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History

The MedicaMerkus (formerly Merkus & Merkus) translation agency has been around since 2001. MedicaMerkus quickly developed a method for effective collaboration between translators and clients. Over the years, MedicaMerkus has specialized in the area of scientific publications, and in lexicographical and terminological works. MedicaMerkus has increasingly focused on project work. Teams of experienced and committed professionals are put together on a case by case basis, depending on the specific requirements of the project in question.

Hilde Merkus and Hanneke Lustig

Together, Hilde Merkus and Hanneke Lustig form the core of MedicaMerkus. Both are experienced translators who have been working together for years and who possess complementary skills.

Hilde Merkus

Hilde Merkus has degrees in Medicine and Linguistics (majoring in English and French Translation) and has been involved in the translation of books and articles from the English, German and French languages since the year 2000. Hilde also translates scientific texts from Dutch into English and edits texts written in English by native Dutch authors.

As a student, Hilde worked part-time for a scientific journal and this led to her fascination with the communicative challenges involved in scientific publications: how to formulate complicated concepts in a clear and transparent manner. She continues to address such challenges in her capacity as the translator of scientific texts.

Intelligent, multifaceted and goal-oriented

Hilde’s background and knowledge mean she has expertise in a number of different specialties. Not only is Hilde an excellent translator of scientific texts, but she is also completely at home in the world of publishing, having started her career first as an assistant publisher and then as a publisher with a large publishing company. Hilde has an intelligent and clear manner of connecting people and ideas. True to form, she developed the SamenWeten^TM (SpecialTies) method, which is a reflection of her personality. Hilde is a sensitive, efficient and goal-oriented project leader who considers every facet of a project. This allows for excellent working relationships and complete utilisation of every team member’s expertise. The result: the very best and most cost-effective translations.

Hanneke Lustig

Hanneke Lustig graduated with distinction in Language and Culture Studies from the University of Utrecht, majoring in Translation and Sociolinguistics. Hanneke has been involved in the translation of books and other texts from the English language since 1996, and edits texts written in either English or Dutch.

Hanneke is especially interested in the dynamics and pragmatics (social use) of language. Her background also includes a few years of training as a student mental health nurse.

The language of medicine

The theory and practice of technical translation was central to the Translation Studies programme of Hanneke's major. In her Master’s dissertation, Hanneke combined her specific interests and skills by focusing her research on the existing translations of nursing diagnosis labels.

Creative and thorough

Hanneke combines her expertise and a very finely tuned sense for language with oodles of creative talent. She is very sensitive to the tone and general flow of a text, as well as the language of a particular professional field. She has an enormous capacity for solving translation issues creatively, while still fully respecting the Source Text. She also possesses great attention to detail and is extremely thorough. Her focus is on the Target Text. To her the Target Text needs to be aligned with the target readership and should read as smoothly as if it had been originally written in Dutch or English.