The ADÜ-Nord, one of the German associations for translators and interpreters, has a lot of useful information (in German) on its website. The bulletin, Infoblatt, has just appeared. This and older issues (pre-2003 in the archives) can be downloaded.

Among the interesting items in this issue are an article by a tax accountant on how Gewerbesteuer (trade tax / local business tax) will affect translators if it is imposed, with some calculations to show the effects, and an article on the payment of interpreters by the Bremen courts. The Bremen courts take the view, apparently, that they can enter into framework / outline agreements (Rahmenverträge) with agencies undercutting the lowest statutory payment rate. Copies of correspondence are given. The practice of having a basic agreement of this kind is apparently spreading.

There is also a reprint of a review I wrote for the MDÜ, the journal of the BDÜ, of a book by Dieter Stummel, Standardvertragsmuster zu Handels- und Gesellschaftsrecht Deutsch-Englisch. They liked my last sentence so much they put it in bold. I believe Dieter Stummel works for Burger King in Munich. Without any sources or bibliography, he presents not-quite-perfect English versions of a huge range of contracts (but with no CD-ROM – perhaps just as well). People should be really really careful before relying on a book like this.

Another German translators’ and interpreters’s society, Aticom, has a list of new publications and some reviews (German).

And there’s a list of journals, both in print and online, for translators at Alexander von Obert’s Übersetzerportal.