Who doesn’t love a hilarious translation error? The reality, however, is that sometimes translation errors can prove to be very costly. They are a reminder that automated translation systems can’t be fully trusted, and the need for human review might always exist.
When it comes to translation from German to English, a study found that machine or automated translation has several weaknesses with regard to certain grammatical phenomena. Moreover, even novice human translators can make translation errors if they’re not careful or don’t have the right technical expertise.
So, to highlight the importance of hiring professional experts for German to English translation services, let’s take a look at some of the most recurring German to English translation errors that proofreaders come across!
This is probably the most common error that you’ll find even in decent translations. The “§” is a symbol that means ‘Paragraf’ in German. However, it’s not the same as the English “paragraph”, which is actually “Absatz”. The thing is that the § symbol is not used by Brits at all.
Instead, we say ‘Article’ or ‘Section’, depending on the context and preference. So, if you find the § in a German to English translation, you should definitely correct your translator.
Even some seasoned translators end up making this mistake, and it’s a common but precarious one, especially if you’re in legal document translation. Essentially, GmbH refers to a business with limited liability under not only German law but in Austrian and Swiss law as well.
Even in the countries where GmbH exists, there are quite drastic differences in how the term is understood. So, if you’re translating “Firma GmbH” or “Gemeinschaft AG” into English, you should try to translate these German letters in any way. GmbH doesn’t translate to Ltd. or anything else, really.
This one is another frequent mistake because Germans capitalise all nouns, whereas the British only do so for proper nouns. Of course, it’s a different situation when it’s a title (that’s where you use your common sense), but don’t translate all capitalisation you see in the German text.
Some German words are very long and hard to research. However, if you can’t find the precise English term for it, you can’t just leave the word in German. It’s a common sign of bad translation and should only be done when there’s no official English equivalent.
However, it shouldn’t be used as a way to make up for lack of technical expertise or bad research.
As we mentioned at the beginning of our article, there are some points to consider when
translating German to English. You should work with translation experts if it is a quality and
professional translation. Only native speakers of German and English can provide quality
translation services. The German and English levels of the people with the title of Translation
experts are also native language proficiency.
At the same time, when declaring some official documents to official institutions, you should get
quality and professional translation services. Both German and UK institutions accept certified
translations. Only translation experts can provide this translation service.
Within the scope of German to English translation services, some services, such as certified
translation, require care. It is mandatory to get a certified translation service, especially when
it comes to the translation of official documents. These documents are birth, death,
marriage, divorce, deed or other official documents.
A certified German to English translation service means that the documents mentioned
above can be submitted to official UK institutions. So if you declare your official document
written in German to UK institutions for various reasons, you should get a certified translation
service.
You can rely on Translation Online to get your official documents translated from German to
English. As Translation Online, we provide services with translation experts who speak
German and English at the native language level.
Before you submit your documents to UK institutions, you can reliably get a certified
translation service. This way, you guarantee that the UK institutions will accept your official
documents.
When it comes to the translation of legal documents, you should only consider hiring a professional translation agency like Translation Online. At Translation Online, we offer accurate and certified German to English translation services. Contact now to get a free quote or to learn more.
