It’s no secret that there are numerous machine translation (MT) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based translation tools available online, many of them free of charge. For some purposes – if you have a text that you instantly need to roughly understand, for example – these tools are excellent. Where they come up short, however, is producing content that a) reads well, b) connects with readers on a human level and c) always conveys the source text faithfully and accurately.

One of the main concerns regarding AI-based tools is that many are based on generative AI, which aims to provide plausibility rather than absolute accuracy. The underlying AI models are also susceptible to distortion and biases, so could produce translations that don’t match the intention of the source text.

And, because these models can’t think like a human can, they try to produce plausible output. If the model is uncertain about something, it will plough on regardless without further scrutiny of its assumptions. Whereas, if you choose to engage my services, I’ll flag up things that aren’t clear and ask questions if I’m unsure, ensuring that your English content always says exactly what you mean. And, if I notice any typos in your German content, I’ll gently flag them for your attention.

The main point, however, is that AI translation tools currently available online base their output on amalgamating existing texts they find online. This means that texts are increasingly generalised and standardised in their style and tone, making it harder for your organisation’s unique voice to stand out. If you want to make a lasting impression, your communications need to be authentic and distinctive – which only a human translator can achieve.

There’s no blanket answer to this question. It depends on factors including the length of the text (in words), how quickly you need the translation and how complex the content is – because complex, technical texts that require research inherently take longer to translate.

My fees are lower than those of translation agencies because there’s no intermediary involved. My fees are obviously higher than subscriptions for machine translation tools. The key thing to remember, though, is that high-quality human translation generates value by establishing a genuine connection with your target audience – and, ultimately, you get what you pay for.

As with the cost, how long a translation takes depends on factors including the length of the text, the complexity of the content and whether there is any special formatting involved (i.e. for PowerPoint or InDesign files).

As a rule of thumb, for texts that do not require significant additional research, I can translate 2,500 to 3,000 words per standard working day.

No. Although I studied interpreting, for a variety of reasons I specialise in the written word. If you need a German/English interpreter, I’d be happy to provide recommendations.

Yes, there are some projects I won’t accept. These broadly fall into two categories.

Firstly, I won’t agree to translate content for which I’m not suitable. This includes, for example, highly technical content in specialist areas, such as complex medical or pharmaceutical content. In such cases, however, I’ll be happy to recommend a colleague better suited to the task.

Secondly, I won’t translate any content that is obviously illegal, hateful or similarly objectionable – though nobody has asked me to translate such texts to date!