Barbara Backer-Gray                          D-E Translating                           Quality translations from Dutch to English                            backergray@aol.com


Translations from Dutch to English

In general I translate longer texts (minimum 1,000 words) from Dutch to English, with reasonable deadlines. As you will see when you read my About Me page, I am a perfectionist, and I want to be sure that what I deliver is the best it can be. That's why I don't enjoy short rush jobs. Of course I make exceptions for existing clients.



I have translated literary texts by:

Abelkader Benali
J. Bernlef
Paul Claes
Arnon Grunberg
Harry Mulisch
Philip Snijder
Pieter Toussaint
Manon Uphoff
Sana Valiulina


I have also translated for:
  • Politie-opleidingsschool De Boskamp (2-year police college for entry-level police officers),
  • Students of the Nederlandse Politie Academie (4-year police college for management level police officers),
  • The Politievrouwen Netwerk (Police Women's Network),
  • The International Police Women's Network
  • Police training video developers
  • The NLPVF/Nederlands Letterenfonds (Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature)
  • The University of Amsterdam, Communications Science Department
  • SWOCC (Foundation for Scientific Research in Commercial Communications)
  • Various individual authors


Areas of work

As a general rule, I translate in the field of social sciences. I have translated texts related to marketing, public relations, travel, biography, police, history, politics, war, and literature. I do not do any legal, medical, or technical translating.


Types of Texts

I have translated journal articles, conference presentations, academic theses, (non-)fiction books, short stories, samples (usually about 30 pages) of Dutch literature for promotion purposes, book reviews, short author biographies, and I have subtitled film.

D-E Translating
What I Do
I am currently a regular translator for
WPG Publishers in Belgium.
Proofreading available for any English texts