The Importance of High Quality German Translations

German is closely related to the English and Dutch languages and is one of the most learned and sought after languages. Therefore accurate German translations are becoming increasingly important in today’s global business environment. This selection of articles provides an outlook on the German language and German language translation to provide a concise and essential understanding of the dynamics involved in successful German business communication. A careful attempt will be made here to provide details on translation techniques and processes and how effective communication can be achieved with the help of professional German language translation.

When dealing with languages it is also important to understand rules of etiquette and business practices in the culture in question, therefore special attention has also been dedicated to give a better understanding and knowledge about German culture, etiquette and business practices.

Translation and translation services are the ultimate jobs for people who love language. However, there are a lot of misunderstandings about this field. Professional translation requires superior language ability in at least two languages, in this case both German and English.

Translation and translation related services require the ability to accurately express information in the target language. The best translation is one that you don't realize is a translation, because it sounds just like it would if it had been written in that language to begin with. In addition, professional translations require extensive subject matter expertise of the topic at hand.

And finally, translators and interpreters need to understand the cultures of both the source and target languages in order to be able to adapt the language to the appropriate culture. When dealing with languages it is also important to understand rules of etiquette and business practices in the culture in question, therefore special emphasis has also been given here to give a better understanding and knowledge about German culture, etiquette and business practices.

Even though translation and translation services require people with high competence in at least two languages to work in this field, there are in fact many working translators whose language skills are not up to the task. Using unqualified translators will leave you with poor-quality translations with mistakes ranging from poor grammar and awkward phrasing to nonsensical or inaccurate information.

In short, the simple fact of speaking two or more languages does not necessarily make a good translator or interpreter - there's a lot more to it. For international corporate communicators choosing a proper translation service is an indispensable business investment.

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This post was created by Textronics Communications Ltd. (www.textronics.com), a leading language and translation services provider since 1991. Our service offering includes translation, interpretation, proofreading, narration, transcription as well multi-lingual desktop publishing and web design services in all languages and subject matters. Our growing client base includes corporate, public and non-profit sector clients in Canada, the United States and Europe. Our language specialists are highly trained, tested and have many years of experience in their chosen subject matter and we consistently strive to offer high-quality language services at affordable prices. New clients can take advantage of a free test translation to try out our services first hand at no cost.
www.textronics.com – Communicate with the World

Textronics Communications Ltd. also publishes www.travelandtransitions.com, a popular web portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections. Award-winning travel writer Susanne Pacher chronicles her personal journeys to places such as Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Sicily, and various other places in Europe and North America and writes about the people behind the destinations. Compilations of these articles are now available as electronic books at the following link: http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html. In addition, the website offers interviews with fascinating personalities and tourism experts as well as practical travel advice and regional travel information.
www.travelandtransitions.com – Life is a Journey – Explore New Horizons

Business translations for the German Language

The translation of German language business materials has become increasingly prevalent in the global business and professional scenario. Germany is an extremely successful export nation and has important economic ties with businesses around the world. To reach its target consumers, to increase opportunities with existing clients, and to effectively communicate internally and externally with employees and stakeholders an organization must ensure that it communicates accurately, effectively and efficiently.

The advent of the global economy is changing the fundamental nature of our governments, businesses, organizations and populations. In short, we are no longer constrained by state boundaries but have all become part of an interdependent international network.

One of the key changes this has triggered is the need to communicate effectively with different people in different languages and from different cultures.

It is now recognized that linguistic and cultural knowledge are two of the most vital areas of knowledge that organizations must come to acquire if they are to integrate, progress and succeed in the marketplace. Cross-cultural communication especially through language and linguistic translation is a must!

Because of the complexity involved in the translation industry translation services are increasingly provided by professional organizations that specialize in corporate business translations.

Particularly the German language has now become an important translation language because of the globalization and increasing bilateral trade and economic scenario in the world today and also because of the unification of European Union, the introduction of the Euro and increased volume of trade all around the world, especially with the American continent. Therefore it has become necessary to understand the concept of translation and how effectively it can be utilized to achieve the business objectives more effectively.

