My name is Maleen Hof and I am the owner of Into Dutch, a small translation company based in Utrecht in The Netherlands.
After attaining a Science Master in the field of behavioural and neural biology I worked for several years as a scientific researcher on the effects of stress on behaviour, physiological processes and brain chemistry. Although it was a very interesting field, my daily activities in the lab did not give a lot of joy and I decided to move my career in a new direction.
Through my love for food and travel I ended up in the hospitality business, first in The Netherlands and later in the UK.
Living and working in the UK was a great experience. The number of differences between the Dutch and the British was quite unexpected. Consequently, I learned an awful lot about the British culture and the finer points of both everyday and business language. Besides that I met many lovely people.
During my time in the UK I became aware of the value of being bi-lingual and began to spend more time on my old passion for the Dutch and English languages. Hence I started working as a self-employed translator and Dutch language teacher, at first just part-time but it soon built up to a full time job.
During my five years in the UK, I obtained a Diploma in Translation (English to Dutch) from the Chartered Institute of Linguists, a certificate at London City University for the Diploma in Translation Course and the Cambridge ESOL English Proficiency Certificate.
In 2009, after returning to my home country, I founded Into Dutch and under that flag continue to build on my experience as a translator.
While I have established long-term professional relationships with several global companies, I also work on one-off projects for small companies. In Projects you will find more details.
Besides working as a translator, I am also a lecturer in translation at the ITV Hogeschool voor Tolken en Vertalen, teaching the new generation of translators/subtitlers.
Most of my spare time is dedicated to sustainable living, hiking, running, food & drink and music.