Leon,
You are so correct on many points. And it was very interesting to see the comparison. Thank you for posting it.
One method (for someone like myself who does not read German) I have utilized successfully, is to use an electronic translator on a section of text from English to German, then immediately translate the translated German back into English as a verification. If the meaning of my original text has changed, then I try to modify my original text to result in a better translation. This usually requires several iterations, but the fine-tuned result is much more acceptable than a one-pass electronic translation. The advantage of this approach is 1) it is free, 2) I learn from exercise each time so that the next section of text I try to translate from English to German becomes a little easier.
Regards,
William Taber