About us
Thirty passionate and dedicated language and communication experts, eager to help you make your words work: that’s Taalcentrum-VU. We treat all our clients with the utmost care and attention, helping you find the best possible solution to all your language, translation and communication needs. From our centrally located offices right next to VU Amsterdam, on the edge of the Zuidas district, we are the preferred supplier for clients in a wide range of sectors, including education, government, real estate, law, insurance and construction. Our translators consistently provide translations of the highest quality, from and into any language. When it comes to our language and communication training courses, our instructors will help you become a more confident and effective speaker or writer – whether it’s in English or Dutch. Are you unsure about a text you’ve written? Our editors will make your words work – for your organization and your readers.
Our people
Our origins
Taalcentrum-VU was founded in the early 1990s as part of the Faculty of Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The goal: to close the gap between academic expertise and professional practice. To help people communicate better.
Now, more than 30 years later, we are an independently operating communication agency employing some thirty language professionals. In the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district, and with the power and dynamism of VU University in our back yard. We connect people. And we connect people to other cultures, other communities and to richer sources of information.
Working for Taalcentrum-VU
Quality assurance
We have a reputation for the quality of our work, our customer-orientation and our excellent service. Our account managers will provide you with honest and reliable recommendations. Our project coordinators will ensure that your project runs smoothly from beginning to end. And of course we are a member of all major industry associations:
- VViN, association of translation agencies
- NRTO, association for private educational and training agencies
- CEDEO recognition for educational quality
- NEN certification for translation services (NEN-EN 15038)
Recognized quality: we’ve scored top marks (98% in 2021) for years in CEDEO educational quality surveys. Our clients are very satisfied with our services, training materials and instructors.
Our quality marks
Do you have a complaint? Let us resolve it
We have been working with many of our clients to their full satisfaction for years. Nevertheless, you may find that you are not completely satisfied with our work. If this is the case, then you should get in touch with your contact person at Taalcentrum-VU within ten working days. We will do everything we can to resolve your complaint. In the event that we are unable to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, you can submit a complaint to an independent complaints reviewer.
Your complaint and our response: our internal procedure
- Submit your complaint within ten working days of your grievance. You may also submit your complaint through our general email address (not by phone).
- We will contact you within one business day of having received your complaint to confirm and to inform you of the steps we will be taking.
- We will look into the matter immediately. We will do this as quickly as possible, and within 3 weeks at the latest. If we need more time, we'll let you know.
- Then you will receive a definitive answer to your complaint. We will let you know within 4 weeks of the start of the procedure. If we need more time, we'll let you know.
- All complaints are registered separately. Each registration includes the nature of the complaint and the chosen solution. The registration also states whether you, as a complainant, agree to the solution offered. Your registered complaint will be deleted after four years.
- The internal complaints procedure is confidential. No one will be informed of your complaint except for the relevant project coordinator, the director of Taalcentrum-VU and the person involved in the complaint. Of course you will be kept informed of all steps in the procedure.
External reviewer
Theoretically, there may be situations where we are unable to agree on a solution. In such cases we will submit the matter to the Private Educational Institutions Disputes Committee, with which we are affiliated.
Our translation and editing work is subject to the General Terms and Conditions of the VViN, the Association of Translation Agencies in the Netherlands. These terms and conditions detail the complaints procedure and contain information about the VViN Disputes Committee. With regard to our workshops and courses, we subscribe to the Codes of Conduct and the general terms and conditions of the NRTO trade association. We have a complaints procedure for our workshops and courses as set out in the General Terms and Conditions.
The external reviewer´s assessment is binding. If we have to take measures on the basis of this assessment, we will do so immediately or within two weeks of the decision at the latest.
Privacy statement
Your privacy is important to Taalcentrum-VU. Our main rule therefore consists of the following points:
- We comply with the provisions set out in the General Data Protection Regulation and other legislation pertaining to privacy.
- We treat your personal details as private and confidential. We store your data safely in a secure cloud environment and we carefully instruct and monitor our employees and third parties with access to these clouds.
- We will never sell your details to third parties.
- If sharing your details with third parties is absolutely necessary, then we will ensure their compliance with security regulations. (We sign agreements with external parties.)
- We ensure that your personal information does not fall into the hands of unauthorized persons.
- We only collect the data that we need. We do not store any other information.
- We will not store your information any longer than necessary to provide you with our products and services.
- We only transfer (send) personal details when strictly necessary.
- We are committed to transparency: you have the right to access your personal details or ask us to modify or remove them. We will honour any request that is within the legal frameworks of the applicable statutory provisions.
- We openly and clearly communicate about our privacy policy.
- We constantly strive to impress upon our Taalcentrum-VU employees the importance of handling personal details carefully, responsibly and safely.
Would you like to know more? Read our privacy statement.
Contact
Visiting address
Taalcentrum-VU
Initium, ground floor
De Boelelaan 1077
Amsterdam
T +31 (0)20 - 244 3400
E info@taalcentrum-vu.nl
Postal address
Taalcentrum-VU
De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV AMSTERDAM
The Netherlands
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