Simone Linke’s Translator Profile
Hi there!
As a language professional I help you communicate with confidence so you can win over your target audience for your cause or product. And that’s much easier to do with clear and coherent texts.
Nowadays, I’m good at spotting typos, shallow buzzwords, and sentences that took a wrong turn halfway through. But this hasn’t always been the case. Many years ago, my math teacher in high school once jokingly called me an “intelligence slob.” According to her, I wasn’t short of knowledge but why oh why would I so often hand in my test or homework without giving it a final check…? We both had a good laugh, but her friendly piece of advice stuck with me. Now I always check twice to make sure everything works and every comma sits in the right place.
Would you like to keep me in mind for potential projects? Then grab a copy of my 1-page profile (PDF)!
Career Path
- Master's program at TU Dresden (Germany)
- Major: American Studies
- Minors: Communications & Computer Science
- 1 year at UMass Amherst with a DAAD grant
- Final grade: A– (1.4 on German grading scale)
- Language services since 2005
- Initially as a scientific employee at TUD
- Self-employed (full time) since 2010
- Language combination: English–German
- Specialties: IT, media, marketing
We’ll be a good fit, …
… if quality is not just an afterthought for you but a core criterion when planning projects and workflows. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune or that every little text should sound like Twain or Shakespeare. But neither should your goal be to generate as much text as possible, as fast as possible, and as cheaply as possible. There’s too much slop already these days!
In short: I strive to deliver texts that serve their purpose and audience, and I use modern tools whenever and wherever they truly increase efficiencies and result in better value for your money.
Skills & Tools
- CAT systems / platforms
- Trados Studio, memoQ
- XTM, Phrase, Lokalise, Crowdin
- Subtitle Edit
- Others upon request …
- Software / collaboration
- MS Office, LibreOffice
- Adobe Acrobat, PDF-XChange Editor, OCR
- Final Draft, Fade In, Scrivener
- MS Teams, Slack
- Miscellaneous
- SEO principles, ISO 17100, GDPR
- Programming languages (Python etc.)
- WordPress, Elementor, Divi
- Chess, photography, creative writing
Have you ever planned a crime …?
A few years ago, I started killing people – only on paper, of course!
Initially, these crime stories written under a pen name were just a hobby but by now I have set loftier goals and started working on a real novel series. I also know the DOs and DON’Ts in screenwriting and have a couple of scripts in my drawer. Why am I telling you this? Because I’m always happy about projects that get my creative juices flowing.
So, if you work at a publishing house or share your writing with the world via self-publishing and need either a translation of an English book or editing services for a book in German, my contact form is waiting for you!
Yay or nay?
- Oxford comma: Yay, because it helps eliminate ambiguity. For a good explanation, see this YouTube video.
- Em dashes: Yay! And if you think they are a sign of “AI,” please, read the Em Dash’s response to the AI allegations!
- “Denglisch”: Nay, if it only serves to obfuscate your message. Anglicisms aren’t bad per se. More info can be found on Wikipedia.
- Writing guides: Yay, not just for writers but for translators as well. Two of my favorites: On Writing Well (W. Zinsser) and On Writing (St. King).
- Pineapple on pizza: Nay, nay, nay!