Claudia Riley BA Hons. Cert. Ed.
German Translator, Teacher (Further and Adult Education), Interpreter
•Translator of materials from English to German and vice versa
•Fully qualified and experienced teacher of German for Adult and Further Education
•Accurate, perceptive, simultaneous interpreter from English to German and vice versa
I am a native German speaker, fully fluent and competent in German and English. I have lived in England for many years and therefore familiar with both German and English culture.
I hold a First Class Degree in German Studies from Royal Holloway University of London and a Certificate of Education acquired during my extensive work in Adult Education.

About me:
I was born and raised in Southern Germany near Freiburg im Breisgau.

When I was in my twenties I moved to England to perfect my proficiency in spoken and written English, originally intending to stay for just a year or so. However, I liked England, its people and culture so much that I stayed, later to be married to (and also divorced from) an Englishman. I raised a son who is now reading English at Durham University (you can see that the passion for English continues…!

Although English is virtually a second native language to me by now, I have maintained strong family and business links to my native Germany throughout.

MY WORK EXPERIENCE WITH GERMAN TRANSLATIONS AND INTERPRETING

Having always been involved with my native language during many years of paid employment, I have now set up my own
TRANSLATION AGENCY SPECIALISING SOLELY IN GERMAN/ENGLISH AND VICE VERSA.
I first began as a Translator in the early 1990s and I have since undertaken a great variety of translations from such positions as an employee for a number of companies with strong links to Germany, Austria and Switzerland

References:

“Claudia has also undertaken much German/English and English/German translation work in which she has consistently demonstrated the highest level of technical ability in all subject matters…” (R. Smedley, Export Manager BA Hons., LSA International)

“Claudia’s key responsibilities have included much translation work from German/English and English/German in which she consistently demonstrated a high degree of ability. Claudia has, in fact, been a very effective facilitator of language between our English-speaking staff and the staff at our German Headquarters of Vinnolit GmbH & Co KG nr Munich in Germany.” (N. Henkel, Managing Director, Vinnolit Ltd – UK)

“Claudia was recruited not only for her finance experience and capabilities, but additionally for her exemplary native language skills and a high capacity for the complex transition and business translation work that lay ahead” (S. Whittington, HR Manager, ACNielsen UK Ltd)

Please note that at the beginning of this employment I translated in the field of accountancy for a global marketing company. I was originally recruited during the set-up phase of a Shared Service Centre to carry out ‘migrational work’ for Accounts Receivables for Austria and Switzerland. This principally involved work-shadowing the local finance team and establishing standard processes which were then ‘migrated’ and translated into English for the associated procedures and processes. These procedures were then implemented and run from the UK.

• ON A FREELANCE BASIS

IT Handbook/User Manual

When I first started out I translated an IT Handbook/User Manual for an English company (MAP 80). This Handbook describes and illustrates the software for the design and production of in-house labelling (Etikettenproduktion). This very sizeable translation went on for more than a year in line with the evolution of software of considerable complexity and sophistication. It took me to Bremen in Germany where I had the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the electronic processes involved in the production of these labels.

Streiflichter

By contrast I am currently working on one of 10 volumes of prose texts written and published by the German writer B. Frey “Streiflichter”. In them, the author talks about life in its countless manifestations as seen from his own subjective experience.

These texts were written during his slow and painful recovery from a severe and life-transforming accident. They are sensitive, courageous and frequently controversial as the author exercises his right to his freedom of speech in the written word. They are peppered with poems and bible quotations to enhance and underline whatever point is made at the time. They also bear witness to the author’s search for God, for meaning, the human need to belong and to be ‘in family’, for warmth and love and are, as such, reflecting the universal search of ‘everyman’.

The writings give access to his life with its highs and lows, his love for his family and especially his 4 granddaughters and his passion for music. They also throw light on his battle with depression and his process of grief and feelings of loss for a life that once was – his coming to terms. In his writings on the ‘outside world’ the author makes numerous and frequently funny observations and comments on situations that we all come across in our daily life and with which we all identify. He also writes about his family, friends and neighbours, and his views and opinions on political and social trends in Germany.

German History

One of my most interesting translation projects concerned German history, when I had the privilege of translating a number of historical texts written by Prof P Longerich at the Royal Holloway College at Egham, Surrey. While working on this project I translated material concerning the following epochs in German history:

•The foundation of the Imperial Reich under Bismarck
•The Imperial Reich under Wilhelm II
•The First World War
•The Weimar Republic
•The “Golden Twenties” and Weimar Culture
•Events preceding Hitler’s election to German Chancellor in 1933 and the rise of the NSDAP


DURING MY THREE YEARS AT ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, I…

- undertook a course for German Specialist Translations
- translated many texts for my study of German Literature of the18th, 19th and 20th Century;
- translated a great variety of German poetry during the 18th, 19th and 20th Century;
- undertook translations concerning German history;
- undertook studies and translated texts concerning the development and evolution of Standard German and German Grammar.