pro editorial office dr pasternak, Berlin | Editing and Translation Services for Legal, Tax and Business Professionals

Law | Tax | Business

pro editorial office
dr pasternak

… tapping the full potential of your text

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  • Welcome
  • My approach
  • About me
  • My credentials
  • How I work
  • References
  • Services & Prices
  • Contact
Deutscher Bundestag

References

References

Here is a selection of my clients and of the services that I have provided to them:

FGS Flick Gocke Schaumburg, Berlin

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  • Technical translation of contractual documentation and other juridical texts English > German as well as German > English
  • Copy-editing of an English-language presentation involving a U.S. tax law topic
  • [Go to FGS website (in English)]

Noerr LLP, Berlin

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  • Technical translation English > German of extensive contractual documentation of a transnational transaction
  • [Go to Noerr website (in English)]

DWS Steuerberater-Online-GmbH, Berlin

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  • (On a regular basis) Revision of tax law scripts for the company’s online courses for tax advisors and their staff
  • Copy-editing/proofreading of special publications
  • [Go to DWS-Online website (in German)]

Andersch AG WPG, Frankfurt/Main

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  • Copy-editing of a publication on reconstruction strategies
  • [Go to Andersch website (in English)]

GSW Immobilien AG, Berlin

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  • Technical translation English > German of extensive contractual documentation
  • [Go to GSW website (in German)]

Alpers & Stenger LLP, Hamburg

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  • Copy-editing of juridical texts
  • [Go to Alpers Wessel Dornbach website (in German)]

Renowned law firm specialized in real estate and renewable energies, Hamburg

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  • Technical translation English > German of comprehensive contractual documentation

University of Freiburg
Center for Business and Law (Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kessler)

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  • For the “Master of Arts (Taxation)” program:
  • Reviewed, and commented from a copy editor’s perspective, on seminar papers prepared by the Master students
  • Conceptualized and held a German-language workshop
    Text-Training 2.0 — Bessere Fachtexte schreiben leichtgemacht ["Text training 2.0 — How to write better professional texts"]
  • [Go to Center for Business and Law website (in German)]

Frankfurt International School, Oberursel

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  • Technical translation English > German of documents under the the law governing associations (Vereine) and foundations
  • [Go to FIS website (in English)]

German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin

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  • Copy-editing of political science essays
  • [Go to SWP website (in English)]
    • [Renowned think tank SWP is one of only two German think tanks to have been included in the "Top 30 Think Tanks – Worldwide (US and Non-US)" ranking compiled annually by the University of Penn­syl­va­nia in their "Global Go To Think Tanks Report"; among the Top 30 Worldwide, SWP ranked #11 in 2011.]

portrait Wolfgang Pasternak

Welcome

Welcome

… to my website, and thanks for visiting!

I am a Berlin-based polyglot German qualified attorney and German qualified tax advisor with longstanding transaction experience in tax law and real estate; in addition, I am a State-certified translator ENG–GER / GER–ENG and a Court-certified translator of the English language for the courts and notaries of Berlin.

Combining my qualifications, I offer professional translation as well as copy-editing services in the fields of law, tax and business, thus tapping the full potential of your text.

I invite you to check out the different pages featuring my profile and my work, and to find out why I am the right professional for your needs.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. I will be pleased to advise you!

Kind regards,

Wolfgang Pasternak

Reichstagskuppel von innen

My credentials

My credentials as an editor and translator

[beyond that set out under About me:]

I am a member of the German Association of Freelance Copy Editors (VFLL).

My (German-language) profile in the VFLL database can be accessed here.


In addition, I am a member of the German Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators (BDÜ).

My (German-language) profile in the BDÜ database can be accessed here.


Language and communication have always been at the heart of my professional activity.

I have accumulated many years of professional work experience dealing with tax law in a global company. Opinions, reports, memos, presentations, technical papers, product leaflets, newsletters, and communication with clients, business associates as well as internal and external colleagues were my stock-in-trade — just like translating fact patterns, assessments and information: both linguistically and culturally, as well as both into German and from German.

In addition, I have multifaceted practical work experience in additional fields:

  • Foreign languages and technical translations (among others longtime transaction experience as an advisor in English, legal work at the International Criminal Court in French, and translation of all the sources of my doctoral thesis from English, Spanish, and French into German);
  • Scholarly work and projects (especially in the framework of my legal studies and doctoral thesis; notably in the areas of public international law, international law, human rights, and international criminal law);
  • Journalism, press and public relations work (among others military service in a press department of the German armed forces, and activity as a freelance local journalist); and
  • Layout design (school magazine, law school Foreign LL.M. Yearbook, private and business website as well as contribution to marketing material and market appearance of our consulting firm).

