By Cindi Sheridan-Heller, DLD Blog Coordinator
The month was November 2016 – the location San Francisco, California. Seasoned ATA members know the event I’m talking about: the annual ATA Conference. And it was not an ordinary one for us Dutchies, since we celebrated the arrival of our very own Dutch Language Divison.
All during 2016 a handful of my esteemed colleagues had been working very hard to get our show on the road. Getting your own language division is not something that miraculously happens overnight – just the administrative ATA ‘rompslomp’ alone would keep me up at night. But come November 2016, there was an actual board, a professional webpage, Facebook and Twitter accounts – the only thing missing was a blog.
During our first ever division meeting, I felt compelled to volunteer. I love to write, I actually have a blog myself and I wanted to be a part of something bigger, something exiting, something beyond just translating my fashion and marketing texts. Before I knew it, I was appointed the Blog Coordinator for the DLD. Full of good ideas, wild plans and high aspirations, I flew back to my little corner of the USA (Salem, MA) … where life took over. Life as a freelance translator that is. Once I was emerged back into spring/summer and fall/winter collections of my numerous fashion clients, there was little time – or desire – to also sit down after a long day of typing and staring at a computer screen and do extra-curricular activities. And that made me even more aware of the immense feat my fellow Dutchies had pulled off.
Hence, here I have to pause and to say: hats off to you!
No longer will I dillydally however – I owe it to the DLD to deliver this blog, and deliver I will.
I want to start with introducing to you the man we fondly call: our Fearless Leader. Leo van Zanten, our administrator, is the one who set the wheel in motion, who envisioned a place within the ATA for a Dutch Language Division and who actively set out to seize that opportunity. What I find most admirable is that he is not a full-time translator. Translation is something he lovingly and passionately does next to a demanding daytime job. So, besides a full-time job and a healthy translation career, he was the one to invest those little hours in the day he has left, to establish our very own division. I asked him about his education, career and what drives him. Please meet: Leo van Zanten.
Cindi Sheridan-Heller: How long have you been working as a translator and how did you start working in this profession in the first place?
Leo van Zanten: I have been translating since the 1990s when I was working for the United Nations. At that moment, it was just a sporadic activity, assisting my late spouse who was an independent translator, on technical documents. After we moved to the US in 2000, I started to get more involved in translation, and got my own clients who needed translations in the subject matters I felt most comfortable in, such as agriculture, biotechnology and international relations.
CS-H: What’s your background/education?
LvZ: I graduated from Wageningen University in the Netherlands with a major in Plant Breeding and minors in Tropical Agriculture and Development Economics. I started my professional career with the Food and Agriculture Organization, working and living in South America and Africa.
CS-H: I know you don’t work full time as a translator – what is your day job and how do you combine the two?
LvZ: Translation is indeed not my full-time occupation. I work as manager of a tissue culture laboratory for a large international soft fruit production company. This keeps me occupied during the weekdays, and translations are mostly done during the evenings and weekends.
CS-H: What do you specialize in?
With the above-mentioned education, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that I initially specialized in agriculture, genetics, biotechnology, and international affairs. Over the years, I have added tourism and human resources to the list.
CS-H: What are your working languages?
LvZ: I mainly translate from English into Dutch, and occasionally from Spanish into Dutch. Although, English has been my working language for over 2 decades, Dutch is my mother tongue, and remains most dominant.
CS-H: Anything you would love to venture out in but haven’t had the opportunity yet (subject-wise I mean)?
LvZ: There are many interesting subjects, but I feel that I should stick to those topics where I can apply my expertise and experience. That way I can offer the best quality for the client.
CS-H: How long have you been living in the USA & how do you keep up-to-date with your target language?
LvZ: I’ve been living outside of the Netherlands for more than 30 years of which 16½ years in California. I manage to keep up with my native language through frequent visits to the Netherlands, by reading Dutch newspapers, listening to Dutch radio, and sometimes watching Dutch television. Besides, I still speak, read and write Dutch daily.
CS-H: Why did you decide to initiate the DLD?
LvZ: Since 2008, I was involved as a Committee and Board Member with the regional translators and interpreters chapter, ATISDA, trying to promote the profession and stimulate mutual collaboration and development for translators in Southern California. Then during a few of the last annual conferences, the idea for a Dutch Language Division popped up in conversations with fellow translators. This brought me to initiate a poll among colleagues to see what the overall support would be for such an initiative. The rest is history.
CS-H: Any last thoughts?
LvZ: I know that the idea for a Dutch Language Division was not new, and that there has been an effort in the past to set this up. It didn’t happen then, but apparently in 2016 the time was ripe, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support. In particular, I would like to thank all the members of the Leadership Council for their hard work. We are currently 136 members strong, have a website, a discussion/information forum, a Twitter and Facebook page, and presentations during the ATA Annual Conference. What we have accomplished would certainly not have been possible without all of you. Thank you!