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This post was created by Textronics Communications Ltd. (www.textronics.com), a leading language and translation services provider since 1991. Our service offering includes translation, interpretation, proofreading, narration, transcription as well multi-lingual desktop publishing and web design services in all languages and subject matters. Our growing client base includes corporate, public and non-profit sector clients in Canada, the United States and Europe. Our language specialists are highly trained, tested and have many years of experience in their chosen subject matter and we consistently strive to offer high-quality language services at affordable prices. New clients can take advantage of a free test translation to try out our services first hand at no cost.
www.textronics.com – Communicate with the World

Textronics Communications Ltd. also publishes www.travelandtransitions.com, a popular web portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections. Award-winning travel writer Susanne Pacher chronicles her personal journeys to places such as Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Sicily, and various other places in Europe and North America and writes about the people behind the destinations. Compilations of these articles are now available as electronic books at the following link: http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html. In addition, the website offers interviews with fascinating personalities and tourism experts as well as practical travel advice and regional travel information.
www.travelandtransitions.com – Life is a Journey – Explore New Horizons

German Language – History and Geographical Distribution

German is a part of the West Germanic family of languages, and is closely related to Dutch, English, Frisian and Yiddish. The German uses the Latin alphabet with the addition of the diacritics ¨ as in ä, ö, ü and ß.

An early form of German appears on 6th century Runes, but the first written texts, such as the epic 'Hildebrandslied', appear in the 8th century. The history of German language begins with the Second Germanic consonant shift within the period of roughly AD 300-700 in Europe, which separated South Germanic from the common West Germanic.

There are three main periods in the German language history – Old German (c.750 – c.1050); Middle German (c.1050 – c.1500); and Modern German (c.1500 to the present). In the first period there was no standard language and only local dialects were used in writing. In the 14^th Century uniform written language developed in government after the previous chancelleries of the Holy Roman Empire began to use a combination of certain dialects of Middle High German in place of the Latin that until then had dominated official writings. The neighboring languages within the dialect continuum of the West Germanic languages were Middle Dutch in the West and Middle High German in the South, later substituted by Early New High German. In the 18^th century a number of outstanding writers gave modern standard German essentially the form it has today. It is now the language of the Church and the state, education and literature and is now used in all walks of life.

German is spoken by approximately 100 million native speakers and another 20 million non-native speakers, and Standard German is widely taught in schools and universities in Europe. German is spoken in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark, France (Alsace, Moselle), Belgium, Poland, Italy, Romania (Transylvania), Hungary, Iceland, Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast, Orenburg), Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Namibia, Slovenia, Croatia, Baltic countries, Argentina and Brazil.

Standard German is the only official language in Liechtenstein and Austria; it shares official status in Germany (with Danish, Frisian and Sorbian as minority languages), Switzerland (with French, Italian and Romansh), Belgium (with Dutch and French) and Luxembourg (with French and Luxembourgish). It is used as a local official language in German-speaking regions of Denmark, Italy, and Poland. It is one of the 23 official languages of the European Union. It is also a minority language in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Namibia, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Togo, Ukraine and the United States.

The United States has the largest concentration of German speakers outside of Europe (an estimated 3 million German speakers in the US); there are large and vibrant German-speaking communities throughout the country. In the United States, the largest concentrations of German speakers are in Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Indiana, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

In Canada there are people of German ancestry throughout the country and especially in the west as well as in Ontario. There is a large and vibrant community in the city of Kitchener, Ontario. German immigrants were instrumental in the country's three largest urban areas: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, but post-WWII immigrants managed to preserve a fluency in the German language in their respective neighborhoods and sections. In the first half of the 20th century, over a million German-Canadians made the language one of Canada's most spoken after French.

