I've executed the command translation:update de --force on Windows 7 x64.

Because the translations directory did not exist the translation file was also not created.

But I've got no error message.

Two solutions:
a) There should be an error message.
b) The folder should be automatically created if possible. Otherwise there should be an error message.

> C:\xampp\php\php.exe bin/console translation:update de --force

Translation Messages Extractor and Dumper
=========================================

 // Generating "de" translation files for "app folder"
 // Parsing templates...
 // Loading translation files...
 // Writing files...

 [OK] Translation files were successfully updated.