Profile
Matthias Müller (born 1950), child of German parents, spent his formative years in London where he attended the French Lycée. After finishing secondary school he studied music (piano) in Vienna before taking up Japanese studies, graduating with a MA at the Freie Universität Berlin. On returning from a 1-year scholarship in Kyoto, Japan, he briefly worked as a translator for Japanese.
Employment in the film industry brought about a switch to English and French. He translated film scripts and worked as a subtitler and dubbing author.
Around 1983 he established himself as a literary translator. To date, he has translated more than 70 books from various areas of fiction and non-fiction into German, including works by well-known authors such as Don DeLillo, Breyten Breytenbach and Rohinton Mistry.
Moving to Rotterdam, Holland, in 1997, he became involved at the Tango Department of the Rotterdam Conservatory (CODARTS) for a couple of years as a guest lecturer for Tango History, in the course of which he developed his specialization as a translator of music-related texts.
Matthias also worked as an English language teacher at the Centre for British English Rotterdam and as an in-company language trainer for the International Language Centre Waalwijk. This has recently led to a new field of activity – translating websites, documentation material and other texts for business, the arts and public authorities.
Degrees and diplomas
• Cambridge/RSA Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, 2001
• M.A. university degree in Japanese, Sociology and Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin, 1978
Scholarships
• Gottsched Scholarship, a career development scholarship awarded by the Deutscher Übersetzerfonds, the German Translators' Fund, 2009
• 3 week residency at the Banff International Translators Center (BILTC), Banff, Canada, 2005
• travel grant from the German translators’ association (VdÜ) to visit India, 1993
• 12-month DAAD post-graduate scholarship for Kyoto University, Japan, 1978
Memberships
• CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTS (LONDON)
www.iol.org.uk
• VdÜ (Verband deutschsprachiger Übersetzer literarischer und wissenschaftlicher Werke e.V.), (German association of literary translators)
www.literaturuebersetzer.de
• VG Wort (comparable to the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society)
• Rijnmond Business Club
www.rijnmondbc.nl
Matthias works as a volunteer translator for:
www.humedica.org
www.kindernothilfe.de
