best practice
translations e.U.

… was established at the beginning of 2009 as a one-person company by the translator and court interpreter Heide Maria Scheidl and registered at the Commercial Court of Vienna.

Behind the one-woman show, however, there is a stable network of carefully selected cooperation partners, most of whom have been involved for many years now.

As best practice translations e. U. always uses the dual control system for translations, a native speaker of the target language is normally deployed for one of the two roles (translation or revision of the translation), whereby Heide Maria Scheidl always takes on one of the tasks.

Heide Maria Scheidl – a colourful biography with a recurring theme

In the past…

Born in a village northwest of Vienna, I have lived in the capital since I started my degree in Translation Studies (German, English and Russian).

  • 1997: university degree in translation
  • 1998 – 2000: pharmocovigilance specialist and translator in the pharmaceuticals industry (Baxter, now: Shire)
  • 2000 – 2001: content manager, team leader and translator at the online securities portal of an Austrian bank (caibon.com, a subsidiary of today’s Bank Austria / Unicredit)
  • 2002 – 2008: Head of Localization and Technical Documentation at Software Daten Service GmbH (financial services software), a subsidiary of T-Systems
  • 2013 – 2018: Court interpreter for English at Justizbetreuungsagentur

All of these years as a salaried translator and manager were accompanied by self-employed work – ten years of them as part of a limited partnership together with four former fellow students from university, and then in other forms of cooperation, particularly within the scope of best practice translations e. U. since 2009.

Today…

I carry out my work with great joy and energy in my office in the Ottakring district of Vienna, at the University of Vienna and at various courts in Vienna and Lower Austria:

  • Since 2009: Manager, translator and court interpreter of best practice translations e. U.
    Long-term cooperation with a small circle of highly-qualified colleagues
  • Since 2014: Lecturer on the Master’s programme in English (legal translation, business translation) at the Centre for Translation Studies of the University of Vienna
  • Since 2016: Lecturer at the Postgraduate Center (university course in Translation for Courts and Authorities) of the University of Vienna
  • Since 2019: Scientific Coordinator of the postgraduate university course Translation for Courts and Authorities at the University of Vienna


And what else? – Varied forms of engagement in a professional context

Raising public awareness of what translators and interpreters do and achieving more appreciation for our work are of great importance to me.

Here some details about my functions and my engagement:

UNIVERSITAS Austria – the Austrian professional association of interpreters and translators

2011-2017: board member of UNIVERSITAS Austria, responsible for the following fields: standardisation, tax and social insurance, further education and training

2012-2017: author and columnist in the association’s quarterly magazine

2009-2011: member of the association’s translation committee

Vienna Economic Chamber – language services providers

2012-2015: member of the committee of the occupational group of language service providers (part of the group of commercial service providers)

Austrian Standards Institute – standardisation

2012-2017: member of the Austrian mirror committee 239 for Translation/Interpreting – actively involved in the standardisation work specific to the profession

Alumni Association of the University of Vienna – ALMA

2010-2012: mentor within the framework of the ALMA mentoring programme of the Alumni Association of the University of Vienna