Portrait of Sandra Drechsel  © Lucile Dizier

Photo: Sandra Drechsel © Lucile Dizier

About me

As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut. 🚀 I wanted to fly high and discover the extraordinary magic of space. At the same time, I wanted to be my best friend’s interpreter as she reported from the world’s danger zones. Growing older, I had to accept the crushing truth that I simply didn’t love science enough to go on space adventures.

For a while, I forgot about my plan to travel the world 🌍 and interpret for my friend. But a few years later, while living in London with its many cultures and languages, I realized that I could actually turn my fascination with languages into a career. So that’s what I did: I became a translator and proofreader.

Even after all these years, that fascination still drives me. It’s not only the languages themselves that fascinate me but also the influence of the different cultures on the language, the slang, the cultural references, the rules - all the language rules.

Living and experiencing the culture

I am fortunate enough that my life reflects that fascination as well: living and working in London for a year, studying and teaching in the United States for a year, even studying and learning in the Netherlands for some short 6 months, and now living at the heart of Europe in Brussels for more than 15 years.

My joy is your advantage

All that has allowed me to work in a field that I am really passionate about. Often, this first-hand experience also makes the difference between catching cultural references or not - and knowing how to best bring them across. Sometimes they can be translated, sometimes they need to be explained and sometimes it is better to just let them drop.

Through all this and more, I will get your message across exactly as intended!

My CV in short:

  • born and raised in Germany

  • London, UK (1994-1995)

  • Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, USA (1997-1998)

  • European studies at The Hague (2001)

  • degree in Interpretation (EN, SP, journalism) from Leipzig University, Germany, in 2002

  • freelance translator and interpreter since 2002

  • working in Brussels since 2007

  • member of the German Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators (BDÜ) 2003 to 2015

  • member of the Belgian Chamber of Translators and Interpreters (CBTI-BKVT) since 2015 (visit my profile)