Ho ho ho! iWL helps Santa bring happiness to the people this year!

The team preparing the gifts at the office! (From left to right, David Kasteler at the desk,
Karlie Bodine, Erin Millet, Marcus Broderick, Vanesa Broderick and Veronica Johnson.)

Dashing through the snow

In a one horse open sleigh

O'er the fields we go

Laughing all the way

Bells on bob tails ring

Making spirits bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing

A sleighing song tonight...

Okay, so maybe our team didn’t dash through the snow, and maybe they preferred an actual car rather than a one horse open sleigh for speed and comfort purposes, but they certainly did laugh a lot, and bells jingled all the way on the day that the iWLteam went on their latest iWL Cares adventure: a sub-for-Santa initiative!

“This month, for inWhatLanguage Cares, we looked for a few families to help with Christmas! Families that are in tough situations and could really use and truly deserve the help,” explains Karlie Bodine, who once again organized the initiative this month. “I think all too often people forget the true spirit of Christmas: that is that Christmas is a time for giving and a time to remember others less fortunate than ourselves.”

Karlie Bodine wrapping up gifts!

Karlie went with iWL CEO Cody Broderick to get the gifts on Tuesday, December 16^th, and next day they went along with many other iWL team members to deliver them to the families. The experience was certainly something they will never forget.

“Seeing a mother of two cry and say ‘thank you’ over and over was very startling,” says Cody Broderick. “It serves as a reminder of why inWhatLanguage exists and motivates me to grow the company so we can have an even greater impact. I’m hopeful we brightened their holiday spirit and that they might also pay it forward.”

“It really makes you look at what you take for granted,” adds Karlie. “Some people don't know where they could be living next week or where their next meal is coming from. Meanwhile, some people are worried about whether or not they'll get the new iPhone that just came out.”

From left to right, Karlie Bodine, Cody and his son Markus Broderick, David Kasteler,
Brian Palmer, Veronica Johson and Erin Millet, all ready to deliver the gifts!

Perspective: that is one thing that Karlie acquired out of this experience. “We bought some essentials for the families like toilet paper, laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaner, toothpaste and toothbrushes, winter clothes, and other necessary items that most of our team don't ever have a second thought about buying, along with some toys for the kids,” she explains.

“It's always important to remember those less fortunate than you, especially this time of year,” Karlie concludes. “Our team was really glad to help these two families have such a memorable Christmas! We hope everyone remembers those less fortunate this holiday season and be truly grateful for what you have. Our team hopes to inspire the holiday spirit in others in making a difference in another's life.”

“I wish I could see the faces of the families when they open their gifts,” Cody smiles. “Sub for Santa on behalf of inWhatLanguage Cares was awesome!”

Feedback from our clients: love for and from iWL!

Working at inWhatLanguage is a real pleasure, that is a fact. And a good part of it is because we have such amazing clients! Helping them to the best of our abilities when they need our services is the least we can do in exchange for their trust and support – as well as their constructive feedback!

This week, our blog post is dedicated to them. Here is a quick compilation of the best feedback comments we have received lately:

“We love inWhatLanguage. It is one of the best services we have ever seen. Being able to communicate with staff in languages from Farsi to Mandarin is such a huge asset to our property. Every agent I have been in contact with was professional and outstanding in their demeanor and assistance. I cannot say anything negative about the service. We love it.”

“Great attention and a really warm way of approaching.”

“inWhatLanguage was very fast to respond to our needs. They proved to be highly experienced and helped us understand the best ways in which our organization needed to address our international target markets. They went the extra mile to ensure our content (in over 18 languages!) was culturally adapted and aligned with our company branding, messaging and overall marketing styles. The pricing was great and I was also very pleased with the turnaround time. But what really stands out is the way they treated me and my marketing team. It felt like we had been working with them for years. I would highly recommend inWhatLanguage for any translation or language project.”

“I needed about 30 official certified translations done for our adoption and inwhatlanguage provided all the translation in the same formats and certified in amazing time. I was amazed at the turn around, the pricing and the level of professionalism for just an individual. Highly recommended.”

“Great quality! I wish I had found InWhatLanguage sooner. I recently needed to change to a new translation firm. I was referred to InWhatLanguage through a friend. They completed my request much faster than I had anticipated. They were friendly, easy to deal with, and not too expensive. I was blown away by the quality of the work and the time in which it took. I would highly recommend InWhatLanguage to anyone needing translations services.”

“Very helpful customer service from IWL. They took the time to get things right and deliver good quality. Prices are competitive and they make you feel confident in the work their providing.”

