There are a couple of things to be taken into consideration when it comes to German translation. A lot of companies want to localize their website or marketing material for the German market. To have a German translation of all texts is a first step. For this, you should keep in mind that the German translation of an English text will probably be quite a bit longer than the original, due to the specific properties of the German language.

Using a free online tool for German translation might not give very good results, because the syntax is different from the English and it has a more complex morphology. The outcome of a German translation done by a machine can be horribly wrong, so make sure to have it checked by a German native, in order not to offend your German speaking customers.

Another thing that you need to think about when you do German translation is the typesetting: German has the "umlauts" as well as the letter ß, which might come out wrong when using the German translation of your texts in your usual text processing software.

If you produce or sell software and are looking to expand to the German market, remember that the German keyboard looks somewhat different. Thus it is important to have not only a German translation of the words and texts, but also to localize all applications for the German local conditions.

If you are not only looking to sell in Germany, but also in other German speaking countries such as Austria or Switzerland, make sure to have  the German translation done by an expert who knows the local varieties of the language in these areas.  Benjamin Wolf