inWhatLanguage: keeping the balance, growing strong

Building up a business from scratch is always a hard, risky move. Especially in the times we are living in. In the midst of a global recession, only a few are brave enough to think outside the “let’s keep it safe and hold on to what we already have” box and take that scary step. And from those few, an even smaller number actually see results.

Why is that? Luck probably is a factor. But most importantly, I’d say it’s a matter of priorities. Focusing on competitive prices is all good, and people do appreciate that, but quality is nowadays the rarest, most valuable commodity. Reaching a balance between both these elements is vital for success.

But it’s not the only thing you need: you also need a professional, motivated staff that not only is efficient, but also happy to be working together, and willing to make the company grow through constant, hard work.

inWhatLanguage is living proof of that.

Tired of hearing words like “budget cuts”, “layoff” and, ultimately, “cessation of business,” I found it quite refreshing when our CEO Cody Broderick informed me of the latest developments in the company: “inWhatLanguage exceeded the goals in our first six months of the year by 115%, and its net profit is also up by 20% over our initial estimates. We’re hiring at a rate of 1 employee every 2-3 months. We sign 2-4 new businesses ever week. We’ve launched offices in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio, Miami, and we are slated to open New York, Boston and Chicago within three months.”

inWhatLanguage is conquering the US, and by way of its network of linguist all over the planet, it is effectively conquering the world, as well. All the while keeping its original purpose -to deliver fast, affordable, high-quality translations with a focus on localization and in any platform and/or format needed- and its friendly, human spirit.

“I have never worked in an environment where they made me feel so appreciated and recognized the value of my work and effort,” wrote one of our dear translators, Karen Hutchins. “In doing so, you just make people want to do their best and go the extra mile. Thank you all for being so approachable, reachable and crazy funny.”

“We really had a great experience working with you guys,” a representative of Stratawest.com, one of our clients, told us after the successful completion of a common project. “Now I wish translation was more often a requirement from our clients. I will let them all know how efficient this is.”

Both clients and employees must be equally happy to make things work in any business. And even though it might seem like a simple thing to do, this balance is probably the hardest challenge any company has to face.

Congratulations, inWhatLanguage: you have passed the test with flying colors. Let’s toast for many successful years to come!

Our new book keeper, Natalie Herrera, introduces herself!

Say hi to Natalie Herrera and her little Mason!

Say hi to the newest member of our team: Natalie Herrera, inWhatLanguage's brand new book keeper!

Where she came from:  I was born and raised in Utah. I grew up in a cute little neighborhood in Murray and my parents still to this day live there. Living in such a small and close community my whole life, I still keep in touch with many friends from even kindergarten; I graduated from high school and adventured off to Cedar City, Utah. I went to Southern Utah University and stayed for a year. Then I transferred to the U of U for a couple years.

Unaware of what I wanted to do in life, I decided to be spontaneous and leave my family and friends and move to Boston, MA at age 21 to be a nanny for a cute little one-year-old named Julia. It was hard to be on my own with no support at first, but I met a lot of great people and it was an amazing experience.  At the age of 25 I met the love of my life and he encouraged me to go back and get my degree.

In May of 2012 I finally graduated with Bachelors in Science of Elementary Education. Sticking with it and getting my degree was extremely important to me, I would be the first in my family to graduate college and that meant the world to me. That May, as I was about to graduate, I found out that I was going to be a mom. I have been enjoying motherhood ever since.

What she likes to do: First and foremost, I love being a mom to my little 7-month-old boy Mason. I have always had a passion to either work with children or at one time have my own. This has been the hardest but best thing I could ever do.

I love music, any genre but especially country. When I was little, my dad said I would never stop singing, especially when I was in the shower. The passion was there, but the voice not so much. I love to be outdoors- camping, boating, fishing and hiking. There is nothing better than sitting out under the stars by a campfire. I also enjoy cooking, rollerblading and especially love to dance. I’m not the greatest, but I love to go out and dance the night away. I am a very outgoing person and love to meet new people. I am an animal lover; I especially love my English bulldog, Rampage. If I could take in every stray animal, I would.

What makes her unique for inWhatLanguage: I love to meet new people and learn about new cultures. I have worked in almost every industry and can adapt well to any new environment.

Why she’s excited to join the team: I think being part of a team that is dedicated and excited to be at work every day is something that you don’t come by that much. Here at inWhatLanguage I feel important and appreciated. It’s such a unique company that is growing rapidly.  I feel honored being a part of it.

