Translate German to English, whole files at once
Upload a German book, document or subtitle file and read the first chapter in English before you pay. Compounds turn into natural English phrases, and review notes flag scenes where du and Sie carried meaning.
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Read the first chapter in the new language before you decide.
At a glance. German to English
- $22.50 for a 90,000-word novel
- Chapter one is free
- United States, United Kingdom, or Australia
- Chapters, footnotes, images and styles
One glossary for the whole file. Names read the same in English on every page.
Pick a name to find it in both versions.
Am Morgen, als die Fähren ausblieben, ging Mara Ellison den Laternenkai entlang und zählte die Boote, die nicht ablegen würden. Elf. Irgendwo hinter dem Nebel zählten auch die Gezeitenwächter.
On the morning the ferries stopped, Mara Ellison walked the length of the Lantern Quay and counted the boats that would not leave. Eleven. Somewhere behind the fog, the Tidewardens were counting too.
English takes about as many characters as German. Measured on our sample.
| Measure | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| Words | 79 | 84 |
| Characters, without spaces | 393 | 388 |
At the same ratio, a 92,400-word German book comes out at about 98,200 words in English.
You pay for the words of the German original, not for the length of the translation.
What changes in English. Handled for you, adjustable before you pay.
- Long German compounds are split into natural English phrases instead of literal word chains.
- Formal Sie and informal du both become “you”; the review notes flag scenes where the shift in tone matters.
- Verbs at the end of German clauses are moved forward so English sentences read in natural order.
What a book costs. Pick an example or set your word count.
Free preview: chapter one. No account or card needed.
Questions. Short answers.
How much does it cost to translate a book from German to English?
A one-off translation costs $0.25 per 1,000 words for reading or $0.60 with glossary, style guide and review. A 90,000-word novel is $54 in Publish mode. You see the exact price before paying.
Will names stay the same in the English translation?
Yes. The whole file is read first and every person, place and invented word gets one English form. You can change any of them before translation starts.
What happens to du and Sie in English?
Both become “you”. Where the switch between them changes a scene, the review notes point it out so you can decide whether to show it in the wording.
Are German compound nouns translated literally?
No. A word like Gezeitenwächter becomes a natural English phrase, and each invented compound gets one English form in the glossary that every chapter reuses.
More language pairs. Same file, other languages.
Every format you work with. Layout kept in each one.
German to English translation for books, reports and subtitles
Unpacking German compounds
German builds new nouns by joining old ones. Gezeitenwächter is tide plus warden; Laternenkai is lantern plus quay. A literal translation turns these into chains of nouns no English writer would produce. Transleaf renders each compound as a natural English phrase and stores the result in the glossary.
For invented compounds this matters twice. The English form is chosen once and reused in every chapter, so the Tidewardens do not become the Tide Guards halfway through the book.
Read the full guideHide the guide
When du and Sie both become you
English cannot show the difference between du and Sie, and in some scenes that difference is the point. When a character drops Sie and offers du, German readers feel the shift. English readers need it shown in the wording, or they miss it.
Review notes flag these scenes so you can decide. Often a first name used for the first time, or a change in how formally someone speaks, carries the moment.
Verbs at the end, sentences in English order
German puts verbs at the end of subordinate clauses and stacks information in front of the noun. English readers expect the verb early. The translation reorders sentences rather than mirroring them, which is why a German paragraph often comes out as more, shorter sentences in English.
German from Germany, Austria or Switzerland
You do not need to set the source variant. Swiss spellings with ss, Austrian words such as Jänner or Paradeiser, and regional dialogue are recognized from the text. Regional words are translated by meaning, so Paradeiser becomes tomatoes, not a made-up word.
Price is based on the German word count
You pay for the words in the German file you upload. A 90,000-word German novel costs $22.50 in Read mode and $54 in Publish mode. A 7,000-word contract falls under the minimum and costs $3 or $9. The total is shown after the file is analyzed and before you pay.
American, British or Australian English
The English variant is a setting. American English writes color and analyze, British English colour and analyse, and dialogue punctuation differs as well: double quotation marks in most American books, single ones in many British editions. Pick the market your readers are in and every chapter follows it.
Checking the English chapter
Read the free chapter without the German beside it. If some sentences still sound German, with long noun phrases or the verb arriving late, mention it in Notes for the translator and run the chapter again. Three reruns of the free chapter cost nothing.