Language Nerds: this is what we are at iWL!

Brian Palmer, Cody Broderick and our nerdy model. Looking good!

Ladies, gentlemen, it is about time we come clean. Yes, there comes a time when you just cannot deny your own nature anymore, and one has to admit what one is. And this is it.

We, the people at inWhatlanguage, are language nerds.

We love languages so much! We are so passionate about them that we pretty much live for them, we work with them, and we help others deal with them. Languages are in our everyday conversations, language jokes are our idea of sidesplitting comedy, and whenever we read or listen to a translation, our eyes are trained to check for quality and find typos at lightning speed. Nerdiness to the max.

We are language nerds – and we are so proud of it that we have created a whole website about the concept. Check it out: http://www.translationnerds.com/

Is that awesome or what?

A staff member at the conference
who couldn't resist the nerdy appeal!

Furthermore, language nerdiness is infectious! Last week, the iWL team brought the “Language Nerds” theme to a local networking event organized by the Utah Technology Council –an open house where they invited all of their members, about 400 people-, and guess what: people loved it!

“We had a small stand at the conference, we got a mannequin and dressed him up as an awesome nerd, with glasses and one of our T-shirt (Language Nerds, with the motto ‘talk nerdy to me’). We were also wearing the outfit, and giving out ‘nerd’ candy,” explains iWL CEO Cody Broderick.

David Kasteler and Cody Broderick, nerding out :)

The ‘nerdy’ bug didn’t take long to spread. “It was a fun conference,” says Broderick. “The idea was to have people walking by the booth and stopping to learn what we were on about – to grab their attention. There were other translation agencies, but they were kind of boring and non-descript in comparison. Our goal was to make people remember us, and it seems like it is working.”

The team took pictures with some of the attendants to the conference.

“The ‘nerd’ theme is good. People perceive ‘nerds’ as smart yet funny individuals, and it is definitely a good way to attract the audience, have them ask questions, laugh, break the ice, make them comfortable.”

And it just happens to suit the team so well. I mean, look at those pictures. Don’t they look just... Nerdorable?

Time and organization, the E-Learning Course translator’s best friends

(Image from http://bayyinah.com/)

E-Learning Courses are becoming increasingly popular. Thanks to the Internet and new technologies, education has never been more available to everyone. Ironically, now the only barrier that many find to study new fascinating subjects is the language. Generally speaking, E-Learning Courses are available worldwide, as they are located in the worldwide web. But the world is full of different languages and cultural contexts. That is why E-learning Course Translation is nowadays one of the most demanded, successful fields in any translation company that is up to date.

E-learning Course Translation is, however, a very special service that requires specific subject-matter expertise and high technical skills from all of the parties involved. From the translation company’s standpoint, there are certain practices that must be followed for a smooth completion of any E-learning Course translation service.

From the onset, there is one thing that must be crystal-clear about effective E-Learning Course Translation: it is a time-consuming process. It takes many different steps, and it cannot be rushed. Not unless you are willing to settle for a mediocre final result. It takes vast amounts of time to make sure that a final deliverable up to the client’s desires and expectations is produced - especially when the translation is done in many different languages.

It usually entails compression and expansion issues as well – for instance, a 100-word E-Learning Course in English usually ends up with a word count of 125 when translated to Spanish or any other Romance language.

An e-Learning course can include all sorts of materials and formats,
and all of that must be reflected in the final translation!
(Image from www.e-learningstudios.com)

It is thus important to remember that the original content in English will not have the same length as the resulting translation. This has to be factored into the final result in online displays, as well as the voiceover services that tend to go with these courses. If there is dubbing services included in the translation service, the audios must be adapted to the videos (or vice versa) in order to achieve exact synchronization between image and sound.

Overall, it is quite a long and tricky path that must be trodden carefully and methodically.

That is why an iterative, agile approach is the best option for this kind of translation:

• ·        Start with a testing phase to round up a pool of capable, fit linguists for the project. Text samples must be sent to the client for their consideration.
• ·        It is also important to gather any translation memory files from past translations that the client may have, as well as glossaries, style guides and terminology specifically related to the current project.
• ·        The real translation begins with a “pilot” segment –or a “proof of content”-, send it to the client and wait for feedback.
• ·        Once this initial step is done, the translation can proceed with a second segment based on the comments and suggestions from the client. This process will continue until the whole course is translated.
• ·        Once the translation is completed, the client must sign it off before moving on to the recording phase.
• ·        Start the next stage of the project with a testing phase to round up a pool of capable, fit voice talents for the project. Audio samples must be sent to the client for their consideration.
• ·        Get approval from the client on a specific number of voice artists, and record all the audio bits step by step, taking the feedback from the client as a guide at all times.
• ·        Insert the audio on the videos / presentations, adapting them for perfect synchronization.
• ·        If the client asks for it, the translation company can also take charge of the insertion of the translated and recorded material right into their online platform for a perfect, all-encompassing service. This involves text editing and formatting to achieve best online-viewing results, as well as other adjustments to make sure that audios and videos are in the right places and play when they are supposed to.

