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Text translations - English German translator for texts of all kinds

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German translation of texts, letters and reports — by native translators

Text translation for everyday and specialist texts — English to German and German to English. Documents, correspondence and specialist texts, translated by native-speaker German ⇄ English specialists, not by a raw machine: terminologically correct, confidential and at a binding fixed price, certified for authorities on request.

Contact usText types

Native German ⇄ English specialists, not raw machine output · English ⇄ German, both directions · from a cover letter to a specialist text · certified for authorities on request

DIN EN ISO 17100certified · Reg. 7U517
German and Englishnative-speaker specialists
Price up frontbinding fixed price
ConfidentialGDPR-compliant · NDA on request

Text translation

Where a machine draft stops and a professional rendering starts.

Reviewed by specialists · termbase editorial team

A text works only when it reads naturally in the target language and is right on the facts — whichever way it runs, English to German or German to English. Free machines give you a sense of the content, but not a reliable, terminologically correct version — least of all for contracts, specialist texts or official documents. At termbase, native-speaker German ⇄ English specialists do the translating, supported by our ISO 17100-governed language technology — and certified as a certified translation where an authority requires it.

Tell us what the text is for and we assign the right specialist. If it is a particular document, this page routes you straight to the right service: legal, technical, medical, academic — or a certified translation for certificates and records. This is the everyday-text entry point; where a text needs certification or a specialist field, we hand it on rather than compromise.

Choose the text type

Which text needs which translator?

Have a text and unsure who should translate it? This overview takes you to the right specialist page in one step — or simply tell us the text type and purpose and we route it for you.

Text types, what matters for each, and the right termbase service page
Text typeWhat mattersThe right termbase page
Contract, GTC, NDALaw of the target country, clause-exact terminology, which language version governsLegal translation →
Certificate (birth, marriage, ID)Certification by a sworn, court-authorised translator; acceptance by the authorityCertified translation →
Diploma, transcriptGrading system explained, recognition in the target country, usually certifiedCertified translation →
Technical documentation, manualConsistent terminology, standards references, safety-critical precisionTechnical translation →
Marketing, advertising copyTranscreation — effect and tone in the target market, not a literal renderingWebsite & marketing →
Medical textVerified terminology, MDR/regulatory reference, patient safetyMedical translation →
Academic paper, thesisSubject register, correct citation style, publication-ready qualityResearch translation →
Website, online shopLocalisation rather than translation — hreflang, format, search intent in the marketWebsite localisation →

Not sure which service your document falls under?

Many jobs mix text types — a cover letter with a certificate attached, a report with a contract annex. Tell us the purpose and the audience; we assign each component to the right service and bring it all together in one binding fixed price.

Kinds of translation

Six routes: professional, certified, MTPE, proofreading, transcreation, localisation.

“Translate a text” can mean several things. This overview sorts the common services — so you can pick the right one, or simply tell us the purpose and the audience.

Professional translation by a native translator in the field

Translation by a native-speaker specialist in the field, terminology checked — the standard for contracts, technology or medicine. See professional translation.

Certified translation with a certification note

Provided with a certification note by a sworn, court-authorised translator and thereby valid for official submission — for certificates and records. More on this.

Post-editing of a machine draft (MTPE)

A machine draft is checked by a professional translator and brought up to a reliable standard — quicker where a draft already exists and the risk profile allows it.

Proofreading and revision of an existing version

Checking and polishing an existing translation for style, grammar and consistency. See proofreading.

Transcreation for advertising copy

Advertising copy rewritten rather than rendered word for word, so tone and effect land in the target market. See website & marketing.

Localisation of websites and software

Adapting whole websites or software to language, format and market — including hreflang and CMS integration. See website localisation.

A machine is enough to understand a text — not to rely on it before a German authority.

Two decades. Millions of translated words across every kind of text. A network of native German ⇄ English specialists that clients trust for correct, confidential work — from a cover letter to a specialist text — in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Quality you only notice at the receiving end

Six things raw machine output gets wrong — and a human does not.

A machine renders words; it does not carry responsibility for the result. The gaps below are where a raw automatic translation quietly goes wrong — and each is specific and demonstrable, not a matter of taste.

Typical pitfalls of raw machine translation and how a specialist resolves them
PitfallWhy it goes wrongHow termbase solves it
Fluent but wrongA machine produces confident, well-formed sentences even when it has misread the source — the error is invisible until the reader acts on it.A native-speaker specialist translates for meaning and verifies against the source, so a smooth sentence is also a correct one.
Terminology drift across filesRun through a machine, the same term comes out three different ways across a set of documents; a contract and its annex stop matching.A glossary and translation memory hold terminology steady across every file in the job, so wording stays consistent.
Register and toneAn official letter reads as casual, or a warm personal note turns stiff — a machine has no sense of who the text is for.The specialist sets the register to the purpose — formal for an authority, natural for correspondence — as a native writer would.
False friends and ambiguityLook-alike words and words with two meanings are resolved by surface form, and the sentence flips to the opposite sense.Ambiguity is resolved from context by someone who knows the field, not by the most probable token.
Names, numbers, dates, formattingDecimal points, thousands separators, date order and accented names are silently changed, and a figure or a name is then misread.Number, date and name conventions are set to the target language, and names are matched exactly to the identity document.
ConfidentialityPasting a text into a free tool can send confidential content to a third party and train a model on it — a breach for contracts and records.Texts are processed under the GDPR, only for the agreed purpose, with an NDA where needed and qualified human specialists throughout.

Why a free draft is not the finished translation

None of these is a simple typo — most survive any spell-check, and a machine draft looks finished precisely because it reads smoothly. They only surface at the receiving end: the client, the authority, the court. That is exactly where native professional translation earns its place — and, for anything official, where a certified translation becomes necessary.

