Translate a Word document into German

Where German puts pressure on a Word layout

German text is typically 20 to 35% longer than the English equivalent. In a Word document that extra length does not spread evenly: it piles up wherever space is fixed.

• Narrow table cells: “Hazardous Substances Ordinance” becomes Gefahrstoffverordnung, one 21-letter word that cannot wrap without hyphenation. In a 2 cm column it either breaks in an awkward place or spills over.
• Fixed-size text boxes: a callout that fitted in English can overflow, and the end of the text is hidden under the box edge.
• Single-line headings: a short chapter title may run to two lines and push every following page down.
• Form labels: “Date of birth” becomes Geburtsdatum, which is fine, but “Bank details” may become Bankverbindung or Kontoverbindungsdaten depending on register.

Because table widths are kept exactly as in the original, these are the first places to look. Word's automatic hyphenation helps a great deal, provided the text is tagged as German: text still tagged as English will be underlined in red throughout and hyphenated by the wrong rules.

German conventions to check in the text

• Every noun capitalised: die Rechnung, das Angebot, and verbs used as nouns too (beim Lesen). A missing capital stands out immediately to a German reader.
• Formal address: business documents use Sie and Ihr, capitalised. The informal du belongs in a manual or customer letter only if the brand has chosen it deliberately.
• Letter conventions: “Dear Sir or Madam,” becomes Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, and the next sentence starts in lower case; “Kind regards” becomes Mit freundlichen Grüßen, with no full stop.
• Numbers and dates: the separators swap, so 1,250.50 becomes 1.250,50; dates read 12.03.2025 or 12. März 2025, day first, which removes the US/UK ambiguity of 03/12.
• Quotation marks: „opening low, closing high“. Where guillemets are used, they point inwards: »Text«.
• Plurals: only two forms (singular and plural), but the noun itself often changes: 1 Seite, 12 Seiten; 1 Anhang, 3 Anhänge.
• Gender-inclusive wording: Mitarbeiter, Mitarbeitende and Mitarbeiter*innen are three different choices; pick one for the whole document.
• Germany, Austria or Switzerland: Swiss German writes ss instead of ß (Strasse), and some administrative terms differ.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not do

Manuce translates body paragraphs, tables, headers and footers, and text boxes. A merged cell is translated and charged only once. The .docx is rebuilt run by run, so fonts, sizes, colours, bold and italics, styles, numbering and table widths stay as they were in the original. An automatic check compares the shape of the translated document with the original and flags any difference.

You receive the file in its original format with the German text in place, plus a Word version, a PDF and plain text, handy if a German-speaking colleague is reviewing it. For a document going to a client or partner in Germany, the Professional level, translated by the domain specialist, is designed to be ready to send.

What is not done:

• Automatic fields (table of contents, cross-references, “Page 3 of 12”, which becomes Seite 3 von 12) keep working, but because the German text is longer you need to update fields in Word so that page numbers are recalculated.
• Columns are not widened to absorb compound words: that is a layout decision for your review.
• Manuce does not produce sworn translations. A certificate, diploma or court ruling submitted to a German authority usually needs a beglaubigte Übersetzung from a sworn translator.

Preparing the file and reviewing the German version

Before uploading:

• Accept or reject tracked changes and delete internal comments, so that only the final text is translated.
• List any fixed terms: product names to keep in the source language, the choice between Kunde and Auftraggeber, the official name of a department.
• Avoid manual line breaks mid-sentence used to line text up: in German the break will fall elsewhere and leave a stray short line.

Use the free sample to check the register (Sie) and key terminology on a real paragraph before you pay.

After delivery, in Word:

1. Select all and update fields so the table of contents picks up the new page numbers.
2. Make sure the text is tagged as German, for hyphenation and spell-checking.
3. Go through narrow table columns and text boxes looking for badly broken words or hidden text.
4. Check amounts and dates in tables: €1,250.50 should read 1.250,50 €.

In practice

1. Upload your .docx: the quote appears straight away, based on the exact word count.
2. Read the free sample to confirm formal address and key terms.
3. Choose a level, pay, and download the German .docx, PDF and plain text a few minutes later.
4. In Word, update fields to recalculate the table of contents.
5. Check narrow cells and text boxes where long German compounds may overflow.