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.

Meet David Kasteler, long-time member of the iWL family!

Today we have the pleasure of introducing another very important member of the iWL family: David Kasteler. Long-time friend of iWL CEO Cody Broderick, Kasteler has been with inWhatLanguage from its beginnings, but his role has taken a whole new dimension over the last year!

 “My role at inWhatLanguage is related to my expertise in business development, strategy and marketing,” explains Kasteler. “Right now, at inWhatLanguage we have reached a point where we have built a good foundation, but to grow we really need to push our marketing campaigns forward real hard. We must let people know who we are, and that’s what I’m coming here to do.”

David Kasteler has been investing in American and international businesses for over a decade. He has found success as an entrepreneur, founding and developing businesses in the areas of import/export (RigidFlex Plastics, an import/export business with offices in Bangkok and Hong Kong), social ventures (Worldwide Books, a for-profit social venture which was sold to ThriftBooks.com in 2010), internet marketing (Oxzen Media, a premier internet marketing firm sold in 2011), and outsourcing (Zylun Staffing, an international outsourcing firm, sold in 2013). Kasteler holds an MBA from the University of Utah, has traveled to over 35 countries and speaks quite a number of pretty exotic languages – Chinese and Thai among them.

Under Kasteler’s initiative, inWhatLanguage’s website has changed dramatically to make it simpler and easier to navigate. A new search marketing campaign has been implemented, and there are new and improved strategies with regards to the sales system and communication with clients. “My aim is to make sure that the clients go through the full inWhatLanguage experience every step of the way – and to define what this experience is, exactly. It’s not just good translation done fast, it’s a whole experience that the inWhatLanguage team members provide.”

“We need to prioritize and focus on what is most important for the company right now, and for that we have to develop the best skills of each member of the team and let them take charge of that particular field they are best at. And we also need to define the vision of inWhatLaguage,” Kasteler adds.

inWhatLanguage Cares is, obviously, an essential part of that vision. “It is an initiative that we are very passionate about. It basically goes back to our philosophy of ‘giving back and helping others’. Cody and I are not from wealthy families, we had to work very hard to be where we are. And we know that there are a lot of people out there who haven’t had as many opportunities as we have, and never will. If we can provide some assistance, whether it is medical, financial, mental or spiritual, we will. Helping others: that’s what we want to do. Giving back is part of what we are”.

inWhatLanguage launches a brand new website!

In the interest of simplicity and better interaction with our team members, inWhatLanguage has revamped its whole website. Now it is faster, more efficient and easier to navigate – and results show that the effort was not in vain!

Cody Broderick, iWL CEO

inWhatLanguage is a young and dynamic company, and as such, it does enjoy a good makeover every now and then! This summer, the company has upgraded its entire website, as you will soon notice if you go to its URL, www.inwhatlanguage.com. It is simple, clear and fun to read – really!

“Our newwebsite is built for speed and for efficiency for our potential clients,” explains inWhatLanguage CEO Cody Broderick. “Our previous website was designed well, it was very pretty, but it didn’t help our clients do what they needed to do quickly, it wasn’t intuitive enough.”

Reports from Google Analytics showed that users would hardly navigate through iWL’s previous website: they would often get distracted, or confused, and just leave without exploring its full potential. “We want people to see that now the site is very easy to navigate. We want them to engage with us, to request information whenever they want,” iWL CEO adds.

Simple and efficient: our new website!

Hence, one of the most powerful new tools added to the new website is: instant chat. From now on, users and potential clients that have questions don’t need to look for the answers by themselves: they can just easily write them in our chat box and receive an instant reply from one of our team members.

So far, results have been extremely positive, according to Cody Broderick: “We only have around twenty days worth of accumulated data, but we can already see that people stay on the site three times longer, that we are getting more quote requests”. However, this is not even close to iWL’s real aspirations for the new site: “We want to add a lot of more content about the services that we provide –there are so many services that we provide that are not even listed on the website!” Cody smiles. “Also we plan to attach case studies, screenshots, more testimonials, samples of our work and URLs of sites we have translated. We want to let our clients know that we truly are the experts in accurate, high-quality translation and localization services.”

The latest inWhatLanguage Cares initiative: the iWL team visited
"Caramelito", an 18-month-old girl with heart and breathing problems,
and brought with them a trolley-full of goodies to help her family.

“We love languages, and we love people”, says iWL’s new website - and with the new design, this statement rings truer than ever. Not only does it make communication between users and iWL employees much easier, but it also brings a very special part of iWL into the spotlight: inWhatLanguage Cares. The translation agency’s program aimed at helping people in need through different monthly campaigns has been gaining size and importance, and now it is time to give it its proper place on the new website, says Broderick.

“iWL Cares is a big part of our culture. It is pretty much the reason why we want the company to grow: in order to push these philanthropic ideas further. For now, the project has been active for only four months, but it is going to get bigger. We are going to raise more awareness and organize more and larger events. We will be talking about it more on our blog and our website, where we will be showcasing a new initiative every month. And we will also show this commitment in our brand, because we are not only a translation services company. We offer awesome translation services, yes, but we are also deeply engaged in making people’s lives better.”

A new face in inWhatLanguage: Welcome, Ryan McCann!

