First things first! Who’s the ‘me’ in ‘About Me’?
My name’s Jamie Lingwood. And while we’re at it, let’s connect on LinkedIn even if you don’t end up hiring me to write or translate your company’s English copy.
A former Brit, a born-again Dutchie and a lifelong word nerd!
Languages have always played an important role in my life, even though I took a ‘technical’ detour – a master’s degree in engineering and a ten-year career in several tech industries (aeronautical, oil & gas, metal processing, electronic publishing and IT).
At secondary school, I ‘liked’ French, but ‘loved’ German, spending a lot of time in Niedersachsen, Germany, during my teenage years. While I was working in the oil & gas industry, I was posted to Ravenna, Italy, where – you guessed it – I had to learn Italian, pronto!
I arrived on Dutch-speaking soil in the early to mid 1990s – Antwerp, Belgium, to be precise. But a year later I moved to the Netherlands where I took root. First Eindhoven, then ‘s-Hertogenbosch and finally Amsterdam – becoming naturalized Dutch en route almost twenty years ago. Oh! I learnt Dutch, too.
In the aftermath of the dot-com crash of 2001, I left the IT industry and returned to my first love – language and writing. I’ve been providing English copy to Dutch and Belgian clients ever since.
By way of a rapid-fire personal introduction …
… studied engineering, but could equally have studied languages or linguistics, loves all things techie, geeks out on Marvel, DC and sci-fi films, plays bass and contrabass trombone in symphony orchestras, is thinking about getting a cimbasso, goes bonkers for TVRs, hangs out at depths of up to 20m underwater without SCUBA gear, loses himself in Kafka and Murakami novels, overdoses on opera, is espresso-fuelled and is in denial about his chocoholism …
But to get to know me better and find out how I can help with your company’s English copy and branding, drop me a line and let’s do coffee …