I am a Dutch national living and working in Ireland since 1984. My education in the Netherlands consisted of a Classical Secondary Education at the highest level, with guaranteed entrance to Dutch Universities, after which I chose a Vocational Education to become a Primary School Teacher.
I worked for six years in two different primary schools around The Hague when the decision was made to move to Ireland. I prepared for this by qualifying for the Cambridge Proficiency Certificate in English.
In Ireland I followed a course in Word Processing and Basic Programming for which I received a City and Guilds certificate. I started to work on a freelance basis for Microsoft, proofreading and translating Dutch computer manuals and testing Dutch software.
Over the years I have built up my own full time freelance translation service working for different companies and also testing Dutch computer software.
In April 2002 I became a professional member of the Irish Translators’ and Interpreters’ Association.