Betteke de Gaay Fortman (1963) was born in Amsterdam. As a child, she lived for several years with her parents in Zambia , Africa , where she learned to appreciate other languages and cultures.

She met Imke Grijpma while she was studying Spanish language and literature at Utrecht University and worked closely with her from the outset. As their graduation project, they contributed to a collection of translated poetry and stories from Panama , which was published in the Netherlands .

After graduating in 1987, she obtained teaching certification for all levels of secondary education. She started teaching straight away at an adult education institute in Almere and continued doing so for several years after Servicio was founded.

Because of the increasingly specialized nature of the work at Servicio, Betteke enrolled in a the court interpretation course offered at the Dutch Institute for Court Interpreters and Translators (SIGV) in 1999. She is now a regular interpreter at the Court of Amsterdam. As the director of the De Waal Foundation, she has helped manage development projects in Latin America since 2001. See www.fdwaal.org.

She spends weekends playing hockey or relaxing with her family on their sailboat on the IJsselmeer.

Servicio

Panamalaan 1H

1019 AS Amsterdam

Nederland / The Netherlands / Holanda

tel: (+31) (0) 20-422.3482

fax: (+31) (0) 20-422.1872

info@servicio.nl