From 1982 to 1989, Jean-Marie Vande Walle wrote, corrected, rewrote the small print of insurance policies nobody ever read.

After this first experience, he ran his own translation business from 1989 to 2005 specializing in economics and law. He also freelanced for law firms, the Belgian government and international institutions like the EU and the UN International Court of Justice.

During all these years, Jean-Marie was very active in professional associations (board member of the Belgian Chamber of Translators, vice-president of FIT, the International Federation of Translators, chair of FIT Terminology Committee, and founder of the Brussels Translation Group and the University of Mons Alumni Association). He mainly focused on terminology and translation tools, translators’ ethics and intellectual property rights. He organised many workshops on these topics and was invited to speak at numerous conferences and seminars in France, Switzerland, South Africa, Argentina, UK, Germany, Canada, US, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, among others.

He’s a certified translator for all Belgian courts since 1986.

Jean-Marie holds a M.A. degree in translation and a post-grad in terminology. He also graduated in political sciences, marketing and international trade.