Documents we translate into German

From a private letter to a clinical study — what we take on.

Almost any text, in both German and English — from everyday correspondence to certified records and specialist documents. Where a text is official or field-specific, we route it to the right service; where it simply needs to read well in another language, a native-speaker specialist handles it.

Everyday and private: letters, applications, CVs

  • Letter & correspondence
  • Application & cover letter
  • CV & references
  • Email & personal notes
  • Article & blog post
  • General business text

Official records: birth, marriage, police clearance, contracts

Technical, web and IT: manuals, websites, software strings

Medicine and academia: findings, studies, dissertations

From practice

Three jobs: a business report, a personal letter, a mixed application.

How the same route — review, assignment, fixed price — works for very different texts. From the starting point to the result.

Business & commerce

A business report and presentation into English

Starting point
A company has a proposal, a report and a presentation translated into English for a client — factually correct and in the company's own tone.
Process
The documents are reviewed, a business specialist is assigned, and terminology is kept uniform across every file, supported by ISO 17100-governed technology.
Result
Print- and send-ready versions at the fixed price named in advance — and, for ongoing needs, a framework agreement.

Private & correspondence

A personal letter and the emails around it

Starting point
A private client needs a personal letter and accompanying emails translated — confidential, and sounding natural rather than machine-made.
Process
A native speaker carries the tone and the intent across for sense, not word for word; the work is handled strictly confidentially under the GDPR.
Result
A letter that lands with the reader as it was meant — without the tell-tale flatness of a machine translation.

Mixed document

An application bundling a CV and a certified diploma

Starting point
An application bundles a cover letter, a CV and a diploma that the university wants to see certified.
Process
We split the components — letter and CV as a professional translation, the diploma as a certified version by a sworn, court-authorised translator.
Result
A coherent package, each component in the correct form — brought together in one fixed price.

What a German translation costs

What a text translation costs — and how the fixed price is set.

We review volume, text type, language direction and deadline and name a binding fixed price — no recalculation by lines delivered. Standard certificates are usually a flat fee per document; longer texts are priced per standard line, certification on request.

Binding fixed price
from C$1.45 / standard linestandard certificates at a flat fee per document
Price up front · no unannounced extra costs
Native-speaker professional translation✓included
Terminology & translation memory✓included
Certification by a court-authorised translator on request✓included
Second-pair-of-eyes revision & final check✓included
Confidential handling under the GDPR · NDA on request✓included

As a guide, translations start from C$1.45 per standard line (55 characters incl. spaces); we name the exact amount after a brief review — as a fixed price with no recalculation,. How the price is made up →

Request a quote

FAQ

What private clients and companies ask about written work.

Why use a professional translator instead of free machine translation?

A machine gives you the gist, but not a reliable, terminologically correct and stylistically consistent version. For contracts, specialist texts and official documents a professional text translation is either advisable or required. At termbase, native-speaker specialists do the work, supported by ISO 17100-governed language technology.

What kinds of text do you translate?

Almost any — from letters, applications and correspondence through contracts and reports to technical, medical and academic specialist texts, and digital content from websites to marketing. We match a native-speaker specialist to the text type and field.

Which languages do you translate into?

More than German and English and many combinations. We assign a native-speaker specialist by language and field, so the target text reads as if written by a native.

Can a German authority accept your certified version?

Yes, when an authority requires it. For certificates and records a sworn, court-authorised translator (authorised by a German court under Section 142 (3) ZPO) produces a certified translation with a certification note, recognised by German authorities and courts nationwide. Whether an apostille is also needed we check in advance — it is issued by the competent authority, not by the translation agency.

Is my text kept confidential?

Yes. Your texts are processed confidentially and only for the agreed purpose under the GDPR; with an NDA where you need one, and final responsibility always with qualified human specialists.

What a text translation costs — and how the fixed price is set.

The price depends on volume, text type, language direction and deadline. After a brief review we name a binding fixed price, from C$1.45 per standard line, with no recalculation by lines delivered.
Our handbook is plain Canadian English and full of idiom nobody in Frankfurt would parse. The German version says the same things the way a German staff handbook says them, which is not the same sentence.
★★★★★

Doug Sanderson · HR director, Calgary

Next

Carry on: certified records, marketing copy and manual translation.

By document

Driving licence German translationTranslate a no-impediment certificate into GermanTranslate a residence permit into GermanGerman spouse visa document translation

By field

Professional German translatorGerman marketing translationGerman tourism translatorGerman documentation translation

Also translated

Translate citizenship papers into GermanTranslate a marriage certificate into GermanTranslate a birth certificate into German

By service

Sworn German translatorLegal translator English to GermanCertified German medical translationGerman technical translator

Work with us

Become a German text translator — a native language plus a field.

The everyday-text market is where machine output presses hardest — and where it fails most quietly. What still holds up is a native-speaker specialist with a field, sound judgement on register and terminology, and — for official work — court authorisation granted under the law of a German federal state (Land). We work continually with professional translators, employed or freelance, who deliver the version a client can actually rely on.

The path

Your native language, plus a field you can defend

Your native language is the starting capital; the market rewards what you build on it. A field you can defend — law, medicine, technology, finance — and its terminology is what turns a fluent draft into a translation a client relies on. That combination, not fluency alone, is what a specialist job actually asks for, and what no free tool can supply.

Why it holds up

Authorisation at the Regional Court — and judgement no machine holds

For certified translations you apply to the competent Regional Court (Landgericht) to be authorised under the law of a German federal state (Land); under Section 142 (3) ZPO such a translation counts as correct and complete once the translator certifies it. And even everyday texts reward a specialist's judgement: the right register, terminology that stays consistent, confidentiality, and responsibility for the result. Careful human work here is not nostalgia — it is what the client requires.

Careers at termbase
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