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Certified German translation for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Specialist-field translation — English to German for the German-speaking market and German to English for export and publication. Law, technology, medicine, academia and web, translated by professional German translators with expertise in the field — terminology-steered, confidential and at a binding fixed price. Plus court-sworn interpreting and certified translation for authorities.
Professional German translators by field · English ⇄ German, both directions · terminology & translation memory · confidential, NDA on request
Professional translation
Subject knowledge, steered terminology, ISO 17100 revision — the difference.
A professional translation renders not just language but subject content — in both directions: English to German for the German-speaking market, German to English for export and publication. It is produced by a professional German translator specialised in the field, who knows the terminology, standards and context of your sector — not the nearest generalist. termbase steers terms via terminology databases and translation memories and works to the process standard DIN EN ISO 17100 — from law and technical documentation to certified translation for authorities.
To be distinguished from this is the certified translation: it is a professional translation with a legal certification statement by a court-authorised translator and is required by authorities and courts. For internal, business or academic use, a professional translation is usually enough.
German translation
Your sector, your terminology, one assigned translator.
Law and justice: contracts, judgments, commercial-register extracts
Contracts, judgments, terms and commercial-register extracts — accounting for the legal order of the target country.
Technology and industry: manuals, data sheets, declarations of conformity
Operating manuals, data sheets and documentation — standard-compliant and terminologically consistent.
Medicine and pharma: findings, package leaflets, IFUs under MDR and IVDR
Findings, package leaflets and IFU — MDR/IVDR-compliant, under the four-eyes principle.
Academia: publications, abstracts, journal-ready studies
Publications, abstracts and studies — precise, citable, journal-ready.
Websites and software: UI, shop and SEO content with clean hreflang
UI, shop and SEO content — localised for the target market, with clean hreflang.
Certified translation by court-authorised translators
Certificates and diplomas for authorities — by court-authorised translators, at a price incl. delivery.
Directory
The full directory: fields, services, document types, language pairs.
Pick your field, service or language pair — each page shows requirements, examples and the right workflow.
Standard per field
Documents and the standard behind them: 2006/42/EC, MDR 2017/745, ISO 17100.
Professional translation means knowing and meeting the authoritative standard of the field. An overview we orient to per area.
| Field | Typical documents | Authoritative standard / reference |
|---|---|---|
| Law & justice | contracts, judgments, terms, commercial-register extracts | legal order of the target country; certified per the receiving body's requirement |
| Technology & industry | operating manuals, data sheets, declarations of conformity | Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC; IEC/IEEE 82079-1 |
| Medicine & pharma | findings, IFU, package leaflets (SmPC), clinical studies | MDR 2017/745, IVDR 2017/746; EMA QRD, MedDRA |
| Academia | publications, abstracts, research proposals | requirements of the target journal / funding body |
| Websites & software | UI texts, online shops, SEO content | target-market search behaviour; hreflang, localisation |
| All fields | process & quality assurance | DIN EN ISO 17100 (DIN CERTCO, Reg. 7U517) |
Across every sector, one principle: the translator knows your field — and the language it lives in.
Two decades. Millions of translated words across fifty-plus specialist fields. A standing network of professional German ⇄ English translators, court-authorised where it counts, that companies, authorities and universities trust to get the terminology right — in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Where it fails
Nine recurring errors: terminology drift, decimal separators, dates, false friends.
Whether contract, operating manual or medical finding: the following errors do not arise in grammar but in subject knowledge. They appear in every field — and each has a tangible consequence. That is why we steer them systematically rather than leaving them to chance.