Thank you so VERY much for all of your love! You are the reason why we do what we do, and thanks to your comments, we are more motivated than ever!

Let’s keep on rockin’!!

Second languages: a market share you don’t want to miss out on!

Checking language-related articles yesterday, I came upon this very interesting infographic that made me think about the importance of this “second languages” in the translation industry.

Let me give you an example: India. When we think about translating documents for the Indian market, usually the first thought that comes to mind is to go for Hindi translation, since Hindi is the most widely spoken language in the country, with more than 400 million speakers.

Truth is, however, that Hindi is mainly spoken in the regions of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. There are parts of India missing here. Look at that map!

India has a total of 22 official languages, and some of them are actually spoken in regions where Hindi is not that extended, like Kashmiri, Assamese, Bengali, Kannada or Urdu. Their numbers of speakers are well in the millions, despite not being comparable to the number of Hindi speakers.

Another example is the US. While English is undoubtedly predominant in the country as a whole, each state is definitely a world of its own, and in some regions it is currently hardly spoken. 229 million people speak English in the US. 35 million speak Spanish. 

There is a big difference, yes. But take out the first part of the comparison, and focus on the second:  35 million Spanish speakers in the US! 

If that number doesn’t make you think twice about the language strategy for your communications in the US, I don’t know what will.

My point is that translation is not black and white anymore. It is not as simple as choosing a country and simply translating your documents to the language that is mainly or traditionally spoken there. Statistically speaking, you will probably reach a wider audience. But is it really the audience you are aiming to target?

Furthermore, you don’t have to choose just one language: it is not an elimination game. Not when you can work with an agency that can provide you with the means to target all the different communities in their respective local languages. The investment will be a little bigger, but the number of potential customers that you will reach will grow exponentially. 

And if the agency is trustworthy and manages its translators efficiently, really, the costs won’t rise all that much.

Do you need proof? Try inWhatLanguage. We are the living example of excellent localizationservices for the most affordable prices!

iWL Cares helps families celebrate Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

As the official day to give thanks, we want to express our gratitude to all of you – a big fat THANK YOU to all of our clients and translators who every day make inWhatLanguage what it is! It is thanks to you that we strive every day to be a little better and to do greater things for our community.

And speaking of which, Thanksgiving has also been a wonderful opportunity to give back to society with a new iWL Cares initiative! Once again, Karlie Bodine has been in charge of organization.

“We visited three families the day before Thanksgiving”, she explains. “Each family has had their own hardships they have faced and continue to face every single day- whether it was extreme health problems, abuse, single parenthood, or other adversities. Each family genuinely deserved the help and we were all extremely grateful to help them, as they were grateful to receive the help.”

The experience was particularly moving, according to Karlie: “Through tears, we delivered hams, rolls, pies, salads, yams, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, food cans, and many other Thanksgiving day goodies along with a grocery store gift card to each family. Perhaps one of the most inspiring moments, was when one of the people we visited offered to pay it forward, stating that she knows others who could use the help more than her.”

Everybody deserves a plentiful Thanksgiving dinner, and the team at inWhatLanguage cannot feel more proud to have contributed to this beautiful tradition in these three homes. “While we all live our day-to-day lives with have our own struggles, it is important to remember what you have and be mindful that there are always others who may be less fortunate,” says Karlie Bodine. “It is then crucial to remember to reach out to those people. This is an idea that I think is being lost as our world advances, but at inWhatLanguage we don't want people to ever forget that there are always going to be people there for them and to remember to help and inspire those around you.”

“Thank you so much! All of you!! (...) I love you all! I know I didn't express it well...  Kind of overwhelmed by the love! Please let them all know! (...) What a blessed wonderful day!” This was a message we received from one of the families after iWL’s visit. The knowledge that we helped some families enjoy a more blissful Thanksgiving day is undoubtedly our greatest reward!

inWhatLanguage and FIFA: a team for posterity

Translating for FIFA is much more than a regular translation project: it is an honor. iWL was selected to work on specialized documents in preparation for the World Cup – and the results have granted the young translation agency the praise of the biggest football association in the world!

For any professional translation agency, there is always that “moment of truth” when it has to prove that it really is all that it promises to be - that it can really work with huge volumes, or that it can deliver expert translations with the quality and accuracy that it guarantees. Big words must be reflected in big results, and not all projects offer the chance for this to happen.

But thanks to FIFA, such a “moment of truth” came for inWhatLanguage.

