Netherlands: Translators associations in the home of great masters

The Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe, is a parliamentary democracy whose capital is Amsterdam and whose government is seated in The Hague.

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 25% of its area and 21% of its population – a total of 15.8 million people – located below sea level, and 50% of its land lying less than one meter above sea level.

The Netherlands was one of the first countries to have an elected parliament and is the home of many well-known painters. The country is known by painters like Rembrandt van Rijn or Vincent van Gogh, but also by philosophers and writers such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Spinoza or Anne Frank.

Lexis estimates there are at least 10 translators associations in the Netherlands.

The Association of Translation Agencies (ATA) was founded in the Netherlands in the year 1994 and has been striving for quality, precision and diversity ever since.

CIUTI is a translators association that aims to contribute to the development of research in translation and interpretation and to the continued development of the training of professional translators and interpreters across the world.

In the Netherlands, there's also a translators association dedicated to women translators and interpreters. It consists of a network of approximately 100 professionals who support and encourage each other in the work.

Speaking of women, there's another translators association that only has women as members – currently 67. This forum was founded in 1991 by a group of women translators and began by being a regional contact point for translators from the east of the Netherlands.

Founded on the 22nd February 1956, in Amsterdam, there's a translators association (NGTV) that provides translators and interpreters exchange of experience, help with language issues and support with business issues.

A translators association called NBTG, and based in Ugchelen, represents the interests of sign language interpreters in the Netherlands.

Based in The Hague, another Dutch translators association (VZV), established in 1990, promotes the interests of professional translators working freelance in the Netherlands.

VSenV is the name of a translators association that stands up for Dutch writers, from novelists and screen writers to poets and children’s authors, and literary translators. Its headquarters is in Amsterdam.

SIGV has its headquarters in Naarden. It is a translators association for people that have studied in the Institute of Court Interpreters and Translators (shortened in Dutch to SIGV).

From the 2010 fusion of the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature and the Fund for the Letters was born another translators association called NL. It is a writers and translators association.

If you wish to stay informed on all translators associations from other parts of the world, here's a hint. Lexis News is divided in seven regions: