The first rule of translation: make sure you know at least one of the bloody languages!
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Urdu poet & author who spoke seven languages and was nominated for a Nobel Prize for literature)I love editing and translating (Dutch to English). There’s nothing like working through text to make sure it clearly communicates the intended message, hits the right tone and reflects the voice of the writer – whether that’s an individual or an organisation. Making sure text is ‘fit for purpose’. Whatever that purpose may be: to instruct, inform, convince, entertain, secure funding or communicate an idea.
All professional text needs an editor – either on the principle of a second pair of eyes to make sure there are no ‘bloopers’ or because English isn’t the writer’s native language. And of course because there’s nothing harder than writing about something you yourself are (over) familiar with.
With many years experience as a journalist (for example for Time Magazine and the International Herald Tribune) and editor, I can make sure your proposals, press releases, web text, stories, reports, power point presentations or manuals are ‘professionally presentable’.
After living in the Netherlands for over 40 years I know Dutch is more than just a language. It is a society, a culture with its own idioms and quirks. I even co-wrote a book about it (A Dictionary of Dutchness). And that matters when you’re translating.
A good editor and translator communicates the meaning of text in context. Not just to those that speak a different language, but to those who want to understand a different world.