English Language Services

A question many at the FernUniversität may ask themselves is: Why does a German-speaking university even need an English translation service? The reasons are manifold, but the most important is that English has become the lingua franca of international communication. With a total number of English speakers approaching 1.5 billion,¹ this is not surprising. With this in mind, any player wanting to be active on the global stage is well-advised to use English in order to address the largest possible audience. An ability to communicate in English also expands to the possibilities for international cooperations in research and teaching enormously. The graphic below offers a number of suggestions why members of the FernUniversität might want to offer their documents in both German and English.

¹ Cf. Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200.

In today’s international academic landscape, having the ability to communicate internationally very often means being able to present your texts in stylistically appropriate and accurate English. To support international cooperations, research, and communications, as well as internal administration services, the International Office offers a translation and editing service for international projects, applications, and internal and external communications.

This service includes translating, editing, and proofreading

• international research and project applications;
• brochures, pamphlets, forms, and presentations;
• website pages and administration documents;
• international communications and PR; and
• central texts that support international projects in research and teaching.

The service also offers general advice on English-language communications and terminology.

If you are interested or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out!

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To provide support for lecturers, editor Daniel Löhlein (Division 5.1 Media Management), in cooperation with the International Office, offers an editing and proofreading service for your English-language teaching material.

The editing service addresses the following:

• Spelling, grammar, and punctuation
• Consistency of capitalization, hyphenation, abbreviations, etc.
• Diction and usage
• Conventions of American English
• Gender-neutral and inclusive language

Of course, you are free to accept or reject each edit as you see fit.

Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss your project or have any questions!

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