Blog – FOCUS Translation Agency

The Growing Internationalization of the Notarial Profession (1)

When we take a closer look at the trends leading up to 2027, three in particular stand out to us at FOCUS Translation Agency: increasing globalization, a rise in cross-border estates, and a growing number of companies entering into international partnerships or expanding abroad.

In this blog, we'll discuss the first trend: increasing globalization.

Dutch notaries are increasingly dealing with clients who do not have a sufficient command of the Dutch language, for example due to migration, international relationships, expats, or cross-border property or assets. The KNB explicitly notes that notaries regularly have clients who speak little or no Dutch. Sometimes such a client wants to “give it a try anyway” or brings along a family member who is fluent in Dutch. However, due to the increased emphasis on legal protection, there is (increasingly) less leeway for notaries to assume that a client “speaks enough Dutch”—even if the notary himself would prefer to do so—and relying on a family member as an interpreter carries certain risks.

We regularly receive last-minute calls from a notary who only realizes shortly before the appointment that the client does not have a (sufficient) command of the Dutch language. We are then asked to arrange for an interpreter at a moment’s notice. Often this works out, but sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t work out, it’s usually because interpreters are already booked elsewhere. It is therefore wise to explicitly address a client’s proficiency in Dutch during the initial consultation, so that an interpreter can be arranged in a timely manner.

Recently, a notary requested an interpreter but then withdrew the request “because his daughter was going to come along to interpret.” This is undesirable for several reasons: a family member is directly involved with the client and may therefore be pressured or face a moral dilemma, and a family member is simply not a legal expert who can accurately convey everything the notary says into his or her parent’s native language. For the notary, the risk lies in the fact that he cannot rely on the family member to accurately convey what he asks or says. When a party does not have sufficient command of the language of the deed, an interpreter is required for a Dutch-language deed pursuant to Article 42 of the Notary Public Act.

This means that notaries must provide these clients with adequate support, such as translations of legal documents or the services of an interpreter. And we are the ones who provide those translators and interpreters. We offer translation and interpretation services for 30 foreign languages, from Azerbaijanito Swedish.

Read more on the website of the Royal Notarial Professional Organization.

Interested in our services? Request a no-obligation quote here.

Making an Impact for Engineering Companies

Beverwijk, June 14, 2026

At FOCUS Translation Agency, we specialize in technical translations.

For example, a few of our regular customers include Tebulo and NRG-PALLAS. Both are highly specialized companies. Tebulo, in particular, is the market leader in its niche and exports its machines all over the world.

By the way, when I say “technical translations,” I mean translations of, among other things,

work instructions for operators who are required to work with specific machines, and
manuals for industrial robots (automatically controlled, reprogrammable, and multifunctional machines designed to perform heavy, repetitive, or dangerous manufacturing tasks in factories).

For us, the fun lies in the complexity and in the fact that we handle these translations as a team of three: the translator, the proofreader, and the project manager. All three of us play a role in ensuring that these translations are 100% accurate, with the project manager performing the final quality check. Throughout the translation process, we maintain close contact with the client and conduct thorough research.

And then I can hear you thinking: Can't you do that with AI (like Chat) or DeepL?

The short answer is: no. That’s simply not possible. The subject matter is too complex and the vocabulary too specific. AI is simply not capable of consistently capturing that complexity and the correct vocabulary.

Of course, we do test AI. We do this using short excerpts from texts that are provided to us. And so far, the results have consistently shown that it doesn’t work well: the sentence structure is incorrect, the same device is referred to by different names in different chapters, abbreviations aren’t translated, and tables are severely distorted.

In addition to the fact that the quality isn't up to par, customers also don't want us to use AI tools for translation. They want to be able to rely on the experience and expertise of professional translators.

Want to learn more? Schedule an online appointment.

Get off to a Good Start in International Business with Proper Preparation

Leveraging expertise and learning together

Over the past two months, we had the opportunity to handle a special translation project for a law firm’s client. This client is launching an international business venture in which he also plans to hire foreign employees, and therefore needed general terms and conditions, a service agreement, a data processing agreement, a privacy policy, a freelancer contract, a fixed-term employment contract, and a permanent employment contract. His lawyer helped him with the Dutch texts, and we were asked to translate these documents into English.