Today we have the pleasure of introducing a new member of our growing inWhatLanguagefamily!! Meet Ryan McCann, responsible for Executive Sales & Account Management.

I was born in West Valley City, Utah. I am the middle child of 4; I have one older brother, a younger brother and a younger sister. I was born on my father’s birthday, while growing up my dad would either say that was the best birthday gift or worst birthday gift depending on my adherence to family rules. This unique bond has always made me very close to my father, and it has shaped me into who I am today. Utah has been home for my entire life and will continue to be my home for as long as it’s in my hands. I now reside in Sandy, Utah, with my beautiful wife Maggie and our 3-month-old daughter. 

I grew up in Murray, Utah, where I went to grade school, and continued on to Murray High school. After graduating from Murray High I worked retail at Sears for a few years. In 2004 I decided to work with my father at a construction company. I started out as a laborer, but I worked my way up to a journeyman carpenter and then to a crane operator. I worked construction for 4 years, with some remarkable facts: I ran the tallest free standing crane this side of the Mississippi river ever built for a few days during the Utah State capital seismic upgrade renovation, and I also ran the tower crane during the tabernacle renovation. 4 years later, I decided I needed to get back into school. My life goal was always to graduate, but due to financial difficulties, I never thought it would be possible. 

Ryan and his wife are quite the fans of outdoor activities!

In order to achieve my goal of graduating from college I needed to find a job with more favorable hours, so I went to Home Depot, where I worked in the lawn and garden department. This job cemented in me a love for yard work. Weird as it is, I now take pride in my lawn and find it a very fulfilling activity that relaxes me. During this time I attended the University of Utah. I took only minimal credits trying to pay as I went; this was an overwhelming task that made school a very long and expensive process. I continued to work in Home Depot for 2 years, loving the interaction with customers and helping educate them on lawn and garden care.

While working to save up money for school, I decided on 2 things: first, I needed to obtain another form of employment. Second, I needed to find a more affordable school. I decided to do my general educational requirements at a community college and then transfer to a 4 year university. I started going to Salt Lake City Community college, and around that time I was informed that the United States Post Office was hiring. I became a letter carrier for USPS and did this for 4 years. I loved the aspect of walking outside and meeting people. During this time I met my beautiful wife, and after dating for a month I knew she was the one for me. We continued to date for a year and then we got married in 2011. 

In 2011 I switched schools from community college to Western Governors University, where I finally ramped up my educational pursuits and started attending full-time. I switched jobs once again, realizing that for the title I was pursing -business management- I needed to find a related position. In 2012 I went into the mortgage business where I did home loans and refinances. Most of the clients I spoke to were veterans, since the company I worked for specialized in VA home loans. The best part of doing mortgages for veterans was helping men and women that had sacrificed so much for our country to pursue the American dream of homeownership. 

In 2014 I graduated from Western Governors University with my bachelors of science in business management. This was a 10 year ordeal, but it has been one of my biggest life achievements. After working in the mortgage industry for 2 years I was presented with an opportunity of a lifetime, to come and work at inWhatLanguage. I’m very excited to be part of the family and cannot wait to see what is in store for me in the future. 

Welcome, Ryan! We are just as excited to have you on board!

inWhatLanguage shares the sweetness of Caramelito's story

Erin Millet and Veronica Johnson with Caramelito's family.

inWhatLanguage keeps on caring, and this month our iWL Cares initiative has been focused on an amazing, tiny but incredible little girl: Adriana, lovingly known as “Caramelito”, or “little sweet” in Spanish.

Caramelito is 18 months old, but in this short time she has endured more hardships than most people do in their lifetime. She has had a cardiac arrest and a heart attack, she suffers from tachycardia and had to go through a tracheotomy.

Erin and Veronica
shopping for Caramelito

The two times she was brought to the hospital, the doctors never gave her parents any hopes for her survival. In spite of that, Adriana, with her 18 months of age, is fighting fiercely to have a place in this world. She has learned to breathe on her own, without the help of machines, and every day she moves more freely in her bed. Furthermore, she has developed her very own language with gestures and expressions to communicate with her family.

Her father lost vision in one eye during an unfortunate accident, and as a result he cannot work until he gets a proper operation. In a family of 8, two parents and 6 children, they all are extremely grateful to have the help of family and friends to get by with electricity bills and other house chores.

Adriana, or Caramelito, has learned to breathe on her own.

After hearing about this touching story, inWhatLanguage rushed on a mission to help this courageous family: the team members went to the supermarket to buy all sorts of necessities and brought them to Caramelito’s house, where they offered their assistance and got to enjoy some quality time with her family. As the only Spanish-speaker of the group, iWL Project Manager Veronica Johnson was the official spokesperson, and her impression was that of a house full of love and hope: “The parents proclaim that God sent Caramelito to them, and that she is a great blessing in their lives,” she remembers. “It was a truly touching experience.”

Veronica Johnson was the interpreter between iWL and
Caramelito's family.

“The family was very happy to have us there and thankful for all the things we brought. Their story is sad and breaks my heart, the dad even cried a couple of times, but they are making everything possible so Caramelito" can live as long as possible. They have a big heart!” she adds with a smile.

As a memento of the beautiful afternoon the inWhatLanguage team got to enjoy while shopping and visiting Caramelito’s house, here are some pictures for posterity!