In the framework of all those experiences, I have authored a great number of texts with different profiles, volumes, styles, and target audiences. I have also revised or edited similar texts written by others.

My approach

My approach

I would like to share some thoughts with you about my professional philosophy and approach as a copy editor and translator:

In a nutshell

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  • Any text that you send out is your ‘business card’, no matter whether it is an e‑mail to a single client, a newsletter to all of your clients, a scientific paper or a business report to the professional public at large, or a technical translation for a specific purpose.
  • This holds even more true where you address an audience in their native language which is a foreign language to you – for instance, German.
  • You attach great importance to your market appearance. That is why you engage professionals, for instance, when it comes to designing and printing your business cards.
  • But what about your texts?
  • Let me assist you in presenting yourself to your German-language clients (and prospective ones) in an accomplished manner: easy to read, comprehensible, tailored to occasion and target audience, in short: professionally.

Why you need me

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  • You will be familiar with these typical consultant situations:
    • You have summarized your results and recommendations in an e‑mail or written comments to your German-speaking client.
    • You have invested a good amount of time, energy and consideration into your presentation, website content, newsletter or scientific paper aimed at garnering recognition in the German-speaking market. Now you are curious about the reactions (if any) from clients, prospective clients, and internal and external colleagues.
  • However, what happens next all too often?
    • Your audience has not fully understood your comments — possibly without you even noticing, because quite often your audience will be unable or unwilling to seek clarification from you.
    • For your client, your newsletter or presentation is merely one among many others competing for his or her attention every day. Your scientific paper is often but one of a dozen on your subject and one of hundreds published every month.
    • If your client comes across a German-language product targeting him or her, such as a web site, s/he expects it to be not merely understandable, but meeting his or her high professional standards. Are you trying hard enough to ensure that your particular opus really reaches and impresses your client?
  • Good, effective and customer-oriented communication is not a luxury but a necessity – with ramifications for your standing and ultimately your commercial success.
  • Whether a business report, scientific paper, contribution to a reference book, other technical publication, opinion, report, study, memo, presentation, newsletter, website content, or ‘merely’ an important letter or e‑mail: Professional editing taps the full potential of your text, prevents costly and frustrating inefficiencies, and not least saves precious time and money.

What you can expect of me

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  • Legal, tax and business fact patterns and remarks are often complex. This makes it even more important for them to be well-structured and expressed in precise and clear language. On this point, I concur with Albert Einstein: “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
  • I will peruse your German-language text as thoroughly as necessary and as efficiently as possible.
  • In correcting your text, I will eliminate mistakes with regard to spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
  • I will review your text (if applicable taking into account its original version, for instance in English): Is it intelligible, colorful, easy to read, tailored to the particular occasion and target audience; is it concise, well-structured and appealing in terms of style and mode of expression?
  • My particular strong suit (and for many clients my decisive added value): To the extent desired, I will prepare detailed specific suggestions for alternative phrasing, for more precision as to content and language, and for changes in text structure.
  • I also translate into German, e.g. from an English-language original.
  • Just to be clear: I am not talking about ghostwriting or completely re-writing your text. Rather, my intention is to bring out your message more clearly so that your target audience will find it easier to read and understand.
    • For purposes of illustration, you can find here specific short examples ‘before – after’.

Why I am the right person for your requirements

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  • It is bad if a good idea is formulated in a poor or even incorrect manner.
  • Good ideas should be revised by an expert possessing the necessary technical background, who will not re-phrase technical terms or concepts inappropriately or inadequately.
  • Take advantage of my multiple qualifications:
    • As an experienced copy editor, I revise your text with linguistic competence and reliability. As an experienced translator, I prepare translations that meet high professional standards.
    • As a German qualified lawyer and tax advisor with a Ph.D., I am proficient in the technical language and familiar with the necessary balance between the need for clarity and intelligibility and the need for the required degree of precision and differentiation. I will therefore revise or translate your text with adequate technical delicacy.
    • Finally, as a practitioner with longstanding transaction experience in the fields of tax law and real estate with a global business enterprise, I am well-versed in the legal, tax and business sectors, their working situations, procedures, and dynamics.
  • For all of the above, I know what I am talking about and what matters.

 

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  • Contact

    How can I assist you?
    Please contact me – I will be happy to advise you.
    pro editorial office dr. pasternak
    Dr Wolfgang Pasternak, LL.M.
    Pasternak Wolfgang
    Editing and translation services
    Privatstraße 13 Nr. 10
    13086  Berlin
    Germany
    Cell: +49 / (0)179 / 394 68 89
    FAX +49 / 30 / 32 59 75 25
    contact@lektorat-pasternak.de
    http://lektorat-pasternak.de

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