It all started in October 2013, when the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) selected iWL after a two-month competitive process against 15 other preselected translation companies to translate all of its PR communications in preparation for the World Cup. From that point until the actual World Cup in Brazil took place, we worked on website content, magazines and print media, as well as news and press releases in more than 20 languages.

An “intimidating and overwhelming task”, in the words of actual FIFA representatives; a real Goliath of a translation project, admittedly, but one that inWhatLanguage was more than ready to undertake.

The intricacies of project management

“Working with FIFA has helped catapult inWhatLanguage to a higher level of customer interest,” says inWhatLanguage CEO Cody Broderick. “It has also validated questions from potential clients about our technical and volume capabilities.”

Certainly, managing this project has not been a walk in the park: it involved huge amounts of diverse and extremely technical content. This required a careful selection of professional and football-expert native translators, as well as constant quality control measures to make sure that the documents were delivered correctly, on time and with the right format.

But the effort has been absolutely worth it, according to Broderick: “We now use FIFA as a case study when engaging some of the top organizations in the world to prove that, if FIFA selected inWhatLanguage, they should do so as well. I’m confident we will get more volume from them as the sport picks up momentum for upcoming games.”

Positive feedback: our most valuable reward

Maybe it is too soon to predict iWL’s future with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, but there is one thing that we know for sure: FIFA was very satisfied with the addition of the young translation company to its ranks.

“inWhatLanguage proved to be fantastic partner as we worked hand-in-hand to translate hundreds of documents in over 20 languages – all on time and under budget. Thank you, inWhatLanguage!" This was the feedback we got from FIFA once the project came to an end - right when we were all at the edge of our seats, absorbed in the magic of the actual World Cup games, knowing that a little part of that amazing event had been possible thanks to the good work of iWL.

Translation agencies: definitely the way to go!

While modern translation technology might have driven many people to think that translation is a pretty straightforward science -as in, you input certain words, press “translate” and less than a second, your translation is “served”-, truth is, translation is a highly subjective art.

Many translations from one original text can differ significantly depending what their purpose is, the targeted audience, and the location of said audience. The style and tone change when addressing teenagers or veterans, architects or restaurant chefs, citizens from the North or people from the South of a country (usually).

To make a translation as localized and culturally adapted as possible is what truly makes a difference in a world dominated by instant machine translation.

Of course, that is nothing short of impossible when you are managing a global business with your own team of translators. No matter how many they are, they will never be enough.

The secret of a globalized, effective translation campaign is to have immense numbers of professional translators, not just one for each of the “big” languages. There are many different registers, dialects and varieties in every language, as well as innumerable minor communities that are sadly left behind if you only focus on the bigger picture.

Working with a translation agency, this is one load you can take off your shoulders. We have the manpower and the expertise to deal with a vast amount of languages, localizing each and every project and providing advice about the best, most efficient way to work.

Translation is a subjective art, but we know how to go about it!

With a translation agency, you can be sure that...

• ·        Your projects will be taken care of in a timely manner by the most suitable translators chosen specifically for you.
• ·        You can choose from a big pool of professionals and express your personal preferences any time.
• ·        The translation will be proofread and quality-checked prior to delivery.
• ·        The format will be as close to the original as possible, even when we are dealing with languages that use different scripts and directionalities.
• ·        You will always have a reliable person to talk to and who will inform you regularly about the development of the translation project.
• ·        You can send your comments and questions to the Project Manager whenever you want, who will answer directly as soon as possible, or transmit the message to the translators and get back to you with the reply.
• ·        You have the guarantee of a job well done.

Working with a translation agency is the easiest, safest way of getting your documents translated the right way. And if you are worried about the costs that this implies, just request a quote at inWhatLanguage - our prices are simply unbeatable!

DevLearn 2014: Great success and awesome nerdiness for iWL!

iWL's booth at DevLearn!

“As technologies continue to emerge and advance, new worlds of possibilities are opening up for learning and development. But new technologies also bring new challenges—and new expectations—for driving learning and performance. To keep up, you need to understand what’s possible today, as well as what’s coming next.”

This is the premise of DevLearn 2014, the big eLearning Conference and Expo that took place last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course, the message refers to online training and learning technologies, but it could just as easily be talking about the world of translation. Translators and translation agencies are facing the same challenges and the same need to adapt to the new formats and possibilities that new technologies bring along.

And that is why inWhatLanguage fits in DevLearn like a glove!

Once again, inWhatLanguage had a booth at DevLearn in Las Vegas, and once again, the outcome was more than positive. “It was great,” says iWL CEO Cody Broderick. “We talked to more than a hundred potential new clients. Going to DevLearn is definitely worth it!”