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This post was created by Textronics Communications Ltd. (www.textronics.com), a leading language and translation services provider since 1991. Our service offering includes translation, interpretation, proofreading, narration, transcription as well multi-lingual desktop publishing and web design services in all languages and subject matters. Our growing client base includes corporate, public and non-profit sector clients in Canada, the United States and Europe. Our language specialists are highly trained, tested and have many years of experience in their chosen subject matter and we consistently strive to offer high-quality language services at affordable prices. New clients can take advantage of a free test translation to try out our services first hand at no cost.
www.textronics.com – Communicate with the World

Textronics Communications Ltd. also publishes www.travelandtransitions.com, a popular web portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections. Award-winning travel writer Susanne Pacher chronicles her personal journeys to places such as Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Sicily, and various other places in Europe and North America and writes about the people behind the destinations. Compilations of these articles are now available as electronic books at the following link: http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html. In addition, the website offers interviews with fascinating personalities and tourism experts as well as practical travel advice and regional travel information.
www.travelandtransitions.com – Life is a Journey – Explore New Horizons

German culture / etiquette / business practices

German culture has spread across the globe and the German language is now accepted as one of the most important languages. It is often perceived as a very unique culture and the German people are considered to be quite capable in general. Germany also has population groups that hail from mixed ethnic backgrounds. Turkish immigrants form the largest group, while foreign residents make up for nine percent of the population in general. Besides this, there are also large number of refugees from Eastern Europe as well as immigrants from countries like Italy, Spain and Greece.

Germany is well known for its love for music and culture. It has contributed immensely towards art and culture. However, today German culture remains so merged with that of Europe that it becomes slightly difficult to draw the boundaries. German culture reflects various traces of medieval art and architecture in the form of cathedrals, monasteries, and castles that dot the country.

Present-day German culture, deeply rooted in tradition, has been carved by the many outside and inside influences the country has endured throughout its long history. Germany's diverse and unique regions are not only geographically and climatically different, but form an eclectic blend of personalities and identities. Appropriate and effective business etiquette in Germany can only be successfully applied through an understanding of this well-developed and highly elaborate culture.

Germany is closely tied into regional influences and has been fundamentally shaped by Europe’s history. It has deep regional identities but at the same time has a national German culture. Germany has become the largest economy and the most populous nation in Europe after its unification in 1989.

Because of its rich and prominent culture it is quite important to create awareness and understanding about the German culture when doing business in Germany. In today’s global business environment it becomes quite necessary to develop successful business strategies and valuable business relationships based on an awareness of the German culture

German culture – Key concepts and values

Individualism – In Germany a great deal of emphasis is placed on individual accomplishment but then it is also coupled with the responsibility to achieve the good of the community as well. In many business and professional environments the benefits to the company’s staff and the community as a whole are also taken into consideration in performance assessment along with the financial results.

Communication – The German communication style is direct, seemingly confrontational and it is important to understand this component of the business dealings. For example, during business discussions there can be open and frank expression of criticizing the project, idea or the task at hand, these tend to be a constructive approach to solving business issues and not a mark of personal disapproval.

Structured approach – The German approach is structured and therefore life and work are also governed by these structured approaches as reflected by laws and rules in all walks of life, including the economic, political and social spheres. In German business adherence to prescribed rules is also important which can result in a lack of spontaneity and a low degree of flexibility.

Emphasis on facts – In German culture decision-making and problem-solving is usually carried out with the help of objective facts. In business negotiations for example, successful business decisions are carried out with the help of logic and analysis of information rather than intuition.

Task based approach – Germans approach work in terms of achieving the task at hand, and combined with the well-defined structured approach to decision-making, this makes business decisions less dependent on relationships and intuition. A lot of emphasis is placed on adherence to deadlines and timeline

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This post was created by Textronics Communications Ltd. (www.textronics.com), a leading language and translation services provider since 1991. Our service offering includes translation, interpretation, proofreading, narration, transcription as well multi-lingual desktop publishing and web design services in all languages and subject matters. Our growing client base includes corporate, public and non-profit sector clients in Canada, the United States and Europe. Our language specialists are highly trained, tested and have many years of experience in their chosen subject matter and we consistently strive to offer high-quality language services at affordable prices. New clients can take advantage of a free test translation to try out our services first hand at no cost.
www.textronics.com – Communicate with the World

Textronics Communications Ltd. also publishes www.travelandtransitions.com, a popular web portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections. Award-winning travel writer Susanne Pacher chronicles her personal journeys to places such as Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Sicily, and various other places in Europe and North America and writes about the people behind the destinations. Compilations of these articles are now available as electronic books at the following link: http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html. In addition, the website offers interviews with fascinating personalities and tourism experts as well as practical travel advice and regional travel information.
www.travelandtransitions.com – Life is a Journey – Explore New Horizons