Nice to meet you!

I’m Leonie van Tienen, MSc Marketing with a teacher’s degree in English
and lots of experience in teaching, writing and marketing communications

Activities

Effective training sessions (individual and groups)
So your English is OK, but it needs a boost for an international meeting. Or you have a job interview coming up and you want to make sure that your CV and answers to potential questions are ‘rock solid’. Or perhaps your English is a bit too Dutch (pronunciation or use of words) and you may not feel comfortable when talking to an international crowd. We can improve all of that – together.

And what I run into all the time: your speaking skills are good enough, but the exact wording and grammar remain difficult when writing. We can improve that as well. If you are willing to practise of course!

The number of training sessions: depending on your needs.

As many as necessary, as few as possible…

Pitch & Presentation preparation
When you have an important (pitch) presentation coming up, you want make sure that you do not have to worry about your English.
Better yet, you want to be convincing and confident. And you don’t want unexpected questions to throw you off balance.So we practise.

We practise natural language, appropriate vocabulary, good expressions, key words that serve as your guideline and we talk about the language culture of the business or industry  in question.

Sometimes it is better to say ‘we feel / we truly believe /  we are hopeful….’

but sometimes ‘we know / we advocate / we are convinced…’ fits better.

Let’s talk about it!

Short copy
I write. Not only scribbles and stories, but also the more serious stuff.

Think about:

  • Quotes
  • Mission statements
  • Visions
  • Captions to images
  • Powerpoint (and other digital) presentations
  • Inviting introductions to research results, company brochures
  • Marketing plans, project proposals etc
Long copy
Longer text is another story. It is not only about catching attention, the right tone of voice and smart wording. It is primarily about keeping the reader’s attention, the rhythm and variation of a text. And about natural, understandable  language.

Think about:

  • Marketing publications
  • Websites (SEO)
  • Company brochures
  • White papers
  • Press releases
Compelling proposals
A good project proposal is about your strong ideas, your approach to the job and the related budget. And usually you also want to communicate why a client should choose you over other companies. Clear and easy, right?

Wrong, actually. Lots of proposals are either too short or too long and finding the right words can be very time consuming. Most likely, you want to explain clearly  how you can add value (as opposed to being ‘so expensive’) and you want to connect your USP to the client’s case in a convincing way. This can be quite difficult.

I am happy to help you write a persuasive proposal with the right tone of voice. Have been doing it for years…

Background

Since 2008: individual and group trainings @ www.10voorengels.nl
(Business English, own company)

Since 2009: teaching at Universities of Applied Sciences
(Business English skills)

Over 12 yearsworking for design agencies
(Marketing / Account Management)

Around 20 Years: writing English pieces
(Proposals, reports, articles, brochures, websites etc.)

Education: Master’s degree in Marketing, TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language), Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

Rates

Training sessions

tien voor engels rates

Writing and editing

Let’s get in touch. I will provide you a quotation when the scope of the work is clear.

Clients

UvA
Gemeente Amsterdam
CBRE
Bombero
UvA
HvA
IJsterk
Beautiful Lives
UvA
UvA
RBS
Kantar
Pillah
UvA
UvA
Landal
Endurance
Trendsactive
UvA
And many individual clients who want to improve their Business English or get ready for an important event.

Why I Love English

Long, long time ago (I was still in high school) I read one of Oscar Wilde’s plays for the first time. It was so beautifully written, full of wit and wisdom, and very smart… I simply could not stop reading, nor smiling.

Even if you have never had ‘The Wilde experience’, you may still recognise some of his (in)famous quotes, such as…

“I can resist everything, except temptation”

“If you are not too long, I will wait here all my life”

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”

 “There is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about”

It is the playing with words and apparent contradictions that are difficult to translate into any other language, without using too many words or even losing the clue.

So thank you Oscar, it all started with you.

The politeness and understatements of the British are famous and have been the cause of many misunderstandings. Think about…

 

‘I was slightly disappointed’

(meaning: totally disappointed, if not upset)

‘That’s an interesting thought’

(…but that doesn’t mean they agree)

‘I will bear it in mind’

(….perhaps they will, perhaps they won’t)

‘I would suggest….’

(meaning: just do it)
And these examples are of course only the tip of the iceberg.

Contact

Of course I look forward to hearing from you!
Yes, that’s right:
It is looking forward to hearing from you – as opposed to hear, which is wrong in this sentence. One of those rules….

leonie@tienvoorengels.nl
(+31)(0)6 533 18 888

Leonie van Tienen
Cas Oorthuyskade 300
1087 DP Amsterdam
KvK Amsterdam 51385619

10 Voor Engels

Cas Oorthuyskade 300
1087 DP Amsterdam