English to German Translation
The word count of an English to German translation can increase
by as much as 40% but most typically 25%. This obviously can be
dependent on the subject of the text.
When writing technical documents intended for translation into
German the tone of the written prose can have a bearing on the
success of the document. German technical documents tend to use
long sentences and formal language to describe their products.
English documentation often uses more familiar tone which if
translated into German would be judged to relate to an inferior
product.
English to German text expansion should be considered when
localizing websites and software. Buttons, navigation and captions
should all allow for text expansion.
One example of expansion in English to German software
localization is the difference in word length of the words edit and
view. Edit in German is bearbeiten and view is wiedergabe, that's a
100% expansion in each case so any buttons must be large enough to
accommodate such expansion.