Welcome

When I meet people from way back, while catching up and talking about what we do professionally these days, they often tell me: “But of course, you were the girl who was really into languages back then.” That would not be how I describe myself these days, but they are right: from an early age on, language in its widest sense has always fascinated me.

By choosing to attend the Translation Academy in Maastricht after finishing secondary school, I was fortunate enough to turn that fascination into an actual career. Through a work placement period at Glasgow’s Strathclyde University and a graduation project at a medium-sized Dutch translation agency, I got my first tastes of working in the translation industry. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted: by using my linguistic skills, I was able to help people from different parts of the world understand each other and communicate. It felt so rewarding!

After graduating in 1998, I got offered a fulltime job at the agency where I had completed my graduation project. Several years later, my career took me in the direction of a large, international localisation firm, where I started out as a junior localizer and over time became a lead linguist for several key accounts.

In 2006, I decided the time was right to use all the knowledge and hands-on experience I had gained at these fine companies, and start my own freelance company. That was the start of Van Dooren Translation Services.