New book release & how I work as a Dutch translator

A new addition to my portfolio of children’s literature has just been released: ‘Slaap Zacht, kleine schat, slaap zacht!’ (’Goodnight, Little One, Goodnight!’) by Marie Anna Laubert. The book features gorgeous illustrations by Justo Borrero, who shared a time-lapse of him working on one of the images, which you can find on LinkedIn.

Currenty, just the Kindle version is available, but a paperback version will be released soon. I will, of course, share an update once this is the case.

This book features six different animals, all of them preparing to go to sleep. We join them as they bathe, brush their teeth and put on their pyjamas. While I have worked on a few other children’s books in the past, this one came with a unique challenge: the book was entirely in ABCB-rhyme! While this may seem like a constraint, the structure focuses the mind on coming up with concise and clever ideas for rhymes. It also has the added benefit of requiring less editing once the first draft was complete, as the rhymes, in particular, were already well thought out.

The rhyme also explains the title: without knowing anything about the rest of the book, you might wonder why ‘Slaap zacht’ was picked rather than ‘welterusten’, which is probably what most people would think of when translating the title. Welterusten doesn’t work for the simple reason it doesn’t rhyme with anything, and since the title regularly returns in the book, it is essential to be a good rhyming word. Zacht, on the other hand, provides plenty of options for suitable rhymes (think of: lacht, kracht, macht, wacht, dacht and so on). This made it a much more logical and suitable title.

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Marie left some wonderful feedback from me, which I will happily share here:

‘Thijmen is a professional and talented translator with excellent communication skills. He delivered the order ahead of time and in great shape. He translated a children's poem from English into Dutch, preserving its meaning and the rhymes and considering the peculiarities of each language. It wasn’t an easy task, but the high level of Thijmen’s professionalism allowed him to achieve the best results. If you are looking for a highly qualified translator from English into Dutch (especially, for the translation of children's books and poems), look no further. I highly recommend Thijmen and his translation services! Thank you, Thijmen!’

I want to thank Marie for working with me; it was an absolute pleasure.

If you want to learn more about the book, you can review and purchase it on Amazon.

Open to bringing more (children’s) books from English to Dutch

This is not my first time working as a Dutch translator for (children’s) literature. I was part of the release of two books last year, and there are a few more in the works at the moment. Reviews from both authors and readers have been excellent so far, and I would be delighted to bring more books to the Netherlands.

Are you a (children’s) author, and would you like to bring your work to the Dutch-speaking audience?

I would love to chat with you. Click here or reach out to Thijmenzuiderwijk@gmail.com.

Have a good week, everyone!

-Thijmen