Employees
Mirjam Flink
Director of Duo
Mirjam was born in Hollandse Rading (in the province of Utrecht) and grew up in Lochem (Gelderland). She studied French and Spanish at the Academy for Translation and Interpreting in Maastricht and then spent a number of years working as a freelance interpreter and translator. She established Duo vertaalburo in 1995 and has taken care of the daily management of the company ever since. Mirjam has two children, Laura and David.
Fairy tale: Alice in Wonderland
Likes: pink champagne, Delhaize (Belgian supermarket chain), Chopin, Paris by bicycle, sushi, Louise Bourgeois, open hearth fires, Pippi Longstocking, freshly-mown grass, meat croquettes, Arthur Japin, Frida Kahlo.An van Duivendijk
Project Manager
An was born in Nijmegen, where she also spent her youth and school days. At the age of 18, she moved to Amsterdam where she gained her foundation year higher education certificate in Dutch. She then went on to study art history at the UV university in Amsterdam. She specialised in mediaeval visual arts and architecture. Having completed her studies, she moved to the UK where she initially worked in the historic city of Cambridge before moving on to work for a photography agency in London. In 1999, she returned to Amsterdam and spent seven years working for the world’s largest stock photography agency. She left them in 2007 to work as a project and office manager at a web-design company until 2010. She moved in with her Limburg-born-and-bred boyfriend in Maastricht in December 2009. She likes to cook for friends at the weekend and enjoys browsing for bargains at the early-morning antique markets.
Fairy tale: Sleeping Beauty
Likes: Peonies, designing jewellery, rain at the end of a hot summer’s day, music by Handel, skiing, reading, gardening, costume dramas, antique markets in France, renovating and furnishing houses.
Anke Bartholomee
Project coordination manager
Anke is a native of the province of North Holland. She spent her youth and school days in Hoorn, but lived in Germany and Mexico for part of her student life. Anke studied German Studies at the University of Nijmegen and has been working as an office manager at Duo vertaalburo since October 2007. Anke has 1 Mexican boyfriend and 0 pets.
Fairy tale: Puss in boots
Likes: new shoes, books by Isabel Allende, buying souvenirs at the Mexican market, cherry vlaai (sweet fruit flan, speciality of Limburg), margaritas.Anna Carpendale
English translator
The British Anna was born in Burton-on-Trent (Midlands) and grew up in a village near Ipswich in the East of England. She studied European Studies at the University of Hull, with Dutch as her main foreign language. Anna spent an exchange year in Utrecht as part of her degree programme, where she studied within the Faculty of Geographical Sciences as it was then known. After graduating back in the UK, aged 22, she made the decision to move to the Netherlands, settling in Maastricht. She started work as a translator/editor at Duo vertaalburo in 2002.
Favourite fairy tale: Pride and Prejudice
Likes: Good food (e.g. Chinese, Indian, English breakfast), athletics, Pilates, playing the harp, Wii Sports/Wii Fit, Boer zoekt vrouw (Dutch TV programme), Amélie Poulin, Coupling, Lush, chocolate, white beer, music (from the Dutch group Acda en de Munnik to Zero 7), sailing in Friesland.Anneke van der Weerd
Dutch translator and editor
Anneke was born in Utrecht and grew up in Hoorn in the province of Noord-Holland. She studied in Maastricht, graduating with distinction in 2008 in Translation and Interpreting (English and Spanish) and worked for a while as a translator at SDL International in Hengelo. She came to Duo vertaalburo in 2009, where she now translates from English and Spanish into Dutch and also edits documents.
Fairy tale: Peter and the Wolf
Likes: piano music, Mike Oldfield, rollerblading, Nicci French, camping, children’s books, Spain, lasagne.Haai
pet fish
Haai – Dutch for “shark” and dialect for “hello” – was born in a fish hatchery and has been Duo’s pet fish for 4 years.
Fairy tale: The little mermaid
Kara Lundsdatter
English translator
The American and Dutch Kara was born to a Danish mother and an American father and grew up in California. She studied theatre in the US and classical voice in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. She worked as both a professional opera singer and a freelance translator. Once she realised she enjoyed translating more than singing, she decided to make it official by obtaining a degree from the Academy of Translating and Interpreting in Maastricht. She has been working at Duo vertaalburo as an English translator/editor since 2009. Kara has a Dutch partner, and instead of children they have two spoiled cats.
Favourite fairy tale: Catskin
Likes: Coloratura arias, Der Rosenkavalier, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harry Potter, San Francisco, Greece, Danish meatballs, Mexican food, zuurvlees (Limburg sweet-and-sour stew…much tastier than it sounds!), black-and-white movies, House M.D.
Nick Janssen
Project Manager
Nick grew up and went to school in the Limburg village of Born. He went on to study Tourism in Sittard, after which he decided to study at the Academy for Translating and Interpreting in Maastricht, majoring in Spanish and English.
Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood
Likes: Good food, café terraces, going to the cinema, reading the newspaper, Spanish, cycling, football, travel, nature, the sun.
Rachel Wolfs
Project Manager and editor
Rachel is a Limburger through and through, born in the village of Eijsden. She studied German and English at the Academy for Translation and Interpreting in Maastricht, completing a work placement at the Meuse-Rhine Euregion offices in Aachen. Having completed her studies, she began her career as a Management Assistant at Mercedes-Benz CAC. Before joining Duo, she worked on the realisation of major infrastructural projects for the Province of Limburg. She lives with her partner and three-year-old son in the village of Groot-Genhout.
Likes: Italian food, cooking for friends, a glass of good wine, Rome, San Francisco, walking in the Alps, White Christmases, winter sports, newborn lambs, Dan Brown, Kane (acoustic), black & white photographs
Fairy tale: Cinderella
Sandrine Renard
French translator
Sandrine was born in Liège and grew up in Esneux in the east of Belgium. A native speaker of French, she studied Dutch and English at the Academy for Translation and Interpreting in Maastricht and then spent one year working as a translator at Binsberg Vertaalbureau Eatt. She came to Duo vertaalburo in 1998 and now coordinates the French translation work. Sandrine has two children, Chloé and Yannick.
Fairy tale: Cinderella
Likes: Brazil, shopping in Liège, Nicci French, Carnival (Mardi Gras), ZUCO 103, good wine, Festival Mundial, Couleur Café, reading.Serge Willem
Teacher and French interpreter
Serge was born in northern France (Avion) and grew up in Lens and Paris. Serge came to the Netherlands in 1978, where he studied French Language & Literature and Applied Linguistics in Utrecht. Having worked as a freelance translator and teacher for a number of years, he was offered a job as a lecturer at the Academy for Translation and Interpreting in Maastricht. He worked there as a lecturer in translation for 15 years. Serge now works for Duo as a teacher and French interpreter.
Fairy tale: La Fontaine’s Fables
Likes: mountain landscapes in the early morning, uninhibited comradeship within sports teams, street football, the morning newspaper, a good meal served by a wonderful wife, all with a complete consciousness of the quest for the right balance between my approaching old age and my children growing up.
