Dutch
Translations into Dutch: The definition of “Dutch”
Before beginning a translation, or entrusting it to a specialised Linguistic Centre, we recommend that you consider the following points which play an important role in communicating efficiently in a foreign language.
How can I make sure my document is properly “localised” for the Dutch market?
For many years Dutch was the single official language of Belgium and the Netherlands, however throughout the 18th Century the Brussels capital region in particular experienced a language shift towards “Frenchification”, mainly due to immigration and trade. As a result of the different linguistic influences in this region, a variant of Dutch, sometimes called “Flemish”, developed, with a different intonation and pronunciation system, as well as slight differences in vocabulary. Nevertheless, in the UK and in numerous other nations it is customary to call the language as a whole “Dutch”.
As a point of interest, the field of academic linguistics has identified Dutch as a mix of dialects from Northern and Southern Holland. A language closely related to Dutch is even spoken in places as far afield as South Africa and Namibia and is known as Afrikaans, the native tongue of the Boer settlers. All of these factors should be considered before translating for the Dutch market.
Are translations in English or German enough for the Netherlands and Belgium?
Even if Dutch speakers have a very good knowledge of English and German – and indeed French, as the population of the Brussels capital region is also officially bilingual, with French being spoken about 90% of the time – it is still important to introduce yourself in these markets using correctly localised translations, which reflect the requirements of your target audience. This is an important point, as not only does it demonstrate respect for the local culture, it also guarantees greater clarity.
Specialised translations in Dutch
SMG UK Translations Limited (SMG UK) offers Dutch translation in the following specialised fields:
– Technical translations for Engineering: especially texts on the subject of machine tools, presses, agricultural machines, automobile racing, train transportation, electronics and energy.
– Linguistic quality: technical manuals, catalogues, technical designs, tender documentation specification, leaflets translated in both forms of Dutch by native speaker experts in the field and revised by sector technicians.
– Direct text processing using the major page layout software programmes, such as In Design, Frame Maker, PageMaker, etc., thus saving you the laborious task of inputting data.
– Our urgent translation, thanks to the availability of our committed translators, allows for super-fast delivery within a day, including overnight processing. We can also cater for translations of over 100 pages a day, as is necessary for long technical documentation translation projects.
Sworn and Legal Translations
SMG UK is fully authorised to provide Sworn and Legal Translations in compliance with UNI EN 15.038 as well as with our own rigorous procedures for the handling of secret and confidential data. Our native speaker translators are specialised in the translation of the following texts from English, French, German and Italian into both forms of Dutch:
- Real Estate and Business notary deeds.
- Business contracts and agreements.
- Proxies.
Advertising translations and localisation Dutch of:
- Company presentations, even in an audio-video format.
- Translation of websites, web pages, newsletters, blogs, forums, and news in real time. Today, this translation service benefits from studies on translation for websites conducted by our Linguistic Research Institute (CRL).
- Catalogues, leaflets and brochures: highly communicative technical translations for Belgium and the Netherlands.
Professional interpreting service in Dutch
- Simultaneous interpreting for conferences.
- Negotiation interpreting, available in Belgium and in the Netherlands.
- Dutch Hostesses for trade fairs and conferences.
- Dutch interpreters for sales and real estate notary dossiers.
- Technical interpreters for company visits.