My name is Jean Lombard and I am a retired language teacher.  I would like to, in a way, start a new profession with Proz.com, as translator and interpreter.

Although my name can be seen as a French (male) name, I am actually an "English" Jean (like the jeans you wear).  My maiden name was "Anthonissen", which is the Dutch version of Anthony's son.  When I got married I chose the "simpler" surname of Lombard, not realizing that I then actually became a "male" within a French environment.

At university I studied five different languages together with Philosophy as another main subject (apart from English, Afrikaans and Dutch).  My first job was with a publisher's firm, where I had to translate encyclopedia articles from Dutch to Afrikaans.  Already in 1978 I started a long teaching career, mostly in Comparative Literature.  Since I used to work with different languages, translation and interpretation with regard to different languages always formed part of what I was doing.

From 1984 onwards I taught at the Univ. of Namibia in Windhoek, the capital city.  Namibia became independent in 1990, with English as the only official language.  Since by that time I was also greatly involved with administrative responsibilities at the University, the translation of Afrikaans documents into English became a regular part of one's daily activities. 

Before moving to Namibia, my husband and I studied and lived in The Netherlands for two years.  I already knew some Dutch from high school and university, but in Holland learnt to speak the language fluently and also learnt a great deal about the Dutch culture and environment.  Many years later, in 2007,  I completed a Dutch translation, winning a competition.  As a freelancer, after my teaching career ended in 2003, I worked for the Bible Society of South Africa, translating an old Afrikaans version of the Bible into a more recent 2020 translation.  The translated texts from the original languages, Hebrew and Greek, were provided by specialists of these languages.

As a freelance translator I hope to work online from a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.  Apart from teaching TEFL courses (i.e. Teaching English as Foreign Language), i hope to spend at least two hours per day doing translation work.  I will diligently do so for five days per week.  My hobbies, for relaxation, include reading and writing, linking directly with the fields of translation and intepretation.