| Error source (cross-field) | What happens with an out-of-field translation | termbase rule against it |
|---|---|---|
| Terminology consistency | The same term becomes “device”, “apparatus”, “unit” in one document — reviewers and courts read three different things; interpretation gaps arise. | A client-owned term base plus translation memory: one name — one term, across all documents and years. Mandatory for technical documentation. |
| Numbers, units & decimal separators | German comma and English point are swapped (1,5 ↔ 1.5), imperial and metric units “translated along” — a tolerance, dose or balance-sheet figure becomes a number error with liability. | Target locale fixed in advance; numbers, units and currencies are checked, not guessed. Critical e.g. in the annual report. |
| Date & name formats | 03/04/2026 is 3 April in DE and 4 March in the US; names and transliterations run inconsistently — deadlines flip, persons are no longer unambiguous in documents. | Target-language date logic instead of digit-shuffling; names per passport spelling, transliteration per ISO/ICAO. Decisive for certificates. |
| Standards not translatable 1:1 | “GmbH”, “Amtsgericht”, “Prokura” are rendered literally, DIN/EN/ISO numbers “translated” — the term does not exist in the target country, the standard is no longer findable. | Legal institutions with equivalent and explanation instead of a pseudo-translation; standard identifiers copied character for character. |
| Legal-system asymmetry (civil vs. common law) | “consideration”, “trust” or “notarize” have no German counterpart and are translated freely — the clause loses its effect in the target country or suddenly means something else. | Professional translators with a legal background; functional rendering with a note, no false friends. Core of every contract translation. |
| Layout, DTP & text expansion | The target text is 15–30 % longer or shorter per language pair; the translation “overflows” the template, labels and tables break — the document is no longer print- or submission-ready. | Translation in the original format (InDesign, XML, CMS) with DTP control; the operating manual stays ready to use. |
| Target variety ignored | One “English” or “Spanish” for all markets: EN-US and EN-GB, ES-ES and ES-MX are mixed — trust drops in marketing, misunderstandings arise in technology. | Native translators of the target variety; market and region fixed before the job starts. Decisive in marketing & web. |
| Confidentiality & data routing | Sensitive documents run through freely accessible online MT tools; trade secrets, patient or patent data leave the house uncontrolled — a GDPR breach. | Specialists bound to secrecy, purpose-bound processing under the GDPR, NDA and defined data routing. |
| No four-eyes principle / QA | A raw translation goes out unchecked, numbers and omissions go unnoticed — the error only shows in the damage: recall, rejection, reprint. | Revision by a second qualified person to DIN EN ISO 17100, with number, completeness and terminology checks. Details under Quality & ISO. |
What separates professional translation from a merely fluent one
Professional translation is not one of four things but all at once: native translators of the target language, a subject background in the field — a lawyer for contracts, an engineer for technology, a physician for findings — steered terminology via term base and translation memory, and revision by a second person to DIN EN ISO 17100.
A general translation delivers fluent language. A professional translation additionally delivers the subject correctness a reviewer, a court or an authority accepts — and that is exactly where it is decided whether a document fulfils its purpose.
Use cases
Three commissions: a machine manual, a joint-venture contract set, an IFU.
Example workflows from industry, a legal department and medical technology. They show how the rules above become a ready-to-use result.
Operating manual for an EU market launch — IEC/IEEE 82079-1
Starting point: A plant builder places a machine on the market in seven EU countries; manual and declaration of conformity must go into every official language — standard-compliant and terminologically identical to the existing set.
Process: Translation in DTP format per the Machinery Directive and IEC/IEEE 82079-1, terminology from the client term base, revision under the four-eyes principle.
Result: a ready-to-use manual per destination country — without layout breaks, with the same naming across all languages. → Technical documentation
Contract set for a cross-border joint venture, NDA and annexes
Starting point: framework contract, NDA and annexes German↔English; terms must be consistent across all documents, legal institutions must not be mistranslated.
Process: professional translators with a legal background, an agreed terminology list, functional rendering of legal terms, confidentiality via NDA.
Result: a robust bilingual contract set; on request certified by court-authorised translators for submission to a register or authority. → Contract translation
Product information for CE approval — an MDR-compliant IFU and labelling
Starting point: a manufacturer needs instructions for use (IFU) and labelling in several EU languages — MDR-compliant and matching the previous version.
Process: native professional translators with a medical-technology background, MDR/IVDR terminology, checked numbers and units, four-eyes principle, back-translation on request.
Result: submission-ready product information, consistent with label and approval documents. → Medical translation
What a German translation costs
US$1.05 per line, US$0.45 for revision, a flat fee per certificate.
Volume, direction, field, format and deadline determine the line price; translation memories make repetitions cheaper.
| Binding fixed price instead of an estimate | ✓included |
| Translation memory lowers cost on repetitions | ✓included |
| Assigned professional translators, DIN EN ISO 17100 process | ✓included |
| Framework agreement with a fixed contact possible | ✓included |
As a guide: professional translation from US$1.05 / standard line, proofreading and specialist revision from US$0.45 / standard line, certified translations as a fixed per-document fee. You receive the exact fixed price bindingly before the commission. Full price overview · Upload a project for a fixed-price quote →
Relocation documents for two engineers, then a distribution agreement, then the machine documentation. Different departments, one supplier — and our corporate name and legal form are written identically in every file.
Scott Deming · President, Milwaukee
FAQ
Seven questions about working with a professional translator.
What is a professional translation?
What is the difference between a professional and a certified translation?
What does a professional translation cost?
Do you work with CAT tools, translation memory and AI?
What does DIN EN ISO 17100 mean?
Do you offer framework agreements and fixed contacts?
How fast do you translate, and in which directions?
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