosing a translator. A translator has to be committed to quality and linguistic integrity and willing to keep up his or her skills.

Continue to Part 2 of our conversation with Katharina, Professional Translator German

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