What SENSE is

SENSE is a society for English-language professionals based in the Netherlands. We currently have about 280 members, including technical, style and copy editors, translators, proofreaders, copywriters, interpreters, journalists, teachers, researchers, academics and language/communication consultants. Most of our members either live in or have a professional connection to the Netherlands, but work primarily in English (either full-time or part-time, freelance or in-house).

What SENSE does

SENSE supports its members and the language profession in many ways. The Society:

• helps language professionals meet the special challenges of working in English in a Dutch-speaking country.
• organizes a full calendar of workshops, webinars and social events for members and non-members alike.
• hosts an online Forum where members can ask questions and discuss issues.
• organizes get-togethers called Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to meet, discuss and learn about topics related to the group's interests.
• operates a mentoring programme in which more experienced members provide guidance to less experienced colleagues.
• provides a membership database where members can find colleagues and make useful contacts.
• provides useful information and resources in our online Library of files.
• maintains an active presence on Facebook (both public and private), LinkedIn (both public and private) and X (formerly Twitter).
• engages in advocacy and the promotion of standards on behalf of language professionals in the Netherlands and Europe.
• encourages communication between societies and institutions involved in language.

History of SENSE

SENSE was founded in 1990 by a small group of English-speaking editors living in the Netherlands. Their objective was to form a society that could deal with the problems of language attrition and linguistic isolation faced by English-speaking language professionals living and working in a non-anglophone country. SENSE has also attracted many native speakers of Dutch, who bring valuable perspectives on working in the English language industry in the Netherlands.

Read more:

• How it all began (newsletter article 1995)
• A name and a meaning (blog post 2023)
• Sense demographics (blog post 2023)

Publications

The following resources are available to the public:

• Guidelines for Proofreading Student Texts – helps formalize agreements between editors and students working on assignments.
• SENSE publishes an entertaining and informative blog.
• SENSE co-authored the Convenant Vertaalsector Nederland (a memorandum of understanding for the Dutch translation industry).