Translation

Experience

I have over nine years of experience as a translator specialising in the arts, culture, politics and theory, initially focusing on German to English and expanding into French to English following a year-long stay in Marseille in 2018-19.

Specialisations

I’m comfortable translating into both American and British English and can support you with bilingual publications and the harmonisation of styles and formatting. I specialise in academic and artistic writing: I have translated texts from the humanities, art, literary and film theory, for exhibition catalogues, artist statements, funding applications, collected volumes and gallery texts. I’m always happy to look at any other kind of publication or text, too.

Style

In an age of mechanical translation – DeepL, ChatGPT – achieving a broadly accurate translation can for some texts be trivial. Achieving a readable and comprehensible one is another matter: I can work with you to find the right style and approach for your publication and translate in a clear and transparent English still mediated and marked by the qualities and idiosyncracies of your source text.

Software

I’m a strong proponent of open-source software – I built this site using Hugo and the Congo theme – and where possible I use OmegaT to manage and archive my translations.

I also hold MemoQ and Trados licenses and have used both extensively. For those unfamiliar with CAT (computer-assisted translation) tools, these are software suites that can handle a wide array of files, from standard Word documents to specialised formats like Adobe InDesign (.idml). I’m experienced in translating in project-managed workflows and have collaborated with a number of translation agencies.

PDFs can pose a particular challenge, especially with scanned documents from journal articles predating digital publishing. I’ve developed a manual, OCR-based workflow for cases like this and am always happy to see if this can be applied to any text you need translated.

Selected Clients

Texte zur Kunst, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, Arsenal/Berlinale Forum, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen e.V., Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden.

My translations have also appeared at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste and in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.