writeaway May 11, 2006:

agree with hirselina (who is also in Belgium or from Belgium). employee is the wrong choice in this very Belgian context. white collar worker was far better. sometimes it's necessary to know the system as well as the language.

hirselina Apr 11, 2006:

Plans to abolish the Belgian distinction between labour contracts ("arbeiders- of bediendencontract") http://www.senate.be/wwwcgi/get_pdf?503345
The glossary entry is wrong, "employee status" is "status van werknemer" (opposed to self-employed status)

Johan Venter (asker) Apr 11, 2006:

Thank you for your note, Hirselina. In the text that I translated it was clearly stated that the person concerned is a medical student and that this person received an allowance for studying medicine in Belgium and that this person is a Belgium citizen.

I had no choice but to opt for the translation I mentioned as the target text is intended for a non-European audience that most likely has no idea what the rules and/or conditions in Belgium are insofar as this is concerned. More importantly, this did not have any bearing on them either.

The most important fact which I had to relay, which I think I achieved through opting for the term I did, was for them to understand that the person concerned used to receive x amount of money for studying medicine and as a result of an event which is important to them this income was not received and must now be compensated.

At first I thought there was a standard term for this, but the responses to my question made it clear that this was not the case. Thank you for your input.

hirselina Apr 11, 2006:

Belgium has no "allowance for medical students". The choice is between working as an independent professional (zelfstandige) or as an employee ("werknemer" and not "bediende" in Dutch) with a labour contract for clerical workers (bediendencontract).

Deborah do Carmo Apr 6, 2006:

Dit weet ek, was net lus vir grappies en het gewens met die huidige toestand van my huis dat ek my ou bediende gehad het! :))

Johan Venter (asker) Apr 6, 2006:

This is taken from a website and it provides more context than my actual text:

Artsen blijven best werken met het statuut van zelfstandige. Ook voor huisartsen en specialisten in opleiding is een bediendestatuut zinloos. Wel is een betere sociale bescherming nodig. De beste manier om dat te bekomen, is te blijven ijveren voor een behoorlijk inkomen. Bovendien is een sociaal Riziv-statuut van 5.000 euro een minimum.

In my document they simply refer to a loss of this income due to certain circumstances (medical student).

Debs, dankie vir die nota, maar gelukkig is ek bewus van die verskil :)

Deborah do Carmo Apr 6, 2006:

Johan, ons sukkel bietjie met die "bediende" want ons dink aan die ou dae tuis wanneer ons bediendes gehad het wat ons lewens so maklik gemaak het :) Bediende in Vlaams is egter werknemer in Afrikaans. Kan jy miskien bietjie meer konteks gee? Dankie Debs

Johan Venter (asker) Apr 6, 2006:

Absolutely. The party involved attends the University of Leuven.

hirselina Apr 6, 2006:

Are you sure about this??? Belgium?