Proofreading, Translation and Other Things

I thought it was high time that I provided you all with a sample of the German → English translations I offer. This particular piece was done as a favour to my friend, Emma, who is a marine biologist and the Ranger of Sanday . It's quite a sad topic, but interesting nonetheless. The original article can be read here . Eight sperm whales stranded  As many as eight young bulls have perished at the Wadden Sea at Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein. The animals were stranded around two kilometres from the dyke in Upper Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog - as the Coastal Protection, National Park and Marine Conservation Agency (the LKN) announced on Monday.  Up to eight sperm whales were stranded at the Wadden Sea  By: The German Press Agency dpa  Article posted: Monday, 01.02.2016 17:53  Source: Brunckhorst / LKN.SH / AFP  Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog. The animals, which were between nine and twelve metres long, were discovered on Sunday evening. An ...

As a proofreader and translator, one of my main tasks is to correct English-language documents written by Germans. What surprises me is that these people tend to be more familiar with the mechanics of grammar than so-called "native speakers" are. Indeed, I regularly come across some shocking examples of how poor the general level of literacy is in both the UK and the USA. For that reason, I have decided to devote an article to one particular irritant of mine - misuse of the apostrophe! The apostrophe. Please use it correctly. The first use of the apostrophe is to indicate possession . For example, Emily's book (i.e. the book belonging to Emily) Mr Smith's house (the house belonging to Mr Smith) The company's turnover (the turnover of the company) If you have a  singular possessive noun  that already ends with 's', you can either add an apostrophe on its own or an apostrophe + an extra 's' after it. For instance, ...