The language professionals in our freelance network are dedicated to their craft. Put our skills to work in your project and cut out the middlemen.
When you deal with us, you are dealing one-to-one with passionate individuals. Beyond our core team of freelancers, you can rely on a network of collaborators to meet your needs.
To understand how our freelance network stands out, you have to look at the market. Truth is, the language services industry is crowded with translation agencies and schools. They attract customers with vast pools of freelancers working for rates that are too good to be true and too cheap to be good.
At GermanBureau, we are united in the belief that quality matters. You can trust us to deliver real results by genuine native speakers of English and German. From on-site and online language courses to translation and editing, our niche services address the needs of international firms in Germany.
Some agencies offer rates that are too good to be true and too cheap to be good.
GermanBureau stands out with quality content by genuine native speakers.
Meet the people at the heart of our business.
GermanBureau is not set up like a traditional company. We are a group of independent collaborators who come together for individual projects. Our freelance network has no permanent staff and instead relies on a dedicated group of entrepreneurs.
The core team is a trio of founding members:
Alex Bakst is a former journalist turned bilingual editor, translator, and university lecturer in business English. He founded GermanBureau in 2010 and continues to manage the freelance network from his home office in Berlin.
Alex is an alumnus of Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he got his B.A. in Politics and Journalism in 2005. He was born in New York City and grew up bilingually in Germany from an early age. He is a native speaker of English and German, conversationally fluent in French, and able to communicate in broken Spanish.
Alex lives in Berlin with his bilingual family.
A co-founder at GermanBureau, Heather Bakst teaches English as a foreign language in corporate seminars and university lectures. She also has extensive experience in early childhood education with a focus on language acquisition for pre-schoolers.
Heather earned her B.A. diploma magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina in 2007 with a major in History and a double-minor in French and Gender Studies. She is a native of the American South who transplanted herself to Germany in 2008 and became fluent in the language.
Heather lives in Berlin with her bilingual family.
Daniel Simmons is a veteran English teacher with a rich background in commerce, industry, and education. Along with his experience as an English trainer and university lecturer, Daniel brings considerable networking and management skills to the table. He collaborates with our freelance network on key projects and runs a licensed test center for TOEIC certifications among other endeavors.
Daniel earned a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of London before emigrating from the UK’s southern coast to the Saxon city of Dresden.
Today he lives in the Dresden area with his bilingual family.
Assemble your freelance team from our network of personally vetted creatives.
We nurture close working relationships at eye level with our freelance partners. GermanBureau provides organizational support and expertise while each member remains an independent contributor to the network.
Our collaborators include:
Nick Medland is a British émigré who, like so many of us here, has made a life for himself as an English teacher in Germany.
Nick provides in-house language courses to businesses in the Dresden area of Germany. More recently, he has been actively involved in the development of new learning formats based on visual media.
Nick lives with his bilingual family in Dresden.
A longtime ally, Fabian Lauterbach was there when it all began to give GermanBureau its design and identity. He has had an active career since then.
Fabian has extensive experience as a motion designer in German public broadcasting. His other interests include cryptocurrencies and video game aesthetics.
Fabian is living happily ever after in his native city of Cologne.
An accomplished HR professional, Nina Simmons works at a global consulting firm and gives lectures in higher education on the side.
Nina specializes in technology-driven service solutions in human resources. And as a fluent English speaker, she is not coy about sharing her knowledge with young professionals through English-language seminars and workshops.
Nina lives with her bilingual family in the Dresden area.
Through hands-on experience, clients like you give us a more intimate understanding of key industries.
To showcase our work, here is a selection of clients past and present. Entries are grouped alphabetically by sector. Tap any section that interests you to expand it. (Note: The section below is still a work in progress. Please excuse any dummy text as we think of nice things to say about our clients!)
Artists and indie studios are among our favorite clients. GermanBureau supports the cause with discounted rates and favorable terms.
Our work in the creative field features an eclectic mix of contracts, from translating the cover of a classical music recording to localizing the dialog for a cross-platform indie game.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
jpc is a music vendor with over 40 years of experience in the German market. Their rich inventory includes classical recordings commissioned by Georg Schumann Gesellschaft (GSG) in Berlin, a group dedicated to preserving the works of the eponymous composer.
GermanBureau has worked with GSG and its partners to translate the written material for these recordings. The latest release is available at jpc under the title “Georg Schumann: Piano Works.”
Founded in 2006, Aeria has grown into a global presence, publishing games for PCs, browsers, tablets, and smartphones in nine different languages and in more than 30 countries. Now under the Gamigo Group umbrella, Aeria continues to lead in the market for free-to-play online multiplayer games.