Any special talents: I am a pretty good bowler. I have been bowling since I was 6. I started off on a league with my grandpa and grandma, and once I got all these trophies I didn’t want to stop. I played in a league through high school and actually won a scholarship in a tournament. 

Software translation: a necessity every day, everywhere

Coming back from a little international holiday trip, I’ve come to realize how important software translation and localization is nowadays.

The world has become so global that multilingual information services are a necessity everywhere, especially within transportation hubs. Sure, that has been a fixed feature in airports –for obvious reasons- for a long while now. But still, I find that other “less conspicuous” public transportation centers, like train and bus stations, tend to be somewhat overlooked in that aspect. And considering how tourism is nowadays becoming a major source of benefits everywhere, I don’t really get how come tourist attractions such as museums or other emblematic places are not more frequently adapted for a multilingual crowd.

In a time where almost every transaction, purchase and information search can be done with the help of a machine, it only stands to reason that software should be able to offer its services in many languages. If you go to a train ticket booth and find that the person selling you the ticket cannot speak your mother tongue, that is understandable. But machine software should not have these limitations.

Having a good translation agency to take care of your software for multilingual platforms is something that your audience is definitely going to appreciate and be thankful for. A wide variety of languages means a clearer, more intuitive interface that is easier to use for people of all ages, in all parts of the world.

In inWhatLanguage, our network of global translators is uniquely prepared to make sure that your software's user experience is fully and accurately translated across languages and cultural barriers. It's not enough to get an automated, literal translation. Automatic translators fail to interpret idiomatic expressions and tone. With inWhatLanguage, you'll be matched with a subject matter and a language expert who will make sure that the entire software user experience is crystal clear to your targeted global software application customers.

With inWhatLanguage as your software translation partner, you can build, test, and deploy your software with confidence. We understand software localization demands total accuracy, expert cultural knowledge, and a high-level of orderliness, which is why our teams of software developers, programmers, GUI designers, and professional translators ensure total reintegration of the localized software content to the visual and user friendliness of the software application.

Our software localization engineers guarantee your final product is fully supported in the appropriate languages—from the user interface, to technical documentation, to online help files. inWhatLanguage is able to manage every aspect of your software localization needs and can accept all file formats.  The result? Cost-effective software localization services and exceptional language translation results. From engineering and translation, to reintegration, quality control, and testing software, inWhatLanguage is the best-choice for your software translation needs.

inWhatLanguage: more trust, bigger reach

Some time ago, I came across the followingarticle in Forbes magazine:

“20 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Relocate For A Job:

If you were offered a job in another city—or your current employer asked you to relocate—would you make the move?

Some would say yes in a heartbeat, while others might struggle with the uncertainty that accompanies such a big change.

According to MyMove.com’s Consumer Insights Study, which surveyed 8,000 consumers, including 6,300 who had either moved homes within the last 12 months or are planning to move within the next 12 months, a new job or transfer is consistently among the top five reasons that people move. About half of them (49%) relocated to another state or out of the country.”

It made me think for a while.

In the times we are living in, relocating for a job has become a sort of “norm". Jobs, good jobs, the kind of jobs that you have spent the best years of your life studying for, are nowadays scarce, and more often than not too far away to even consider applying for without getting ready for a major change of lifestyle. Moving across a continent is a traumatic experience, and even more so when you have a family that has to forcefully move with you.

On the other hand, we are also living in an era where everything can be done from a computer – be it in an actual office, or from the comfort of your own living room. A factor that could perfectly well negate all the trauma of the aforementioned moving process many people have to go through in order to get a job post that is worthy of their qualifications. A factor that should give everyone more freedom and time, hence promoting motivation and efficiency.

Why are these two contradictory facts constantly colliding in today’s society? The answer is easy: it’s a question of trust.

When an employer has enough trust placed in an employee, the employee can work from anywhere he deems appropriate: what’s important is, after all, are the results. And those results tend to be more satisfactory when said employee is living in an environment where he can be himself, he can be close to his family and friends, he can express himself freely in his own language and celebrate customs and traditions that he considers important. In other words, in the country he feels at home.

This is especially critical when it comes to languages. A language agency needs to have a huge network of employees to satisfy a growing demand, and these employees should be natives of many different countries in order to provide the highest degree of quality and localization in their work. This would be practically impossible if the agency demanded that all employees must work from an office, say, in Salt Lake City every day.

If, instead, this language agency focused its energy on finding the best, most trust-worthy language experts who would work from their own respective locations on-demand, providing fast, high-quality translations adapted to the regions that each client specifically asks for, the result would be… Well, ideal.

And that is, precisely, what inWhatLanguage does.