"What is translation? A poet's head upon a platter." (Vladimir Nabokov)

Contrary to the myth propagated by the purveyors of computer 'translation programmes', there is not a one-to-one mathematical correspondence between any two languages on Earth. Indeed, a living language can hardly be viewed as a fixed abstract entity in the first place. Rather, within each language and dialect there is a subtle and ever-evolving network of linguistic patterns, historical usage and associations which combines with each writer's skill and life experience to produce a text more or less representative of his or her intentions and more or less rich in meaning. When it comes to translation from one such chimera to another, it takes one skill to appreciate and understand all of the meanings and associations in the text one reads, and an entirely different one to reproduce them in a second language. The first is relatively easy for a linguist; the second is extremely hard to do accurately in any language other than one's mother tongue. Many people read and speak several languages fluently. That is not the same as writing them with perfect accuracy. Compared with other languages, English is very easy to 'get by in', and peculiarly difficult to master at a high level; as a result of which most speakers of English as a foreign language over-estimate their command of the language. Unless you are a Joseph Conrad or a Vladimir Nabokov, it is very easy for a non-native speaker to come unstuck when writing English at a high level and to produce ambiguity, confusion and unintentional humour. For this reason, I only translate into my mother tongue, English, and if asked to produce texts in other languages I collaborate with translators from the relevant country.

I offer translation from:

Swedish to English
Norwegian to English
Danish to English
German to English
Italian to English
French to English

Depending on the language and the level of the text, I may enlist help from colleagues and associates to check my work. Nobody is perfect! However, I am always 100% responsible for the finished English version. (For more details of how I work, see this page.)