Maurice van Zutphen and Cody Broderick,
self-declared language nerds

It’s a nerdy world!

This year, the inWhatLanguage team went to DevLearn with a hilarious message printed on their T-shirts: “Talk Nerdy to Me”. That is what’s written on the back of the T-shirts that Cody and his team wore and gave away at the conference. Along with the complimentary glasses, the whole “nerdy” costume ended up being quite a hit.

“People loved it,” Broderick says with a smile. “Everybody wanted a T-shirt! It was crazy, and beautiful. Our booth was so warm and inviting. The people wanted to stop by and talk to us, and everybody was laughing when they saw the glasses and the message from the T-shirts.”

inWhatLanguage, all services in one great agency

Of course, the best thing that DevLearn has for inWhatLanguage is the people that attend the conference. They both share a common interest in eLearning and online formats, and inWhatLanguage has a capable team of experts fully dedicated to eLearning translation and its multimedia possibilities.

“In DevLearn we get to meet great potential clients, because their projects encompass translation, voiceover, multimedia localization, proofreading, editing, etcetera,” explains Broderick. “Instead of the typical document translation project, an eLearning project has many steps, a whole process that we can work on in its entirety, or just do some of the steps." 

From left to right, David Kasteler, Cody Broderick and Maurice van Zutphen.

"We have a full range of services, and they are a la carte. This means that we are the perfect option both for corporate organizations that offer and create their own eLearning training programs for their employees, and for the big eLearning companies that create custom training courses for other organizations. We have everything they might need on offer!”

To be continued...

Clearly, DevLearn is a 'must attend' event for inWhatLanguage. And Cody Broderick has already made sure that his translation agency will have a booth –and a big one!- in next year’s conference: “We have booked a booth for DevLearn 2015, which is going to be double the size of the one we had this year. And my wish is to bring more people with me, because seeing the traffic we had this year, it’s obvious that we are going to need the extra hands.”

iWL Cares provides warmth for the upcoming winter!

Coats ready for their new owners!

Winter is almost here! Once again, the low temperatures will make us want to stay warm at home as much as possible. And if we have to go outside, most of us can always rely on a warm coat to protect us from the cold!

Unfortunately, not everybody is so lucky. Some people cannot afford a good coat, and for them, winter can be a real nightmare. That is why this year inWhatLanguage Cares has launched an initiative to help solve this problem: a Coat Drive!

The newest member of the iWL team, Karlie Bodine, has been in charge of organizing the gathering and shipping of the coats. “I came up with the idea because, truthfully, I am not a big fan of the cold!” explains Karlie. “I knew that there were many people in our community that needed the appropriate clothes for the fall and winter, and I thought a Coat Drive would be the perfect way to help.”

Karlie Bodine was
responsible for the Coat Drive.

The campaign lasted a week and finished on October 31^st, and even though the response at first was “slow”, according to Karlie, in the end she was able to gather many bags full of warm coats… Really good-quality ones! “Once the deadline started getting closer, many people started to come forward and say that they had coats to donate! A lot of people had old skiing and snowboarding coats that they donated,” says Karlie.

The coats have been successfully donated to the Road Home, in Salt Lake City, where they accept donations of coats, jackets, hoodies and blankets for the people in need.

All of these bags are full of
the coats that were donated!
Thank you very much!

This iWLCares initiative has been the perfect way for Karlie to start feeling integrated in the team – giving back to the community is, after all, one of the cornerstones of iWL’s philosophy. “I think that it is amazing that inWhatLanguage does so much community service. I mean, how many other companies do you hear of that do service projects every month? It is truly a worthwhile experience to help those around you, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.”

Karlie admits that organizing the campaign was a little overwhelming at first, but as things began to work out, she felt it was great – among other things, because she could count on the help of the rest of the team. “I think everyone really tried to collect as many coats as they could and we all came together nicely! I'm very happy with the outcome. We have collected so many coats to help so many people! I couldn't be happier with the turnout.”

Welcome to the team, Karlie!

This week we have the pleasure of introducing yet another new member of the iWL Team, Karlie Bodine!

Here is a little autobiography:

“My name is Karlie Bodine. I grew up in Cottonwood Heights (less than 4 miles from some of the best ski and snowboard resorts in the world) with my parents and one younger brother. I graduated from Brighton High School in 2012. 

