German Technical Writing

Natural German technical register for German-audience artifacts — not English-first composition phrase-translated into DeepL-German.

Process

1. Compose in German directly, not by translating. Restart if you catch yourself drafting English first.
2. Self-review each sentence against references/anti-patterns.md — verbs, collocations, idioms, Amtsdeutsch.
3. Apply the lexicon — canonical verbs and loanword gender: references/lexicon.md.
4. Match register per artifact — impersonal for Jira/wiki, ich/du for chat: references/register.md.
5. Typography & rhythm — Gedankenstrich, Durchkopplung; each mechanism explained once, varied sentence shapes: references/typografie-rhythmus.md.
6. Verständlichkeit — unambiguous references, conditions kept while shortening, structure over word count: references/cognitive-accessibility.md.
7. No editorializing — say what changed, not how good the work is: references/no-editorializing.md.
8. Decide ordinary style questions yourself; never invent a fact. Ask only where an ambiguity changes the technical statement and the context cannot resolve it.

Priority when rules collide: Fachliche Richtigkeit und eindeutiges Verständnis haben Vorrang vor Kürze, stilistischer Abwechslung und dem Ziel, weniger maschinell zu klingen.

Top anti-patterns