Freelance literary and technical translator – Dutch/English to French
About me
Originally from France, I have lived in the Dutch-speaking Belgian city of Ghent since 2002. After 10 years of working as a biological engineer in the field of waste water treatment, I decided to pursue my passion for languages and literature and become an independent translator. Primarily specialised in technical translation, I have developed my skills in literary translation (NL-FR) as well. In 2017, I became accredited by Flanders Literature and the Dutch Foundation for Literature. I have been a member of the Belgian Chamber of Translators and Interpreters since 2015 and have been writing fiction in French for several years. My first novel Viande was published in 2020.
Services
The majority of my clients are European companies, and French and Belgian publishers. My goal is to meet their linguistic and technical needs in a professional manner.
My experience as an engineer provides me with unique insight into the concepts and meanings behind the words I encounter during the technical translation process. I am able to translate even the most technical texts into accurate and comprehensible French for industry specialists.
In 2017, I became accredited by Flanders Literature and the Dutch Foundation for Literature as a literary translator of Dutch to French (fiction, non-fiction and children’s and youth literature) and since then, I have been translating books on a regular basis.
Nowadays, I have a loyal clientele and continue to develop my skills within my specialisations. My strengths? Quality, availability, responsiveness, confidentiality and seriousness.
Technical translation
Technology, biology, chemistry, water treatment, energy, environment and other technical fields…
User manuals, technical specifications sheets, reports, web sites, presentations, offers, bills of specification…
Literary translation
Novels
Non-fiction books: essays, biographies…
Magazines: Septentrion, WilfriedMag…
Translated books (NL-FR)
References
Noëlle is a talented, multi-facetted translator. Always careful to deliver good work, she offers consistent quality both in the field of literary translation and technical translation — an extremely rare quality in the world of translation. Serious and rigorous by nature, she listens to her clients and goes to great lengths to satisfy their needs. Noëlle is an accomplished professional who I’d recommend without hesitation.
Guillaume D., CreativeWords
Noëlle is a translator that I can recommend without reservation. She has completed several very challenging projects for us under a very tight deadline with excellence.
Pieter Vanderhaegen, Borgerhoff & Lamberigts
SUEZ calls on Noëlle’s services for the translation of documents with a strong technical background. She is able to translate them correctly and within the proposed deadline.
Niels Dhaese, SUEZ Water N.V.
We’ve been working with Noëlle for several years now with great satisfaction. From the communication at the start of a project to the final delivery, Noëlle is punctual, flexible and delivers high-quality translation work. She is French, but she has a strong knowledge of Dutch. There is no Dutch source text she can’t handle. We have enjoyed a very pleasant and professional collaboration with her. Her engineering knowledge brings significant added value to her translation work. We can highly recommend Noëlle for technical translations into French, as well as in other fields. Her translations always read smoothly. Thank you, Noëlle!
Katrien De Vocht, KDV Language
Working with Noëlle Michel is always smooth and pleasant. Her translations are excellent, and she sticks to all deadlines and agreements. A great collaboration!
Karen Buyse, Waterwegen en Zeekanaal NV
Demain les ombres
My second novel, Demain les ombres (written in French), will be published in January 2023 by le Bruit du monde.
Viande
My first novel Viande (written in French) was published in 2020 by LiLys Éditions.
Noëlle Michel 