I’m a 19-year-old Honor Roll and Dean’s List student at the University of Utah. I’m studying Psychology and minoring in Sociology-- I’ve always been fascinated by other people and passionate about social and civil rights. After receiving my Honor’s BA in Psychology, I plan on attending S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.

Growing up in Utah, it is hard not to develop a love for the outdoors! In my spare time, you can find me climbing, swimming, wakeboarding, backpacking, hiking, fourwheeling, doing yoga or doing just about anything outside! As I mentioned before, I have lived about 4 miles away from what are considered to be some of the best ski resorts in the whole world for my entire life. 

Ironically enough, with my love of the outdoors but my dislike of the snow, I never practiced ski or snowboarding until I was 18 years old. I went skiing at Alta and instantly loved it! I’m sad I missed out on it all those years growing up, but I did start wakeboarding and fourwheeling at a very young age. Most of my early memories involve being at Lake Powell or the Sand Dunes.

My parents have always valued traveling and experiencing other cultures and I consider this is one of the greatest gifts they could give me. I have been to 19 countries- mostly in the Caribbean and Central America. As a result, the ocean is one of my favorite things in the entire world. My favorite place that I have visited so far is La Romana, Dominican Republic. Not only were the people kind and the food delicious, but the ocean and scenery was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. In the future, I hope to travel even farther and visit as many places as I can! I love experiencing other cultures.

I’m so excited to start my new journey at inWhatLanguage! I’m looking forward to all of the opportunities IWL has for me to grow and learn! I’m happy to be a part of this team.”

Karlie has started by organizing our latest iWL Cares campaign, to which you can also contribute!

“This month we are doing a Coat Drive and looking to collect all the coats we can to give to those in need as these cold fall and winter months are approaching! We are collecting up until October 31st. Please, if you live in Salt Lake City or the neighboring area and you have any old and gently used adult coats laying around, contact me so I can pick them up. Thank you so much!”

Localization and dialects: Is it worth it?

According to Infoplease, nowadays there are around 6,500 languages currently being spoken around the world. Of course, as one can read in this article from the Linguistic Society of America, counting languages is practically impossible, as new varieties appear every day, the same way as some other languages go extinct. But for the sake of argument, let us say that there are 6,500 languages in the world. Our first question should be: what is a language? Does a dialect count? Does a different accent of a language count?

“Consider the facts of negative sentences, for example,” says the article from the LSA. “Standard Italian uses a negative marker which precedes the verb (Maria non mangia la carne‘Maria not eats the meat’), while the language spoken in Piémonte (Piedmontese) uses a negative marker that follows the verb (Maria a mangia nen la carn ‘Maria she eats not the meat’). Other differences correlate with this: standard Italian cannot have a negative with an imperative verb, but uses the infinitive instead, while Piedmontese allows negative imperatives; standard Italian requires a ‘double negative’ in sentences like Non ho visto nessuno ‘not have I seen nobody’ while Piedmontese does not use the extra negative marker, and so on. The functioning of negation here establishes a parameter that distinguishes these (and other) grammars. (…) scholars have estimated that somewhere between 300 and 500 of these distinct possibilities are actually instantiated in the region!”

 There are more distinctive cases, though. Take Spain for example: a country where Spanish is the official national language, but where “dialects” – which are, as a matter of fact, whole new languages themselves, and some of them older than actual Spanish and with no similarities whatsoever- are co-official in their respective regions, taught in schools and proudly spoken both on the streets and during official events. These people love their language, or “dialect”, and appreciate being addressed in it. They will certainly pay closer attention to a document or speech in their regional language than in common Spanish.

From an international business’ point of view, this might sound like something not worth taking into consideration – we are talking about extra costs that could be avoided just by translating all communications into the national language, which supposedly everybody understands.

But translation – or, more specifically, localization – is not just about making communications understandable. It’s about achieving the biggest impact on your target audience. About getting their attention and making them feel connected to you and your company.

So back to the question “is it worth it?” the answer is: it depends. Obviously, if you are in charge of finding different translators and negotiating rates with them, you probably would want to hire only a few people you can trust with the least amount of work – the less trouble for you, the better. 

But consider this: if you hire a translation agency with years of experience and a vast network of in-country native translators that, on top of that, offers discounts for large volumes on their translation services… That is worth it. At the end of the day, you will have a localized translation that will have a much greater impact on your audience, and the long-term benefits will be significant.

So… yes, it depends. It depends on whether you want to risk it going solo, or you decide to trust the best to take care of it. inWhatLanguage is always there to help – keep us in mind!

