ALETTA
STEVENS
BA MCIL MITI
Dutch | English
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Testimonials - Translation | Writing | Tuition
Translation
Aletta Stevens heeft voor ons een viertal familieboeken in het Engels vertaald. Daarbij verliep de samenwerking om tot een vertaling te komen die zo dicht mogelijk stond bij de bedoeling van de auteurs heel plezierig. Verder dacht ze actief mee over voetnoten die typisch Nederlandse begrippen verklaarden voor een Engelstalig publiek. [Translation: Aletta Stevens translated four family memoirs for us into English. We enjoyed a fruitful collaboration to achieve a translation that was as close as possible to the authors’ intentions. She also actively thought along with us about footnotes in which typically Dutch concepts had be explained to an English-speaking readership.]
Barend ter Haar
Aletta heeft voor de TU/e de projectdocumenten vertaald van het Nederlands naar het Engels in het kader van een Europees aanbestedingstraject. Dit soort documenten bevatten veel technische en ICT termen en Aletta weet daar goed raad mee. Ze is flexibel en betrouwbaar. Als de druk hoog wordt blijft Aletta overeind en levert goed werk af. (Aletta translated the documentation for a European procurement project from Dutch into English for the TU/e. These types of documents contained many technical and IT terms and Aletta knew how to handle these well. She is flexible and reliable. Aletta is not fazed when the pressure mounts and delivers good work.)
Henny van Alphen – Senior project manager user centered systems, Eindhoven University of Technology
Aletta has been a valued and trusted English-Dutch supplier for Gemini for over four years. She has translated a range of documents for us, from SMPCs and medical congress posters to marketing and advertising texts. She is always very pleasant to deal with and returns work on time and to a high standard. She has also completed some work for us for the Belgian market. I would not hesitate to recommend her as a translator.
Liz Grafton, Project Manager, Gemini Translation Services | www.geminitranslations.co.uk
Aletta is always my first choice when I need a Dutch translation. She is totally reliable and professional.
Kathy Maynard, Goodhart Language Services
For the past few years, l'atelier for languages have used Aletta Stevens' services for translation from, and mostly into, Dutch. We have been totally satisfied with her professionalism, her respect of deadlines and her willingness to tackle difficult or unfamiliar technical material. We have no hesitation in recommending her to anyone needing expertise in Dutch.
Bernard Mothes, l’atelier for languages
Dankzij haar kennis van de Indonesische cultuur en samenleving is Aletta mijn eerste keus voor het vertalen van mijn artikelen. Bij eventuele vertaalproblemen is het prettig te weten dat we in gezamenlijkheid er altijd uitkomen. (Thanks to her knowledge of Indonesian culture and society, Aletta is my first choice for the translation of my articles. In the case of any translation problems, it is good to know that we will always work it out together.)
Madelon Djajadiningrat-Nieuwenhuis | www.djajadin.nl
Aletta Stevens heeft in Nederland voor de politieke partij FNP (Fryske Nasjonale Partij) meegewerkt aan de Fries-Nederlands-Engelse vertaling van de DVD met partij-inhoud. Daarbij heeft zij in korte tijd door haar inlevingsvermogen enkele Friese termen creatief omgezet in de Engelse taal. (Aletta Stevens worked on the Frisian-Dutch-English translation of the DVD for the political party, the FNP [Fryske Nasjonale Partij/Frisian National Party]. Thanks to her empathy, she was able to creatively transpose a number of Frisian terms into the English language in a short period of time.)
Jan Geert Vogelzang, FNP-gemeenteraadslid (town councillor) Gaasterlân-Sleat
Experience as a medical summariser:
Aletta was conscientious and hard-working; she was very reliable and totally trustworthy. She worked well without supervision and her level of work was consistently to a very high standard. She was a well-liked affable member of our team.
Jane Milton, Practice Manager, Bradford Road Medical Centre, Wiltshire
Writing
I edit ITI Bulletin, and Aletta has written several excellent articles for the journal in recent years. She always comes up with interesting ideas, writes fluent, well-structured copy in perfect English, and submits her pieces on time and at the agreed length (a rarity!). I strongly recommend her work.
