Finance and legal are my general specializations (if it makes sense to talk about general specializations).


Specifically, I normally limit my work to the following breakdown by languages:


German into English (approx. 50% of all work):

Finance, specifically investment fund prospectuses and macroeconomic and fund commentaries (for banks and investment funds), but also annual reports. A major theme over the past year has been the conversion to IFRS for German companies (approx. 300,000 words translated on this subject in the past 15 months). I do not accept jobs in the areas of banking or insurance.


French into English (40%):

Mainly macroeconomic reporting for international organizations (World Bank, EU, others), as well as current events reporting (press releases for international organizations).


Spanish into English (10%):

Legal, specifically contracts. I taught legal translation in South America for two years, and this was once my exclusive area of translation. I also do some (for a very few clients) financial translation (annual reports) from Spanish.


In all these languages (and from Dutch, Portuguese and Italian) into English, I will do translations from generalist newspapers and magazines, if my schedule permits. I have a strong journalistic style, and since I read heavily in current events (Economist, FT, New York Times, WSJ, FAZ, Le Monde), I am also able to translate from my minor (very minor in the case of Dutch, Portuguese and Italian) languages in this area.


I don't know of anyone else who limits their translations by subject and language in quite this way. If you do, it would be interesting to hear from you.