The conundrum of branding

Branding a product is always a tough decision, especially when it is aimed at an international audience. Words that sound perfectly logical in one language can mean something completely different –and sometimes unfortunate- in others. An example that often comes to my mind when thinking about branding fails: the detergent Barf, which in Persian means “snow”, but in English… Evokes everything but crispy, white sheets.

It would be like branding a cute line of lipsticks “Kiss”, which would be very becoming… Until it reaches Sweden, where “Kiss” means “pee”. Not something you usually want to put in your lips!

Today I found this interesting article in The Economist. “Branded a fool” talks about this specific problem, namely international branding. There is a whole industry dedicated to this field, and there are strategies and guidelines here and there. And they make all kinds of sense, too: 

• “People avoid extra effort every chance they can; a name that is hard to spell or remember is harder to Google and buy from”: well, a brand is, after all, something created to make the product stick in our minds so that we feel like purchasing it. And every day we have increasing difficulties remembering even our phone numbers. So yeah.

• “Pronounceability in a wide variety of languages may be more important”: duh, try pronouncing “Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän” – hard even for German natives! Certain languages have spelling systems that can be a nightmare for foreign speakers, and words like this one are certainly not going to stick.

• “An evocative name sets off a chain of associations in the mind”: yes… to an extent. Like I said, a lipstick brand called “Kiss” is certainly evocative, but depending on which country we are in, the perception might change dramatically!

While the process of coming up with a brand name for a new product is absolutely fascinating and it has a lot of strategy and know-how involved, taking it abroad without any risk can be just as easy as contacting a good language agency. One that is specialized in the languages spoken in the regions you want to launch your campaigns in, and that have excellent localization services and cultural adaptation skills.

In inWhatLanguage, we can proudly say that we have the best team for these situations. With our worldwide network of native, in-country translators, we can assure that, if a brand has the slightest chance of causing a misunderstanding in the region due to the language, culture or even regional dialects, we can save you the trouble.

Let us help you overcome language barriers and conquer the business world without worries!

Customer service: the key to our success

inWhatLanguage is a fairly young translation company, but even so we have a long list of clients who stick with us for their translation projects. Their loyalty is what allows us to maintain our position as a leading translation agency, and what gives us the incentive to keep improving ourselves and our services. So much so that it is practically thanks to them that we have earned a place among the best translation companies in the US.

But why is that? In this extremely competitive industry of translation, full of capable companies everywhere, how is it that a young company has been able to gain such a standing, to keep growing every year and to look into the future with great optimism?

In other words, why do our customers keep coming back?

The short answer is: our customer service. The long answer?

1. Because, above all, we deliver high-quality services that our clients appreciate and distinguish us from the average jobs done by less professional companies.
2. Because we are consistent with our translations and never break our promises.
3. Because we are FAST, but the speed of our translations and interpreters does not affect the quality of our services.
4. Because we are always happy to talk to our clients; they feel welcome and supported from the moment they make first telephonic contact, or they get the first reply via instant chat, or they receive a response mail in a matter of minutes after sending their original request.
5. Because we reward the customers who commit to us with large projects offering tasty volume discounts.
6. Because we reward loyalty by offering better prices to long-time customers, as well as for client referrals.
7. Because we are always there during the whole translation process, ready to listen to last-minute demands and ask for details to make the end result as accurate and localized as possible.
8. Because we proofread our translations to make sure that we are delivering the best service possible and to save our clients all the trouble.
9. Because we go to great lengths to make sure that what the end translation looks like a mirror image of the original, with the format as intact as possible.
10. Because, even when the project is finished, we stay in contact to make sure that everything is going well, and of course to apply any corrections if necessary.

What our customers think of us is the most important thing, at the end of the day. Their feedback is what drives us in the right direction. 

And for that reason, when we receive comments such as “Thank you for your service. It was timely and everything was performed at a high quality level,” or “Great customer service and delivery. Ryan and Erin were a pleasure to work with,” (those were our latest feedback comments), we feel more excited than ever to continue moving forward!

So thank YOU, our dear customers, for pointing us in the right direction!

inWhatLanguage returns to DevLearn!

Best-in-class translation agency inWhatLanguage returns for a second year running to the E-Learning Conference DevLearn! After an exceedingly positive experience last year, the online-based translation company is thirsty for more.

DevLearn, the great E-Learning conference and expo that takes place every year in Las Vegas, will open its doors once again at the end of October. And once again, publicly acclaimed translation agency inWhatLanguage will have a booth in place to provide attendees and visitors with information and showcase the wide range of services and offers the company is famous for, and give them a taste of the“inWhatLanguage Experience”.

