Freelance translator English to Dutch and Dutch to English
I moved from the Netherlands to the US in 1994, and started formal translating in 2008. I am listed in the directory of proz.com, one of the largest websites where demand and supply for translation in all languages meet. Here I contribute to finding answers for challenging translation questions, earn points, and made it to the first page in the language directory.
I have a drive to be exact and look for a good understanding of the context of information to get the right message across. With an interest in a wide range of topics, an eagerness to familiarize myself with new information, and always applying a “scoping” attitude, I have an expanded view of what translation is about. I prefer to translate in my own fields (see below). Special interests include manuals (logical presentation of information), poetry, expressions, slogans, mission statements, quotes and domain names. To assist in translations I have access to a personal support network in the fields of psychology, business and management, medicine, biology, economics, natural health care, physiotherapy, construction, politics and international development, translation, philosophy, spirituality and religion.
My approach to translation
Translation comes from "trans relatus" meaning “beyond bringing back.” Translation needs to go beyond correctly returning original words in another language. It may include translating into a different cultural context with different cultural facts, as with “localization” of websites. And that holds true for more traditional texts as well: it includes knowing when to adjust information for the targeted readers. Translation includes “interpretation” – and finding the right words for what the author intends to say. In other instances it may be essential to keep flavors of local elements, and skillfully bring the reader over into it, by being knowledgeable and sensitive about associated facts and history of words. Translation usually requires good knowledge of the translated topic and most definitely goes “beyond bringing back.“
Background in psychology/business/management/systems/social sciences/philosophy/spirituality
I studied psychology at the University of Tilburg and received my BA in 1983. Highest graded courses were Psychology of Religion, Historical Psychology and Philosophical Anthropology. I did master’s courses in Clinical and Theoretical Psychology at the University of Utrecht, then went back to Tilburg to study Organizational Psychology, focusing on Organizational Learning (as requirement in a continuous changing environment) and Soft Systems Methodology (as a systems approach to the learning and problem solving process). I wrote a teaching manual on SSM for O&E, Philips, Eindhoven, and other study paper topics were on critical psychology, anti-psychiatry, science, sexual abuse in psychotherapy, Freud’s revision of his early seduction theory, on narcissism according to Alice Miller and Christopher Lasch. I enjoy teaching, explaining complex concepts, and was awarded a student teaching assistantship at the University of Utrecht in “Philosophy of Science.”
Experience with graphic and web design, photography, computer skills, music, business, painting
As a pianist and percussionist in a local band for 7 years, I involved myself in graphic and web design, SEO and e-commerce, and keep doing this under the name of TaoContact. I am interested in how to best organize and present information, and in usability design for an uplifting online experience. I am working towards a line of greeting cards with text, quotes, and my own photography. In the US I have 10 years experience as owner of Dutch Girl Painting & Wallpapering, acquiring knowledge in the painting & construction business.
Interest in medicine, nutrition, food, cooking, ecology & environment
I grew up in a medical family. Before moving to the US I participated for over 10 years in volunteer organizations advocating renter's interests, locally and nationally, in the Netherlands. Raising children with allergies, I acquired knowledge of nutrition, immunizations, and natural health care, in addition to work experience in health food stores in the Netherlands. |
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