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The following guidelines are intended to assist editors in Translating German Wikipedia articles for English Wikipedia.
Before starting a translation, editors should familiarise themselves with the guidance Wikipedia:WikiProject Germany/Conventions, which particularly covers the consistent and accurate naming of places, geographical features like mountains, rivers and glaciers, and man-made features like bridges, tunnels and castles.
German Wikipedia requires fewer references than English Wikipedia has come to require, and is more accepting of articles with few or no footnotes but a list of sources or external links. Especially when creating a new article on English Wikipedia by translating, but also when expanding by translating, it is advisable to add footnotes; often this can be done by consulting listed sources or external links and creating footnotes to them on points that they support. But it may require additional research to satisfy English Wikipedia verifiability requirements; the German Wikipedia article, like English Wikipedia articles, does not itself count as a reliable source. (See "Unsourced content" below.)
Keep in mind that translation is more an art than a science. A phrase in one language might not be expressed easily in another. In general, we seek the best equivalent translation (answering the question, "How would we say that in English?"), rather than demand a literal translation.