First of all, the scope of the project was exceptional for us. It involved no fewer than 8 documents that formed a single whole. The great thing was that we were given the opportunity to translate all the documents consistently. Second, what made this project special was that we had to ensure that the English translations were GDPR-compliant. The full English text of the GDPR was crucial to us as a translation team. And finally, we developed a particularly close working relationship with the attorney and her client. Both were well-versed in legal matters and fluent in English, which allowed us to engage in high-level discussions with them. The lawyer consistently provided active feedback on the translations we delivered, which allowed us to have meaningful discussions about the choices we had made regarding specific terminology and sentence structure.

In addition, as always, we maintained our critical approach and consistently sought feedback on any ambiguities we encountered in the source texts. This also led to the necessary revisions in the source texts, which improved the overall quality .

All in all, we can look back on a very successful translation project that included the four key elements that bring us joy: challenging texts that require us to do the necessary research, close coordination with the client, learning together, and a very satisfied client.

We're also happy to help you with your legal translations. Please contact us if you need assistance, or request a no-obligation quote.

With warm regards,

Willem Ezerman

Drs. W. Ezerman

Director / English Translator

FOCUS Translation Agency

Your partner in language since 1994

International Stock Transfer

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Wanneer een Nederlandse ondernemer mede-eigenaar wordt van een bedrijf uit bijvoorbeeld Engeland, De Verenigde Staten of Canada, vindt er een aandelenoverdracht plaats. De mede-eigenaar wordt aandeelhouder. Hier horen meerdere juridische documenten bij die zowel in het Nederlands als het Engels beschikbaar dienen te zijn.

In connection with such a share transfer, we recently had the opportunity to translate, before a notary, a power of attorney for the purchase of shares, a power of attorney for the sale of shares, a deed of delivery of shares, a deed of share transfer, and the cover letter to the parties involved—all in English. The deed of delivery of shares had to be submitted in a notarized form.

An additional challenge was that these translations had to be delivered within 12 hours. That’s no problem for us, but we did have to get creative to meet that deadline for the certified translation.

We assigned two translators to this project. We often do this because the so-called “four-eyes principle” results in higher-quality translations. The first translator translated all the documents into English and, during this process, consulted with the notary on several occasions regarding ambiguities and inconsistencies among the various documents. The second translator then performed a quality check on the documents and certified the Deed of Transfer of Shares. Both translators coordinated closely with one another throughout this process.

The issue we had to address concerned the delivery of the certified translation. We always provide the client with two documents: the original paper version of the certified translation with the original document attached, and a PDF of the certified translation. However, we send such a paper version by certified mail or courier—and that takes time. In this case, the document could never have been delivered to the notary on the same business day. After consulting with his own clients, we received permission from the notary to make the PDF available immediately and to send the paper copy of the certified translation by registered mail. No sooner said than done.

Both the notary and his clients were satisfied with both our prompt response and the quality of the work we delivered. And that’s what we do it for.

Would you like to experience the benefits of the four-eyes principle? If so, please contact us and let us handle your next legal translation.

With warm regards,

Willem Ezerman

Director/English Translator

willem@focus-vertaalbureau.nl | 06 1619 7002[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Right of Way – as a translator, you can easily lose your way

Do you use your neighbors’ property to access your home or garage, or someone else’s property to access your vacation home? Or do your neighbors want to use your yard or courtyard? If so, you’re likely dealing with the right of way. This is the right to use (part of) someone else’s property.

For English translators, the term “overpad” presents quite a puzzle.

In the context of territory, "overpad" is translated as " right of way."

But this term is used incorrectly in this context, because

A railroad crossing is a crossover
A guarded crossing is a level track crossing
and “overpad” is translated as “crossing area”

And incorrect terminology in a legal translation is a big no-no—you can tell that just by looking at it.

We certainly do.

So we do our research thoroughly to ensure that the English terms used in the real estate purchase contracts we translate on behalf of notaries and real estate agents are accurate.

So not only the term "right of way," but also terms such as "the servient party," "the servient property," and "the dominant party."

With warm regards,

Willem Ezerman

Playing with Language

At FOCUS Translation Agency, we love to play with language. We enjoy it because, after all, we’re enthusiastic and passionate experts in our field. And at the same time, it’s our job—our client has commissioned us to translate their text and trusts us to do it right.

Part of this play on language involves finding the most appropriate English term within the context of the sentence and the text as a whole. In doing so, we draw, among other things, on our knowledge of the Dutch language and the way it is used by our clients. At the same time, we recognize just how rich the English language is.

To give a few specific examples: many of the texts we have to translate contain terms such as “violation,” “enforcement,” and “agreement.” In English, there are several alternatives or synonyms for these terms.

