ABOUT THIS  SERVICE

As the title of my site suggests, I am offering a German to English translation service.  I do not translate into German.  I was born and educated in Australia and have grown up with English as my native language.  Although there are exceptions, professional translators usually work in only one direction, translating  into their native language.   Therefore,  I only translate documents into my native language (i.e. English).   In addition, although I do speak German, I am not an interpreter.  Interpreting and translating are separate activities and, as such, are separately accredited.  Some practitioners, however, do both. I have been accredited since 1996 to translate from the German to the English language.   Since then I have been translating a variety of material working as a contractor for an agency.  I have also done some editing work (i.e. checking of texts already translated into English).   To find out exactly what I do translate, please consult my page entitled What I translate
 

I only work  part-time as a translator.  I have a full-time occupation unrelated to my translation activities.   I also accept assignments from agencies.  This means I cannot automatically accept all assignments generated by this webpage .  I may have a full workload, or I may feel that I am not sufficiently familiar with the subject matter to accept your assignment.  To find out the sort of material I don't translate, please click here  Therefore, please await confirmation from me by email, fax or phone before assuming that I am undertaking your assignment.  I am generally available throughout the year except for a week or so over Christmas.
 
 

I charge $25 (Australian) per 100 words of original German text.  There is a minimum fee of $30.  Any dates, addresses, phone numbers or other numerals or codes  that appear in the translated text will also count as words since I  have to type them even though I don't have to translate them.  If  the same letterhead information is required across several pages of a long document, a discount will apply.  In addition, it happens sometimes that what is substantially the same document may need to be translated as several separate documents with slight changes in each case.   In cases such as this, where a large amount of cut and paste is involved,  a substantial discount will apply, although the documents will still count as separate documents.   I prefer to do word counts  manually as I have found that word count programs tend  to overcount the words.  This system should enable you to estimate the cost of the assignment yourself.  However, if you would like a quote, please send a copy of the text for translation by email, fax or snail mail.  See my Contact Information. for details.  An urgency fee of 20% may apply  if you require the translation in less then a few days.   Please note:  My service is GST free.  I do not charge the Goods and Services Tax.
 
 

This depends on the length of the text and the difficulty.  Some short texts can be translated within a couple of days or even overnight.  For translations of meduim length or longer I generally require at least a week.  However, legal and medical translations often require a great deal of research even for relatively short texts.  In  addition,  I may have more than one assignment to complete at any one time.  For these reasons, an urgency fee of 20% may apply if you require a translation in less than a few days.   At any rate, I endeavour to complete all assignments as soon as I  possibly can.
 
 

Completed translations may be delivered by e-mail, fax, ordinary mail or hand delivered if you are located in Sydney CBD.
I also work during the day in the Sydney CBD and can pick up assignments as well, as I currently do for an agency that I contract for.
 
 

Payment is not required before delivery.  I will advise you of the final cost of the assignment either upon delivery or shortly afterwards.   I request that accounts be paid within 21 days.  Any cheques or money orders coming from Europe may be in Euro or Australian Dollars.    I will also accept US dollars.
 
 

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