“The English language and British culture make me happy”

 

My name is Annemarie van den Heuvel.

 

From a very young age I have been fascinated by the English language. As a child I started teaching myself some English with my mum’s old course book. It was no surprise that I decided to do an MA in English Language and Literature in Utrecht, The Netherlands, after passing my A-levels. I specialised in Translation.

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During my MA I studied in Bangor in beautiful North Wales for a year. This is where my love for Wales started. My company name ‘Bryn’ is the Welsh word for the Dutch word ‘heuvel‘ (hill in English), a reference to my surname.

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 After my graduation I moved to Leicester, England, for love. I lived and worked there for a few years. Also due to my British partner at that time, I learned a lot about British culture. In Leicester I started working as a secretary. Later I became an office manager. In this position I worked in various industries. Here I learned to be resourceful and to find and familiarise myself with information quickly. I also translated on a regular basis.

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In 2014 I enrolled in the Interpreter English training course at ITV Hogeschool voor Tolken en Vertalen in Utrecht. I got quite far in this course, but did not finish it. I find I prefer to give the phrasing process some more thought. What I did take away from the course: a wealth of terminology and the ability to distance myself from the original text to convey the message of the text if necessary. This knowledge and awareness has made me a better translator.   

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I also teach English to both groups as well as individuals and I  enjoy passing on my enthousiasm for and knowledge of the English language and British culture to others. 

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