Antje Althans – Translator

I'm an experienced and conscientious literary translator (English-German) who has worked for big publishing companies like Random House, AmazonCrossing, and HarperCollins for 20+ years. I stopped counting my translations at number 50. You can find a selection in my Portfolio below.

What I like most about my job is that you never know what kind of text will come next - it's never boring!

My very first project was a novel by Joyce Carol Oates - I couldn't believe my luck!

For ten years I had the honor of translating bestselling author Rachel Gibson, learning a lot about ice hockey (and sex!) in the process.

Another well-known author I translated is Faye Kellerman ("Moon Music", German title "Denn verschwiegen ist die Nacht", 2002).

This year (2019) I started translating non-fiction which was very refreshing after all the routine. I particularly liked the (true) story about a cat detection dog called Molly ("Molly & Me" by Colin Butcher).

But generally I'm open to all kinds of texts.

I'm looking forward to many interesting new projects.

Working process:

If I get a new text, my first step is to read at least a few chapters to get a feeling for it. For me it is very important to retain the original voice. In order to achieve this, I always try to stay as close to the original as possible; but of course it's also very important to make the text sound good and run smoothly. It should always be a pleasure to read!

For me, translating is not about being as fast as possible. A good translation is a little like a good wine. It needs time to ripen.

If you want a fully edited version (please note: not formatted!) of my translation I can arrange that, too.