“This is iWL's second time going to DevLearn,” inWhatLanguage CEO Cody Broderick says. “We attended last year at the Aria and had a great time exhibiting. We met many new clients and forged great relationships with some of the nation's top learning and training development organizations. It's no wonder we're back!”

DevLearn is a unique opportunity for inWhatLanguage to be around the best in the eLearning and training industry. As a company greatly devoted to the industry of E-Learning, attending DevLearn allows its members to hear and see the latest trends and technologies in the industry, gather valuable knowledge and experience, and of course, get a chance to meet fascinating new contacts. “It is also the perfect chance for us to let everyone know that we provide the best translation services, prices and quality around,” adds Broderick. “With over 30 years of experience in the translation industry, we have a proven model for multilingual course development and look forward to discussing collaboration opportunities with many of the organizations at DevLearn.”

iWL team members Ty Palmer and Cody Broderick at DevLearn 2013.

InWhatLanguage has been listed by the TopTenReviews as one of the top translation firms in theU.S., and to Cody Broderick, the reason is clear: “We're one of the fastest growing translation firms in the U.S. and offer a wide array of customizable solutions for our clients that will help increase their top line revenue while decreasing cost and enhancing quality of deliverables. Our linguists are native, they work in-country, and have repeatedly demonstrated their subject-matter expertise, localization skills and technological capabilities.”

For inWhatLanguage, the industry of E-Learning is among the most important ones and definitely a top priority for the company’s business focus. As the world gets smaller and more globalized, the need for localized learning software grows exponentially, and so does the demand for qualified, technical-savvy translators ready to do the job. And inWhatLanguage is up to the task, says Cody Broderick.

“inWhatLanguage's booth number is 532, right in the middle of the action!” informs Broderick. “We will have some sweet swag to hand out, giveaways of some awesome electronics, but best of all, we will have three awesome iWL team members with over 30 years of combined experience ready to talk with you and tell you why we really are the best at what we do!”

Malay translations - Call inWhatLanguage to get the job done right!

“I used my launch to cross the lake surrounded by gecko-infested bamboo fields in search of a restaurant where they would serve cootie-free ketchup…”

Rafflesias bloom in Malaysia. Photo: Steve Cornish

In this odd sentence there are 5 words of Malay origin. Can you spot them?

Okay, here goes the answer:

Launch comes from the Malay words Malay “lancharan” (boat) and “lanchar” (velocity without effort).

Gecko comes from the Malay world “gekok”, which is an imitation of the sound the geckos make.

Bamboo stems from the Kannada word “bamboo”, which was introduced to English through Malay.

Cootie comes from the Malay “kutu”, which means “lice” (charming).

And ketchup, go figure, comes from the Malay word “kechap”, which is a fish sauce (!!).

Wasn’t that fun?

It is evident that the Malay is more closely connected to English than a lot of people think. These words of Malay origin were only some of the most-commonly used in daily English, but there is actually quite a list of examples, as you can read here, in this Wikipedia article.

Some of them are more obvious than others, like “gong” (which I would have bet it was Korean!) or “cockatoo”. But some others are still pretty surprising, like “amok” –as in, running amok- or “agar” –for foodies and gourmands, it should be a pretty familiar word-.

Point is, while Malay will probably not come up in the list of the main languages to workon in an international business strategy, it is still a very influential language. More than 215 million people around the world speak Malay nowadays, and to address this whole audience you need a good team of native translators that can speak their language. And I don’t mean that only in a literal sense; you need someone who knows how to talk to these people to attract their attention and interest.

Luckily, inWhatLanguage is always there to help you with your Malay translations!

We obviously offer best-in-class translation services in all the main languages, but we have more than 100 more languages in our database – Malay and many other rarer languages among them. If you want to go global and need to make sure that no part of the Asian continent –or the world!- is left behind uninformed, count on our skills to adapt any translation or address the audience with our expert interpretation services in the most efficient way.

Check out all the languages we work with. And if you happen to need a translation service in a language or dialect that is not listed, don’t dismiss us right away – ask us first! We are confident that we can come to a quick and affordable solution faster than you think!

Meet Lydia Aranda, iWL’s team member in Europe!

Hello there again!

This is not by any means my first post on this blog; in fact, 99% of the posts here have been written by me. One of the first ones, actually, was my very own introduction to the company. Back then, I had been already a Spanish translator for inWhatLanguage for a while, and had also been recently appointed as the newest Marketing and Social Media Manager.

