The Tomedes team is often asked to translate one European language to another. The translation of German to English is a frequent request, covering documents from instruction manuals to databases.
We were given an unusual translation challenge recently when a client asked us to translate a set of detailed personal records from German to English. The unusual part was that the records were handwritten on forms filled out some two decades ago.
Given the spidery nature of the handwriting on the forms, the client asked us to provide a transcription of the original German, in addition to the translation to English. We selected two of our professional translators based in Germany to undertake the work. The first, who had a background in proofreading and editing, was assigned the job of transcribing the handwritten text from the records into a word processing document. The second was asked to translate that transcription from German to English.
We ensured that our two translators maintained regular contact during the assignment. Thus as each record was transcribed, the translation on it began. This meant that our team was able to complete the work as quickly and efficiently as possible, thus providing the client with an extremely responsive service.
Given the number of records and the size and detail of each one, this was an extensive project. Our translators spent nearly two weeks painstakingly translating each individual record to ensure that the client had every last snippet of information that the original documents contained. This thorough approach ensured that the client was happy with the high quality of the translated documents.