With the help of a skilled technical translator, you can brand your business through high quality translations. Professional technical translations ensure an accurate communication with international target audiences, enhance the user experience, and may in some cases even safeguard consumer safety.

In my role as technical translator, I translate articles, user manuals, software, web pages, and other technical content from German, Mandarin Chinese, and English into Danish.

I almost exclusively translate from the source language into my native language, Danish. The exception is texts with simple syntax and grammar, such as software commands, UX texts, and simple user manuals.

Based on the belief that no one understands a given language better than native speakers, this approach to translation is known as the Mother Tongue Principle. Applied by many organizations and translation professionals the principle is considered a cornerstone in securing the linguistical and cultural precision of a translation.

High quality translations are a matter of trust⌗

As a technical translator I always comply with all formal rules and regulations regarding data safety. For the sake of data safety, copyrights, and the discretion of my employer or customers (and for the sake of the linguistic quality of the translation), I never use automatic translation tools, unless provided by my clients.

To me the art of translation is more than simply translating the content of a text in a clear and comprehensible manner. The resulting target text should always be able to stand by itself as a complete text with its own life, so to speak. This often means that a translation is far from done after the first draft has been written.

Often the real work with creating great translations begins with the editing and proofreading phases. All translations that I produce go through a thorough quality management and proofreading process before delivery.

Depending on the text type, content, and end users, I may edit the text on various levels.

Below, you see some elements of the text that I look at:

> Target group analysis: does the message of the text reach the target audience?

> Style: is the tone in accordance with the subject matter and target audience?

> Language: is the text clear, comprehensible, and nice to read?

> Mechanical style: are grammar, orthography, and punctuation spot on?

> Policy: is the text consistent with the vision and brand of your organization?

This list could go on as there are many more levels of editing, depending on your needs and preferences.

Localization – get your message through to your international target group⌗

To make sure you hit your mark with your audience it is not enough to translate your technical content word by word. Great translations also require cultural knowledge. This prevents that subtle linguistic differences between cultures and countries don’t disturb the meaning of the text or lead to misunderstandings.

At the same time, cultural knowledge ensures that idioms and cultural references in the text are suitable for the target audience and makes reading your content more enjoyable for readers. This is called localization and it is one of the most important competences that a skilled translator must learn.

When you hire an MA in Chinese and German studies like me not only do you get an expert in languages, translation, and communication. You also get a highly educated expert in Chinese and German culture and society. This is your guarantee for complete, well-balanced texts with a strong understanding for the target audience.