GermanBureau was closely involved in localizing creative content for several games in 2015. Our freelancers also provided Language Quality Assurance for Aeria’s existing lineup at the time.
Why Behind the Stone? Because that’s where you find the gems! This Hamburg-based indie developer aims to create such gems with every game they make.
GermanBureau was in charge of the English localization for Sir Eatsalot, an innovative game for PS Vita that has since been published across platforms.
Are you a creator in the arts or entertainment industries? GermanBureau has special offers for artists, game developers, and other creative publishers. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
German banks are a major contributor to the German economy — and a frequent source of teaching contracts for language schools around the country.
As a corporate client, you’ll benefit from our experience working with some of the biggest names in German banking. Likewise, university clients can take advantage of innovative lectures in English as a foreign language for students of banking, accounting, and other financial professions.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
Deutsche Bank is a titan of banking with strong European roots and a global network. The bank serves companies, governments, institutional investors, small and medium-sized businesses, and private individuals.
At GermanBureau, both Alex and Heather Bakst have been active as language coaches at Deutsche’s Berlin branches. We support the bank’s global mission with on-site and online English courses designed for small, mixed-level groups of finance professionals.
Commerzbank is the leading bank for Germany’s Mittelstand, the middle-class backbone of the German economy. The bank is a strong partner for 30,000 corporate client groups and 11 million private and small-business customers.
GermanBureau’s Daniel Simmons has partnered with the bank at its Dresden branches to provide on-site English courses for financial advisors and other banking professionals.
Are you looking for an all-in-one solution to your English–German language needs? GermanBureau has been working with banking professionals for years, and we can adapt our offerings to your needs. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
Clients in the energy sector will benefit from our linguistic expertise in fields such as renewables and e-mobility as well as oil and gas. In addition, our university lecturers actively teach English for the Energy and Utilities Management program of Saxony’s largest university of applied sciences.
In the corporate sector, GermanBureau is involved with a number of renowned brands.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
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Do you work in the energy sector or manage a public utility? Then you already know that foreign-language skills are essential to your mission in a fiercely competitive international market. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
One of our specialties at GermanBureau is teaching English as a foreign language at universities of applied sciences and other institutions of higher learning.
Here is a sampling of our academic partners in the German educational sector.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pharetra tellus non volutpat ultricies. Phasellus ut libero magna. Vestibulum ultrices rutrum quam, sit amet euismod odio molestie non. Aliquam tristique felis et neque pellentesque tempus.
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Are you responsible for educational opportunities at your organization? Our freelancers work closely with school administrators and company representatives to develop a custom-built curriculum that covers your needs. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
Clients involved in the industrial supply chain will appreciate our curated database of technical terminology. Our linguistic experience grows with every new contract in fields such as industrial manufacturing, assembly automation, or aerospace engineering.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
Siemens is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability, and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe in the high-tech and manufacturing industries.
GermanBureau’s Heather Bakst engages one-on-one with senior management in Berlin to strengthen their English skills in a competitive global market.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pharetra tellus non volutpat ultricies. Phasellus ut libero magna. Vestibulum ultrices rutrum quam, sit amet euismod odio molestie non. Aliquam tristique felis et neque pellentesque tempus.
Do you work in the industrial manufacturing sector? GermanBureau offers innovative training programs for employees to improve their language skills in English or German. Contact us today to see how we can boost your company’s global standing!
Websites, marketing, and public relations: Our work at GermanBureau includes frequent collaborations with ad agencies and PR firms.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pharetra tellus non volutpat ultricies. Phasellus ut libero magna. Vestibulum ultrices rutrum quam, sit amet euismod odio molestie non. Aliquam tristique felis et neque pellentesque tempus.
Marketing and public relations are your speciality? GermanBureau works for you with a range of supporting services. Put our writers to work on creative translations and original copy-writing in English and German. Or you can hire a language coach for workshops and seminars in your team. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
Give your specialists the language skills they need to succeed in a globalized industry. Our work with Deutsche Telekom and its subsidiaries has given us a solid foundation in certain areas of telecommunication.
To learn more, check out our showcase of recent projects:
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pharetra tellus non volutpat ultricies. Phasellus ut libero magna. Vestibulum ultrices rutrum quam, sit amet euismod odio molestie non. Aliquam tristique felis et neque pellentesque tempus.
Are you a telecommunications specialist? GermanBureau understands your language like you understand your business. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
If you still have unanswered questions, these links might be useful:
Otherwise, feel free to contact us anytime. Thanks!
