Hello.

Try John Hurst in Zürich. He's the man on translations.

Did anyone of you translate this then.

Wir kommen in Bern ein.

into

We are arriving at Bern.

My husband and I have a translation office and adhere to the principle of only translating into our native languages - German and English - although from a number of others. Our specialty is legal/commercial/financial (my husband has a Swiss law degree as well as a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia). Of course, we translate non-specialized texts as a matter of course. In addition to the principle of translating only into our native tongues, we do not accept specialized translations unless we have a consultant available from the field, e.g. medical, computer, engineering, etc. This is a principle that many translation offices do not seem to recognize.

Since most translations are needed "yesterday," we have occasionally made use of outside companies (the ones with the super-sounding rates). Luckily, we always reserved enough time to carefully edit what they deliver as invariably what we actually got for our money was simply a very rough, error-ridden draft.

Caveat emptor!

Hi
Could anyone here tell me whether anyone knows some certified translators who can translate
birth certi, marriage certificate, police verification certificate etc.

I need this translation for applying residence permit in WIL but don't know any certified translator here who can translate my documents and is valid for residence permit.

Could anyone help ?

Thanks
IG

How does one become an official recognised translator?

Hi, both of you,

Translators do not have to be certified in Switzerland. Naturally, if one has a translator's degree, this might be considered of value to a potential client. On the other hand, many translations require knowledge of the terms used in specific fields, so many potential clients are more interested in that than a degree in translation.

Thus, that my husband, with German mother tongue, has 2 law degrees, one from Switzerland and an LL.M. from the U.S., and that I have a B.A. from the states, many years' experience in business and English mother tongue, gave us a basis for specializing in "legal and commercial" translations.

The certifications that do exist are the usual notarization of signature common in Switzerland. When this is necessary, we have a little statement to the effect that the translation is true and correct to the best of our knowledge and ability. We sign this before the notary, who then certifies the signature. This is not particularly common, it depends upon the case and how the translation is to be used.

To Vinod - probably any fairly large translation office (search.ch or telephone book) can do these fairly easily. Just call a few and ask.

Hope this helps,

Kendra

Study and get the diploma at the Ecole de traduction et d'interprétation ETI de l'Université de Genève (at Geneva university).

The Dolmetscherschule in Zürich DOZ as well gives diplomas that are recognised.

hi there, I need help. I'm from Malaysia, it seems that the immigration office wants me to translate our wedding certificate and birth certificate from Bahasa Malaysia to German. Does anybody could advise me? Appreciate the help. Cheers

Apa khabar Naveen ?

In Malaysia, the Swiss Embassy at Persiaran Madge recognises the Goethe Institute at Jln Tun Razak, a short walk away from the embassy.

In Zurich, I suppose the Goethe Institute ( or its equivalent ) is able to do it, and expect much higher rates. Alternatively, reach the Malaysian embassy for their list of translators - they usually keep a list.

Hope this helps in some way.

MfG

Khabar baik. I'll check-out on Tuesday. Just got back from Zurich yesterday. Thanks for the help.

I've been doing German to English for over 14 years.

http://www.soundswrite.ch

To do translation properly requires a very broad general knowledge base and a very deep knowledge of both languages. Then you need talent in the target language which has to be your mother tongue.

Finally in Switzerland you need to be in the position to drop everything and work to meet clients increasingly unrealistic deadlines.

Hi,

I have a translation diploma and am hoping to do some freelance translation work alongside my regular job in CH.

Can anyone tell me how I would need to declare this (for tax and AHV purposes)?

In case it makes a difference, I don't do the regular tax return at the end of each financial year because my day-job pays below the tax return threshhold for B permit holders.

Thanks.

You can start a "Einzelunternehmung" and inform the AHV about that you will be self employed and need to pay Social Security. They will then send you a form to fill in. Next to this you will have to make a bookkeeping with at least income and outcome and send it in with your regular tax statement. That’s the normal way but I can not tell you if this is different as you have a B permit. Maybe you will need to have also business insurances but I am not sure.


An other opportunity is that the company or private person who gives you the work do the work with the AHV in relation to the regulation which can be found at http://keine-schwarzarbeit.ch

Hi
I have seen prices of Fr. 3.50 per line
Greetz
Barb

hi there,

i was going to start a new thread about this topic but doing a quick search, found this one. granted, its a bit out of date by now, but does anyone know if these rates are still valid?

i just translated a colleagues Zeugnis/recommendation letter from DE to EN and got 150CHF for it, for about 3hrs work for a 2 page doc. i was wondering if i got robbed, or if he did, or what others would charge for a similar service.

cheerz

i think that is a fair rate...unless you do this professionally then i am sure you could charge more...

The charges are unrealistic in Switzerland - as most charges are?

An elderly patient with neuropathy complaints was directed to a
Laboratory for Blood tests and the Invoice was Chf. 1521.80 for the
8 vials of Blood they extracted for it !!

Similarly two Employment Certificates in German to English of about
20 lines each was quoted at Chf. 270/- to Chf. 300/- by a Caritas
backed Organisation.

This is such an important point. My masters dissertation, put simply, involved comparing translations by professional (non-bilingual) translators with those by "native bilinguals". The ones produced by the natives were, overall, pretty shockingly bad. I think there's a certain degree of natural talent involved, but training is also important!

Are you doing translation or interpretation? I guess translation is much more difficult since you should be more accurate and choose the very single right word

Do you mean that native-speakers are even worse at interpretation than professional interpretaters? Wow, i did not expect that

The costs are very reasonable at: http://www.englishinstitute.ch/Uebersetzungen/

in my experience.