Your translators and interpreters
Academic translation is particularly demanding, be it in the sciences or humanities: in addition to the foreign language, you also need to know the terminology. Technical language can hardly be separated from specialist knowledge: in order to translate an academic text, you really have to understand it. The right terms are not always easy to look up, as the correct interpretation is context-sensitive. The right translation therefore requires a lot of research – and a lot of experience that tells you what and where to research. Then there are the stylistic conventions, which also apply during academic editing: a specialist article for a journal is translated differently to a grant application; an essay can be playful, a research report better not.
Alexandra Berlina and Pavel Sirotkin usually translate academic texts from German and Russian into English, but other language combinations are also possible, as is proofreading and editing. We can also polish the language of your master’s or doctoral thesis, but – and this matters to us! – we won’t write your thesis for you.
Our own research experience helps us to translate academic work.
Alexandra holds a PhD in literary studies. After her doctoral thesis on poetry translation received the Anna Balakian Prize for an “exceptional first monograph in the field of comparative literature” and a dozen positive reviews, she continued with Viktor Shklovsky: A Reader. She not only translated the essays by the great literary scholar but was also responsible for the selection, the editing, and comments. The Modern Language Association judged the collection to be the best literary translation of 2015-2016. Literary and translation studies along with Russian, German, and comparative literature are Alexandra’s core areas of expertise; by and by they were joined by other cultural studies, social sciences, and humanities, such as Jewish studies and queer studies.
Pavel studied computer science before switching to linguistics and completing his MA at the University of Oxford. He then completed his PhD summa cum laude in information science at the University of Düsseldorf, where he also worked as a research assistant.
Pavel brings this wide range of experience to his academic translations. mostly translates texts from the area of science, technology and social studies.
Apart from the usual editorial duties (correctness, style), in academic editing, Alexandra and Pavel also pay attention to the formal requirements of journals and publishers, such as citation style, formatting, and length. We translate articles and reports for universities as well as for various foundations, initiatives, and museums. For both of us, the necessary research is a bonus rather than a chore: translating is lifelong learning. In the area of academic translation, there is at least one type of text and at least one subject area or topic with which Awe have experience for almost every letter of the alphabet:
Abstract, article // aesthetics, American studies, antisemitism (prevention), anthropology, art history
Book, brief //British studies
Case study, criticism, conference* //comparative literature, cultural studies
Dissertation, dossier // demography, democracy
Essay, expert opinion // educational sciences, ekphrasis, ethics, ethnology
Festschrift, field study // film studies
Grant application // gender studies, German studies
Handbook // history, homophobia (prevention), humanities
Interview // iconography, international relations
Journal article // Jewish studies
Keynote
Literature overview // linguistics, literary studies
Master’s thesis, monograph // media studies, medieval studies
Newsletter // narratology
Overview // organizational psychology
Poster, presentation, proposal, policy recommendation // philosophy, politics, psychology, popular science
Qualitative and quantitative studies, questionnaire // queer studies
Report, review // racism (prevention), Russian studies
Study // Slavic studies, social sciences (sociology)
Teaching materials, thesis paper // theater studies, translation studies
Urban studies
Working Paper, Workshop*
Admittedly, we must pass on X, Y and Z (we have no experience in xenology or zoology, alas)
* C (conference) and W (workshop) are not quite a fit, hence the asterisk – here, we have experience as interpreters rather than translators (though some people call interpreting “oral translation”). At academic events such as international conferences, interpreting into English is often necessary – sometimes consecutive (speakers wait while interpreting takes place), sometimes simultaneous (interpreters sit in a booth and interpret while the speakers speak). At conferences, as in translation, learning something new is part of the fascination of our work.