German Language translation
Did you know that German is one of the most widely spoken languages in the European Union? It’s also the official language of Austria and Germany and one of three official languages in Switzerland.
Discovering the German language
To give you an overview of how important German is for anyone interested in pursuing a position in international business, here are some useful stats for you to digest:
- German is the fourth most used language, spoken by nearly 95 million native speakers and 210 million speakers worldwide.
- The German alphabet has one more consonant than English, which represents a double ‘s’.
- Consisting of three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) and a smattering of extra-long words, German is considered a particularly difficult language for English-speakers to learn.
- There are many tricky ‘false friends’ in the German language. These words differ in meaning depending on the language. For example, a ‘gift’ in English is something that we would give to someone on their birthday, but the same word in German means ‘poison’!
- The German language is renowned for long words, for example ‘grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung’, which translates to mean the regulation on the delegation of authority concerning land conveyance permissions.
History of the German Language
German is one of the largest groups of Indo-Germanic languages, spoken as the official language in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, and as a co-language within Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxemburg.
The German language dates as far back as the Early Middle Ages, with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period marking the separation of Old High German dialects from Old Saxon.
From there, the use of Middle High German saw a significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes from 1050 to 1350.
Modern High German began with the Early New High German period, further displacing Latin as the primary language of the courts across the German states. By the 16th century, German had taken on multiple forms, which united into the language we know today – New High German.
Today, the German language remains rich with multiple different dialects. Like many languages, it is constantly evolving, with the newest addition to the German alphabet introduced as recently as 2017.
What Are German translation services, exactly?
German translation services are provided by professional translation agencies, such as Brightlines. The process is one that involves translating various types of content, such as websites and brochures, from different industries – such as finance, healthcare and marketing – so that they are understandable and appealing to the German reader.
German translation is easier said than done, with the language being notorious for its difficulty. In order to correctly replicate your message to a German audience, you need a translator who has a profound knowledge of the language, and who can understand its nuances.
At Brightlines, we have expert knowledge of German translation and only use professional native translation specialists. We have a great deal of expertise in many types of translation projects from the smallest 5 word slogan to a large 200,000 word website!
Our team has the knowledge and capability to help you achieve your goal by providing the highest quality German translation.
Providing You With the Best Technical German Language Translation Services
Our team of qualified German translators provides top-quality certified translations for a variety of official documents, including;
- Academic transcripts and certificates
- Administrative documents
- And so much more!
Our work is always completed in accordance with industry standards and due care and diligence are taken to ensure that our professional translators are experienced in translating the documents at hand. In fact, we will specifically allocate a translator who is well informed on the regulations of specific legal and governmental practices to ensure that your document is correctly translated.
Translating from English to German and German to English
One of the most common requests we receive is to translate English to Deutsch. We provide flawless English to German translations as well as German to English translations, and we can also translate English or German into any other language that you require. Our large pool of expert translators means that we can offer top-quality translations, no matter the language.
