Ansgar grew up just three kilometers from the Dutch border and watched Dutch TV and radio programs. Despite this fact, he never took a formal Dutch class, as his school didn’t offer it as a foreign language. It did, however, require its students in the upper grades to take Portuguese, since it run by Franciscans monks whose order was headquartered in Brazil. This turned out to be fortuitous, as he fell in love with Portuguese’s “melodious sound” and, while also learning English and Latin, discovered his interest in a linguistic career.

At the University of Mainz’s Fachbereich Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft (now the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz’s Faculty of Translation Studies, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies, or FTSK), in Germersheim, Ansgar earned a Diplom Übersetzer (a translator’s diploma, equivalent to a postgraduate degree) in Dutch and Portuguese.

After graduating, he worked as a translator and interpreter in his home region of Lower Saxony and then in Munich. Among his clients were Germany’s justice system and border authorities, and Ansgar found himself in plenty of dramatic, high-stakes situations while interpreting in courts, police departments, and prisons. In addition, Ansgar also worked with a language service agency that specialized in the IT and telecommunications sectors.

“At Leinhäuser, I get to work on varied exciting client projects in an upbeat atmosphere with helpful colleagues.”

With a wealth of linguistic and project management experience, Ansgar joined Leinhäuser in 2010, and initially managed accounts and projects for a wide range of clients, and also translated from Dutch and Portuguese into German. Over the years, he developed a specialization in managing complex multilingual translation projects and large interpreting projects.

As Ansgar’s supervisory responsibilities grew, he moved away from serving as an interpreter and for the past ten years has led the company’s interpretation service. In this role, Ansgar manages a team of carefully curated external interpreters, coordinates with clients and their vendors, and partners with Leinhäuser’s internal language, pre-processing, and audio-video teams.

Ansgar keeps active by cycling and playing table tennis. He enjoys watching soccer and handball, reading historical novels and thrillers, and attending rock and pop concerts.