Category Archive: Life in Germany

It’s not very often that my colleagues and I get together in one place … certainly at least once a year for Christmas drinks, but in general, we freelancers tend to go it alone. We run around town meeting clients and taking them to appointments, or we sit in our home offices in different parts of Germany clicking and clacking madly on keyboards. We’ve all gathered loads of experience and insights into life in public offices over the years, and we rarely get to share it with each other! In fact, we hardly even know each other.

I thought this needed to change.

… Read more

2016. Some mixed feelings, some strange twists and turns. Whether you loved it or hated it, it’s soon to be over and we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a “good slide” into the New Year. (Mudslide, anyone?)

… Read more

Red Tape Translation is more than a bit devastated to lose Konstantin from our team of interpreters and translators. Konstantin began interpreting and translating with us just after graduating from his Masters in Political Science. Sadly for us, he’s managed to snap up a fantastic and demanding full-time job opportunity in Berlin.

… Read more

Welcome to 2016, and welcome to Berlin!

2015 treated us well at Red Tape Translation. Things got quite intense in the second half of the year. We welcomed Kim to our team to help out with overflowing inboxes and our team of interpreters and translators grew too. We even managed to have a cracking Christmas party at Kathleen’s favourite Italian restaurant, Trattoria Felice.

… Read more

I’ve just discovered a bug and it seems that my contact forms haven’t been sending your enquiries through to us since about mid-November. Goodness me!!! I’d like to apologise to anyone who has requested a quote between November 17 and today through the website. There were plenty of enquiries coming directly from customers and we were flat out as usual, still, I can’t believe we didn’t even notice there weren’t any coming in from the website for so long.

For now, I will disable the forms and encourage you to email me directly. And offer my sincerest apologies!

07.05.2015 This job is now closed. Thanks for all your interest!!

Red Tape Translation is searching for confident German – English Sprachbegleiter to accompany English speakers to their German public office appointments in Berlin. The most common types of appointments are at the Bürgeramt, the Ausländerbehörde, and the Agentur für Arbeit. They take place all over Berlin.

… Read more

Dear clients and website visitors,

It has been a crazy busy year! We have farewelled Nicole from the team, and welcomed Jakob, Florian, Julia, and Susanne. We have now helped hundreds of English speakers in Berlin with immigration appointments, address registrations, video interviews, tax appointments, drivers license applications, civil registration matters, passport applications, births, apartment viewings, and even a wonderful wedding thrown in for good measure.

I hope you have had a wonderful 2014 and look forward to next year! Guten Rutsch!

Dear customers and visitors,

Happy New Year! I hope that 2014 brings you health, happiness, and lots of great memories of life in Berlin. After a relaxing Christmas break in Australia, I’m back in business and looking forward to a massive 2014, with loads of English-speaking Berliners to help along the way.

Red Tape Translation kicks off with a brand new website at https://redtapetranslation.com. Have a look around and tell me what you think. Use the new contact forms to get a quote for an appointment, a translation, or telephone interpreting.

2014 will bring with it some exciting new cooperations with local businesses, as well as a wide variety of interpreting and translation projects. I’ll be visiting just about every Berlin public office there is: weddings, immigration, schools, new businesses, driving licenses, Elterngeld, Kita spots, and what to do when you’re leaving Berlin for good. I’ll continue to update the blog with tips and tricks on how to beat the bureaucracy in Berlin as I go.

Whatever 2014 holds in store for you, I hope it’s refreshing and exciting (and/or relaxing, whatever works). Frohes neues Jahr!

Kathleen Parker

Dear customers,

I will be taking a well-deserved three week break from December 13th until January 6th 2014, heading down under to enjoy an Aussie Christmas and New Years. On the beach. In the sun. Eating prawns and mangoes. During this time, your phone and e-mail enquiries may go unanswered.

I look forward to a busy and productive 2014, with loads of new English speakers falling in love with Berlin and plenty of trips to the foreigner’s office!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

Kathleen Parker