In English, an infraction can be a " violation," an " infringement," or a " breach."

"Uitvoering" can be translated as "execution, " "implementation," or " performance."

"Overeenkomst" can be translated as, among other things , " contract," "lease," or " agreement."

It all depends on the context and the client’s intended purpose. And we have a keen sense of context and intent like no one else. That’s why we deliver the perfect translation.

With warm regards,

Willem Ezerman

Director / English Translator

P.S. Want to learn how to play with language, too? Then sign up for one of our language courses:

Correspondence - a short, intensive course on writing emails and letters in English.
Grammar Expert —a highly effective training program on the use of business English in the workplace.
Flawless Written Communication —a short and intensive training course focused on writing flawless Dutch.

Foreign Affairs

Suppose you receive an email from a lawyer in South Africa who is preparing a case for which a Dutch document—specifically, a “Notice of Divorce Regarding the Division of a Retirement Pension”—needs to be translated into English urgently.

This happened to us recently. It was because a friend of ours who lives in South Africa had recommended that lawyer to us. The request came in on April 23, and the certified translation had to be physically delivered to the lawyer by May 2 at the latest.

That meant we would not only have to work under pressure—which we’re used to—but also figure out which courier would be able to get the document to South Africa in no time. After some research, DHL turned out to be the right partner for the job. The document was to be picked up on April 29 and delivered to the lawyer by noon on May 2.

After receiving the client’s approval, we got to work. I did the translation, and my colleague handled the certification; after all, a butcher doesn’t inspect his own meat. Preparing a certified translation like this is actually a lot of fun, because it always leads to interesting discussions about terminology. An example of this in this case was the term “prenuptial agreement.” Most people are familiar with prenuptial agreements in the context of getting married: you marry under the community property regime or under a prenuptial agreement. This means that these terms are drawn up before the marriage. But it’s also possible to draw up a prenuptial agreement during the marriage. As a result, it wasn’t sufficient to translate “huwelijkse voorwaarden” as “prenuptial agreement,” so we translated the term as “prenuptial and/or postnuptial agreement.”

The translation was finished on Wednesday, and the certified translation was ready on Thursday evening. On Friday morning, my colleague had the certified translation bound together with the source text, and a little after 1:00 p.m., the courier was at the door to pick up the document.

And then, once we’d handed over the document, we also had to relinquish control and wait to see if DHL would actually manage to deliver the package to South Africa on time. And they did. Shortly after 1:00 p.m. on May 2, I received a message from the lawyer saying that the document had been delivered.

I love it when a plan comes together. A happy customer means we're happy. Delivering quality work exactly when it's needed.

With warm regards,

Willem Ezerman

Director / English Translator

Using a Will Abroad

A will is an important document. If it is to be executed (in part) abroad, it must be accompanied by a certified translation and an apostille.

It is common knowledge that a certified translator uses a stamp, among other things, to certify that the translation he or she has produced is a faithful representation of the source text. However, it is not widely known that an apostille is an additional certification issued by a court that expedites the legalization of a document and allows it to be used immediately in the country of destination.

To obtain an apostille, you must make an appointment at the court, where it will be affixed to the back of the translated will on the spot and stamped with two (2) seals that inseparably link the apostille to the translation.

When one of our certified translators recently translated a will, I had the honor of arranging for an apostille at the court in Alkmaar. However, things didn’t go as I had expected, because immediately after the security check at the entrance, I was pulled aside by two stern-looking security guards. They had seen on the scanner that there was a knife in my bag. And that was true, because I actually always carry a pocket knife with me. “Stupid!” I thought to myself immediately, but right after that, I was actually curious to see what would happen next. The guards took me and my pocket knife to a small room in the back of the building, where they used a poster showing various knife sizes to check whether the blade of my knife was longer than 26 cm. Because if it were, I wouldn’t be allowed to have it with me in court, and they’d have to confiscate it. So, goodbye pocket knife. But a knife with a 26-cm blade—that’s a really big knife. And to my relief, the blade of my pocket knife turned out to be only 9 cm. Just enough to peel an apple, but otherwise in no way a threat to anyone.

Once this minor issue had been resolved, I was back outside within ten minutes with my apostille, and I was able to send the Dutch and English wills to the client via certified mail.

So, if you have a Dutch will that must be executed (in part) abroad, keep in mind that the translation must be done by a certified translator and that an apostille must be obtained through the court.

With warm regards,

Willem Ezerman

Director / English Translator