Rachel Malcolm, Freelance editor, copywriter and translator
Tuition
After picking up a smattering of Dutch from apps like DuoLingo and CD courses like Pimsleur, I went to Aletta for some private lessons as I am moving to Flanders in a few months. Aletta helped solidify what I knew, and worked at a pace I was happy with. Working with Aletta was a joy, and one-to-one tuition is definitely worth it. She helped me understand things I had got confused about, and explained why things are as they are. After my short series of lessons I am now much more confident that mastering the language will eventually come to me.
Professor Nigel Smart
Aletta taught me Dutch between 2010 and 2012. Although I lived and worked in The Netherlands for five years, my work environment was always in English. I therefore absorbed the rudiments of Dutch only through my social life. Building upon these basics, Aletta taught me formal Dutch grammar and syntax, and exposed me to more advanced vocabulary, a much-needed improvement. This has greatly increased my written skills and my verbal confidence. Aletta has an easy manner, plenty of patience and teaches at the right level while keeping lessons challenging and fun. I heartily recommend her.
Thierry De Poerck, Solicitor
I have recently had the pleasure and benefit of an intensive, 40-hour, one-to-one Dutch training course taught by Aletta Stevens. I was a complete beginner, and in need of a basic level of Dutch before beginning a secondment to The Netherlands with my employer. Aletta was able to tailor the tuition to match my specific needs, and proceeded at a pace that I felt comfortable with. Being a native Dutch tutor, she was able to introduce a lot of cultural background and insight which made the lessons even more rounded and certainly exceeded my expectations. The training has certainly paid off, as I have now begun my secondment and find myself able to engage in basic Dutch conversations, and pick up a newspaper or read a letter and be able to make sense of what I am reading. Aletta is also training my wife before she comes out to join me in The Netherlands and is, once again, adapting the lessons appropriately for maximum benefit. I can thoroughly recommend Aletta’s training to anyone.
Adam Cuadra, Finance Manager, Nutricia
Aletta taught both AS level and A level Dutch to my daughter, Madelin Luimstra, from September 2008 through to May 2010. From Day One she was able to work with Madi on a basis that was both friendly and, at the same time, thoroughly professional. This was all helped by Aletta’s calm approach to teaching. Each lesson was fully prepared around a theme and lesson time was structured around grammar, essay structure, Dutch literature and issues that had arisen from homework. In addition, a part of the lesson was devoted to accessing the Dutch news websites on the internet. This was of utmost importance as Madi listened to different newsreaders, consequently becoming acquainted with different regional accents. Aletta was extremely approachable and Madi felt very comfortable in her company. At the end of her tuition Madi obtained ‘A’ grades in both her AS and A level exams, and that in itself possibly says all one needs to know of Aletta’s ability as a teacher. However, there is far more to her than that. Madi’s love and appreciation of the Dutch culture, language and its literature whilst receiving her tuition flourished in a far greater way than I had ever expected and it is for this, more than anything else, that I commend Aletta Stevens to you.
Lucy Ladbrooke
Aletta taught my daughter Dutch in 1989/90. So successful was she that Suzanne decided to move to Holland to continue her studies and is now in the middle of a four-year Hotel Hospitality Management course in The Hague. The fluency of her Dutch speaking owes much to the way that Aletta coached her in the early days. Aletta succeeded totally in enthusing her and achieved a complete commitment to the study. I commend Aletta in the role of Dutch teacher. I am sure that with her easy manner and companionable style she will motivate all those who have the good fortune to be taught by her.
K. B. Whittle
Aletta’s Dutch classes managed to strike just the right balance between learning and fun. We rapidly learnt enough to strike up a conversation with a shopkeeper, but we also watched films (The Girl with the Red Hair/Het meisje met het rode haar), discussed Amsterdam’s civil engineering, and learnt (in Dutch) to cook 'oliebollen'. Just what you needed after a hard day at the office.
Nick Tanner
I think Aletta is a great teacher. She has such an extensive knowledge of both Dutch and English, and so is able to provide comprehensive explanations on both grammar and usage. This makes learning so much easier, because you get insights that you just can't find in a grammar or phrase book. Her positive personality, engaging manner and desire to help really puts you at ease and makes you feel not only that you can learn Dutch, but that you can learn it well. I highly recommend Aletta's teaching to anyone interested in learning Dutch on whatever level.
Will Helton