For all of these steps to be taken seamlessly, careful organization and a strict plan are the best tools. A smart and efficient investment of time is vital to obtain the best possible E-Learning Course translation. Just like Aristotle said – “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”  

iWL Case Study - Sunnylands

The Sunnylands state. (Photo: Sunnylands.org)

Sunnylands, the former Annenberg Estate, located in Rancho Mirage, California, is a 200-acre estate currently run by The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, a not-for-profit organization and Annenberg family trust. It is a beautiful, historical resort where the world’s most powerful leaders, CEOs and other people from the world’s most powerful and wealthiest families go to spend time together, talk about business, have dinners and other events.

Sunnylands came to us back in 2013 and said that they needed their website translated to simplified Chinese and Latin-American Spanish. They wanted it translated to Chinese because Chinese President Xi Jinping and American President Barack Obama were planning to meet at Sunnylands shortly, and before this big event, they needed their website, as well as many more content pieces translated to Simplified Chinese: marketing materials, information sheets, etcetera.

We worked closely with their development team to get the necessary clearance to translate their content. We needed approval because, essentially, it was practically as if we were translating on behalf of the Obama administration.

US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping
during their meeting at Sunnylands. (Photo: Sunnilands.org)

We translated the website, including information about the history of the relationship between both President Xi and President Obama, their encounters in the past, and all the content of the actual meetings between them, including recaps, overviews and follow-up notes. We worked with different formats as well, such as video and audio files.

From the process standpoint, it was fairly simple: they came to us, and they needed the translations done very quickly. We were selected among five different translation agencies for a simple reason: they needed an extremely accurate translation with the highest level of quality, befitting to the professionalism and the excellence that their website demands. Because of the quality requirements, we had to test seven linguists before the correct person was approved.

We did it quickly, accurately and within their budget. We actually weren’t the lowest price they were offered, but we were definitely the best overall value for them. We put in extra effort to make sure that the result would be up to their expectations. For instance, we made contact with some of their business acquaintances in China to make sure that the style, the word choices, the context and the general feel and tone of the message on the translated website were accurate and coherent with the additional materials as well.

The Sunnylands estate has hosted events for the most powerful
and influential people in the world.  (Photo: Sunnilands.org)

They were very happy with us. They held a meeting of great importance between two of the world’s most powerful leaders right now at their location, and we were fortunate enough to be of help to them in this noble endeavor. Now, in their website, if users click on the “Chinese” or “Spanish” links at the top right corner, they will see our work.

It has been one of the most high-profile projects we have ever done, and it has helped us attract many more customers: the second we appear in the Sunnylands website, which is visited daily by millions of people, and no one has anything negative to say about the translation, we gain business, and we gain reputation.

This was definitely a project that we are especially proud of!

To all of the linguists and translators working for inWhatLanguage... THANK YOU GUYS!!!

inWhatLanguage is growing very fast. That means new clients come to us literally every day with all sorts of different projects –short, long, documents, multimedia projects, in one, two or many more languages-, demanding the high-quality product that we are known for with quick turnaround times and low costs.

We, of course, are more than happy to oblige, and to keep growing and improving our reputation by delivering exactly what we promise: all of that, plus excellent customer support in the warmest of environments.

However, I think it is fair to step back for a second and let the spotlight shine on those people who really make all of this possible: our linguists and translators.

To find good, professional translators willing to work long-distance with such reliability and level of excellence is truly priceless. To have such talented people on the other side of the planet ready to give their all at any given project; to simply know that by calling out to them you are guaranteed to get the best translation a linguist can do – just how amazing is that?

Somehow, at inWhatLanguage we have managed to gather a wide pool of translators in a lot of different languages that fit that description, and that makes me wonder just how we could get so lucky.

To cover the translation needs of clients all over the world in more than 150 languages is by no means an easy task, and this is only possible with the best of teams. Our linguists are so good that not only we can manage this volume with ease – we can hardly wait to get more and more!

And that is not all: they are also capable of adapting to any type of text and deliver the best of work in any format. They accept the clients’ requests and don’t hesitate to ask the right questions or do extensive research for the sake of a more accurate translation, and that really shows at the end of the day.

And the clients notice it too, of course. It is not a coincidence that we have an ever-growing number of returning customers already.

For all of this -for their attention to detail, for their availability, for their hard work, for their expertise and support-, we want to send our linguists a very big fat sincere THANK YOU ALL message from the inWhatLanguage team.

Thank you guys, seriously. You make this company what it is, and help us improve every day!!