Title: Euro Bond Markets Strategy

Word count: 10,000

Background: This review of bond market strategy covering asset allocation, sovereigns (both developed and emerging), covered bonds, financials, corporates and derivatives is turned around to a publication-ready standard in three and a half days from Monday morning to Thursday lunchtime. Translating it effectively requires us to be thoroughly up to date with the financial markets.

Challenge: Working fast while maintaining quality.

The story behind the success: To keep up the translation speed necessary to deliver in such a short time frame, I work together with a trusted colleague. We split the translation between us and proofread a selection of each other’s work.

We are also fortunate to have a good working relationship with DZ Bank’s analysts. This means we can talk to them to clarify queries and ensure the best translation possible.

Results: DZ Bank are delighted with the quality of the translation and have therefore been hiring us to translate this publication for over seven years. Mistranslations or clunky prose style are now nowhere to be found in the English version. The analysts are happy that their views are represented faithfully and DZ Bank’s sales force and clients, who occasionally complained about mistakes in the past, now no longer do so.

Published in: Click here for recent edition (N.B. owing to restrictions imposed by MiFID II, this edition is no longer updated)

Word count: 5,000

Background: This was a more technical and detailed publication than the monthly bond market strategy. The purpose of the translation was to inform DZ Bank’s non-German clients and to demonstrate the same level of expertise as in the German original.

Challenge: Mastering the technical background of the EU bail-in regulations for banks and ensuring a good, readable style in spite of the technical nature of the publication.

The story behind the success: I had to carry out extensive research on the EU’s Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.

Results: DZ Bank’s banking analysts are delighted with the quality of our translations, as we are able to faithfully convey their views and conclusions to their non-German-speaking clients. We are one of their preferred suppliers.

Published in: Click here for published version.

Word count: 17,000 (approximately 25% of the Code)

Background: In 2007 the Swiss legal publishers Schulthess commissioned CLS Communication to produce a new translation of the Swiss Civil Code for the 100^th anniversary of its promulgation.

Challenge: I had to collate and revise the previous translations of the Code to produce a more consistent, higher quality translation. This involved both increasing the legal accuracy and clarity of the English version.

The story behind the success: In a word? Team work. I worked closely with the team leader Craig Hilton to agree on terminology and conventions. I also had to do my homework on my section of the Code by reading commentaries and carrying out thorough terminological research.

Result: A new authoritative English translation of the Code has been published, making it accessible to legal experts around the world.

Published in: Handkommentar zum schweizer Privatrecht, ed. Marc Amstutz et al., Schulthess, Zurich, 2007, ISBN: 978-3-7255-4954-2. Click here for brochure.

Word count: 1,000,000 (10 volumes in total over the course of 4 years)

Background: The Dictionary of German Biography, DGB, is a unique biographical resource for scholars around the world. I was responsible for translating theologians and legal theorists (such as Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Karl Rahner, Edith Stein, Friedrich Carl von Savigny) among others.

Challenge: Detailed research was needed into the subject area and equivalent English academic terminology for the complex and, in some cases, obscure academic German. The latter required considerable polishing to achieve equivalent fluency and clarity in English.

The story behind the success: The many hours I spent in the library and using Internet resources to research the content made this project possible. The reference material included 19^th century dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Result: An extremely happy client and involvement in producing a unique resource for scholars everywhere. Much of the biographical information in the DGB is not available anywhere else in English.

Published in: Dictionary of German Biography, 10 vols, K.G. Saur, Munich, 2001-06, ISBN:359823290X. Click here for brochure.

A History of the Roman Republic, K. Bringmann, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007, ISBN:9780745633701 (hardback); 9780745633718 (paperback)

I was sole translator of this university textbook on the Roman Republic.

For a sample, click here (reproduced by permission of Polity Press).

The Frock-Coated Communist, T. Hunt, Penguin, 2010, ISBN: 9780141021409

I translated some personal correspondence and background material on Friedrich Engels for the recent biography by the historian (and now MP) Tristram Hunt.