Working with Brightlines
We’ve proudly worked with a wide range of businesses including Canon, Ikea and Google. Over 20 years of experience in the translation industry enables us to offer a range of professional German translation services for a variety of sectors:
Our professional German translation services include:
- German Transcreation Services
Translation brings the meaning of words into other languages. Transcreation brings the ideas behind words into other cultures. Our German transcreation ensures the cultural nuances of your brand and marketing communications will never be lost. Our transcreators have working backgrounds as advertising copywriters, and understand how to manipulate expressions into new words to resonate with a language’s culture. - Multilingual German Voice Overs
In the modern tsunami of online video sharing, having a properly translated voiceover is key to standing out from the crowd of content. Our multilingual German voice overs will give you audio translation that perfectly matches the delivery, fluency and emphasis of the original language. - German Subtitling
With a third of all time online spent watching videos, it’s essential for brands to create quality content that is accessible to a range of audiences. With Brightlines’ German subtitling services, your content can be adapted with closed captions, open captions, and subtitles to extend your reach to international demographics. - German Localisation
Navigating the nuances of cultural diversities can be tricky. We’ve been helping brands overcome those challenges since 1999. Our translator’s cultural sensitivity and accurate language skills will ensure your brand is as locally relevant as possible, wherever in the world it is. - Multilingual German SEO
Getting your website to rank on the highly coveted first page in different world markets can be a challenge, with cultural search terms, localised search terms, and relevant search engines to consider. With our multilingual German SEO services, your global online visibility will soar, focusing on keyword research, website translation, localisation, and technical guidance. - German Production Services
Audio, video, in-print, or online, our production team has the expertise required to deliver quality multilingual materials. Our services include foreign language typesetting, recreation of design files, website translation services, software string translation, optical character recognition, multilingual transcription, timecoding, and multilingual voiceover recording. - German Marketing Translation
Our German marketing translation will have your brand booming across all nations, communicating your marketing messages in the way you intended through website content, social media, email marketing, and hard-copy materials. - German Legal Translation
We offer an entire spectrum of German legal translation services, from commercial contracts, to white papers, press releases, patents, annual reports, and newsletters. - German Financial Translation
As a thriving global industry, the finance sector has an incredible impact on businesses correspondence with colleagues, clients and investors. That’s why our German financial translation services go above and beyond to provide you with specialist industry knowledge across all areas of finance. - German Document Translation Services
Our quality German document translation services help you minimise any risk in your professional communications, offering speed, accuracy, and an in-depth understanding of a variety of complex fields and sectors. - German Website Translation Services
If you’re looking to reach an international audience, ensuring your website content is accessible to any and all audiences is crucial. That’s why we offer linguistic expertise combined with SEO knowledge to get your site up the rankings. - Luxembourgian and Austrian Translation
Language isn’t always black and white. Celebrate the nuance of different dialects with our Luxembourgian, Swiss German, and Austrian translation services to really connect with your diverse audience’s intricacies of speech. Our German translators have a thorough and fluent understanding of the language, enabling them to effectively translate your message to a new audience without losing the meaning and style of the original copy. This process – which is also known as transcreation – is an area in which we have a great deal of experience.
Our translation services - FAQ
Do you use native translators?
Yes, always. All our translators are native speakers and most are still resident in their native country. We pride ourselves on ensuring that all Brightlines’ translators are native. We do not accept applications from non-native candidates or allow them to register on our online recruitment database. All our translators are rigorously tested.
How long will the translations take?
The turnaround for the translation will depend on the word count. As a rough guide, assume that the translators can comfortably process about 2500 words of non-specialised text per day. Proofreading can effectively be completed on a basis of 4000-6000 words a day. Our minimum turnaround time is usually about three days, although it is possible to shorten this if you are in a rush for the final files and we will always be happy to discuss this with you.
What is the variation in your translators’ experience and qualifications? Are they native speakers? Will the cost increase if we use a more experienced translator?
All our translators have to go through a series of tests to make sure they are as good as they say they are, and only if they pass are they allowed to work for Brightlines. There is quite a range of experience and qualifications, but all translators have a minimum of five years’ experience. All translators translate into their mother-tongue without exception and are generally based in-country so they are up-to-date with the local language. We match translators with projects/clients depending on the subject matter, and most of our translators have industry experience in their speciality – there is no better experience than being immersed professionally in the industry they specialise in. Our costs are based on translator experience, speciality (i.e. medical, creative, scientific) and the language choice.
Which languages can you translate into?
We have an extensive database with hundreds of trusted and tested translators covering all commercial languages. If you cannot see the language or dialect you need please ask.
I don’t know the word count; can you base the quote on the number of pages?
Our pricing structure is based on a rate-per-word, but we can estimate from a page count. If we can’t see the source document then we would usually estimate between 300 – 500 words a page depending on the density of the text and the presence of photos and images.
Does the translation need to be proofread?
Brightlines is an ISO 9001:2015 certified company. This means that quality is safeguarded. We adhere to the “four-eyes principle” and translations are always checked by a second professional proofreader (who is not the translator). If the translation is for internal use and reference purposes only (i.e. not to be published, distributed or used in a court of law), or you simply don’t wish to have proofreading, we can remove the proofreading stage.
Get in touch
If you need German translations, get in touch with our team, or get a quick quote.