Editing and Proofreading of “No Escape”

What do you do if you want to get your book to read well in today’s Germany when you and your wife have lived in Canada for the last 53 years? This was the problem facing author John Koch in producing the German version of his incredible best-selling book ‘No Escape’ for German publication. No language is static and over the course of fifty years any language changes radically (just listen to old English radio announcements or adverts if you don’t believe this!). In German there has been a new German grammar and the increasing use of English words instead of German words (playfully labeled as Neudeutsch!) as well as new words and ways of phrasing ideas. It is a top translator’s job to keep abreast of all these developments and to then relate all these options to the target market for the text. This project took several months to complete as there was a lot to do with a book of 371 pages.

The book itself is an incredible story, which is all the more astounding because it is essentially an autobiography. After his childhood and adolescence we get to see what it was like to be a soldier in Germany under the reign of Hitler’s tyranny. John Koch gives a frank and straightforward account of his life and shows the best and the worst of human nature at work. There are kindnesses that will warm your heart and horrors so harsh they will chill your soul. If you thought you knew what it was like it’s time to think again! You’ll soon come to understand why a German man might choose to live the rest of his life in Canada …

If you have a book that you would like to be translated or proofread then please get in touch.