Three fields, three sets of moves
Specialist German is not just specialist words. Each field has typical sentence shapes, and those shapes are what make a text read as written by a professional. This lesson gives you the core moves for three fields you are likely to write in: law, medicine and technology.
Legal: rights, duties, conditions
Where English contracts use shall, German uses the plain present tense or an explicit duty: ist verpflichtet, hat … zu, ist berechtigt. Conditions open with sofern or soweit, and parties are named once and then referred to by role.
Clause by clause
Frau Lena Hoffmann, nachfolgend „Auftragnehmerin“ genannt, …
Ms Lena Hoffmann, hereinafter referred to as "the Contractor", …
Die Auftragnehmerin ist verpflichtet, Mängel unverzüglich anzuzeigen.
The Contractor shall notify defects without undue delay.
unverzüglich is a legal term: without culpable delay
Der Mieter hat die Kosten der Schönheitsreparaturen zu tragen.
The tenant shall bear the cost of cosmetic repairs.
Sofern nichts anderes vereinbart ist, gilt die gesetzliche Kündigungsfrist.
Unless otherwise agreed, the statutory notice period applies.
Medical: findings in shorthand
Clinical notes and doctors' letters are compressed: nominal phrases, Latin and Greek terms, fixed abbreviations, and the negative stated just as precisely as the positive. A finding of nothing is a finding.
From a doctor's letter
Die Patientin stellte sich mit seit drei Tagen bestehendem Husten und Fieber vor.
The patient presented with a three-day history of cough and fever.
sich vorstellen = to present
Verdacht auf Pneumonie rechts basal.
Suspected right basal pneumonia.
written V. a. Pneumonie
Zustand nach Appendektomie 2019.
Status post appendectomy, 2019.
written Z. n. Appendektomie
Kein Anhalt für eine Fraktur. Übriger Befund unauffällig.
No evidence of a fracture. Remaining findings unremarkable.
Written for the patient, the same content switches to everyday German: Lungenentzündung instead of Pneumonie, full sentences instead of shorthand.
Technical: instructions and descriptions
German manuals give instructions in the infinitive, where English uses the imperative. Descriptions of how something works use the passive or impersonal constructions. Warnings follow a fixed pattern: signal word, hazard, consequence.
From a manual
Gerät ausschalten und Netzstecker ziehen.
Switch off the device and unplug it.
Das Ventil wird geöffnet, sobald der Druck 2 bar überschreitet.
The valve opens as soon as the pressure exceeds 2 bar.
Vorsicht! Heiße Oberfläche. Verbrennungsgefahr.
Caution! Hot surface. Risk of burns.
Das Gerät darf nicht im Freien betrieben werden.
The device must not be operated outdoors.