Why, then, three years later, does my face appear here again? Well, I am extremely happy to announce that I am now one step further into the iWL team core. I recently moved to Dublin, Ireland, to work for inWhatLanguage not just as a Social Media Manager anymore, but also as a Content Writer for the new website, and as a Project Manager.

So once again, let me write a little bit about myself.

I was born in Spain almost 30 years ago, and have never really gotten out of my motherland until my third year of college. I studied Journalism, and I thought my life was pretty much as good as it could get back then. That was, until I traveled abroad for the first time.

I spent a summer in England working as an intern for an English Academy (ironic, I know), and it was a real eye-opener. Not only because I got to see so many new things and gather once-in-a-lifetime experiences that would change me forever, but also because I got to meet my future husband. Who lived in Germany. And for whom I’d move two years later to Germany.

Around that time, I started freelancing for iWL as a translator, audio and video editor. The company was just starting, back then, and thanks to that I got to work directly with the CEO, Cody Broderick. We got a very good rapport right from the start.

As years passed by, two things started to develop: on the one hand, I started getting an urge to move from Germany and seek new adventures in another country - namely, Ireland, a country I fell in love with since the first time I visited on vacation three years ago. On the other hand, iWL grew and Cody started wondering how he could go about opening a branch in Europe.

The good rapport was still there, and as we got to work more closely with the passing of the years, Cody asked me to be the person to do it. And, well… Anyone can guess what my answer was!

So here I am now, in Dublin, trying to start a new life, and working with a company I love, trying to help it grow even further on this side of the Atlantic. Life is just fantastic sometimes, isn’t it? ;)

iWL Cares, closer to the people in need than ever

Maurice von Zupthen, Veronica Johnson and Ryan McCann
walking down the street, looking for people to help.

During our last iWL Cares initiative, the iWL team walked around downtown Salt Lake City, visiting some homeless people and giving food and money to those who needed it. 

It was quite an experience for the iWL team members that were present, and there is no better way to describe it than just listening to their very own words. Here are a couple of testimonials.

Maurice von Zutphen, iWL Vice President of Operations and Project Management:

I was an eye opener to say the least. It is striking to be exposed to circumstances so on the fringes of society. It is hard to see a fellow human being relinquished down to pan-handling and survival subsistence. I have to admit it was uncomfortable and sad to see so many needing the services offered by various church services. 

Brian Palmer rushing to action.

I was struck by two other aspects. As we were passing out food, the police showed up in an instant and the officer quickly dispersed the crowd from the street corner. He was even calling out individuals by first name, revealing that some must have been on our streets for some time. The other really gripping sight was seeing what appeared to be a young woman curled on the pavement along a fence, barefooted and passed out. 

Truly sobering to see that life can take such a downturn.

Erin Millet, iWL Office Manager:

It was an unexpected experience for me. The unexpected part was the hopelessness that we saw.

We will call the first gentleman we came across “Joe”. Joe seemed to be very… Eccentric. He let us know that he was studying for his psychology dissertation and he had obtained a lot of information through his time spent on the “streets”. When asked where he was from, he flat out refused to answer and said “I cannot tell you that.” He was grateful for the food we gave him and accepted it with “God bless you.” Later on, (iWL Project Manager) Veronica Johnson and I went back and gave him some money.

We will call the second gentleman “Bob”. Bob was sitting by himself on a bench when we approached him. He seemed a little wary. There were 5 of us approaching him and he was very quiet. (Executive Sales & Account Manager) Ryan McCann asked him if he would like some food and his comment was “depends”. We left him some food and a few dollars but did not stay to talk with him.

Erin Millet and Veronica Johnson with "Joe".

Our next stop was a group of about two dozen men and women. They were outside of a Christian shelter. We approached them and all they really wanted was the food we were giving out. Apparently, their mind frame was “Free food? I’ll take all that you have.” This stop was sobering to say the least. It was very sad to see fellow human beings at that point in their lives. One woman kept whispering “Hide me please, hide me please.”

At a stop light, (Sr. Account Executive) Brian jumped out of the car to hand some money to a woman on a corner who was holding a sign. She was more worried about Brian going in front of the turning cars than about what he was trying to give her.

We weren’t able to get any stories from anyone besides the few comments we got from Joe. It seems as though their social skills are gone and they were not able to communicate with us. They were leery and suspicious of us. Very untrusting in regards to what our motives were. For this same reason we did not take any pictures of them.

Once again, the iWL team members were reminded of the reason of the existence of the iWL Cares program, and felt the need to work even harder to make the lives of these people a little better. 

And with your help, we can do it.