Not surprisingly, you sometimes have to bend the rules to achieve the best results. A word-for-word approach rarely does the trick, so you distill the concepts to a primordial soup in the linguistic laboratory of your brain before you recombine the DNA and synthesize the message in words that are right on target.

There is one important rule that I never break: I always translate into my mother tongue, never into a foreign language. So all it takes is a native speaker to create a great translation? No. It takes sound writing skills combined with tenacity, perfectionism and a somewhat obsessive desire to keep polishing a text until it shines as much as the original. It also requires someone who has an intimate knowledge of the source language and culture. In short, it takes someone with years of experience, an eye for detail and a strong sense of curiosity.

Although I'm not a technology geek — or a brain surgeon or a lawyer —, I regularly translate texts on innovative products and services, and journalistic articles on complex topics like the legal implications of the latest ruling by the German Constitutional Court. But if your text is too technical for me, I'll let you know immediately and, if possible, point you to a more qualified colleague.