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!!

iWL brings a helping hand to The Sharing Place!

The iWL team with Jill Macfarlane,

Development Director at The Sharing Place.

2015: New year, new opportunities to give back to the community via our monthly initiatives from inWhatLanguage Cares!

This January, we have started the year with a bang by helping The Sharing Place, an organization that hosts fourteen age-appropriate grief support groups for children ages 3-18 and their parents twice monthly. For nearly 2 decades, The Sharing Place has been fulfilling its mission to "provide a safe and caring environment for grieving children, teens, and their families to share their feelings while healing themselves,” as one can read in its official website.

Maurice van Zutphen,
hard at work!

And inWhatLanguage Cares has not missed the chance to provide them with a little help so that they can continue with this wonderful task for many years to come in the best conditions possible.

The Sharing Place is a non-profit organization that receives no state funding and is ran mostly by volunteers, so they can and gladly accepts any help they can get, particularly with maintaining the building.

And this has been iWL’s mission for this month! Some members of the core team went to the Sharing Place last week to install cupboards, hooks, storage units, and whatever was needed.

Abel Atwater, helping with
iWL Cares for the first time!

“I fell in love with The Sharing Place,” comments iWL Cares organizer Karlie Bodine. “The house is amazing and the staff is wonderful, I am so happy we got to help them and the children and their families that go there.”

 “We helped redo a room that they call their ‘soft room’,” Karlie explains. “This room serves as a dress up and play area for toddlers because reenactment and pretend play is a huge part of the grieving process for young children, as Jill Macfarlane, the Development Director at The Sharing Place told us. We redid this room by installing hooks for all their costumes and we bought and put together a set to make a vanity for their closet for more pretend play. We also bought storage units for this room and the bathroom to help make things nice and organized for their staff. Lastly, we installed wires along the walls of the Teen Room for them to hang their art. Art is another way of grieving as it is one of the biggest forms of expression!”

This is the room that the iWL team helped build! Not bad, huh?

For Abel Atwater, iWL’s newest team member, this was his first iWL Cares experience, and he enjoyed a lot. For Atwater, the iWL Cares initiatives have actually had a lot to do with his wish to work at inWhatLanguage: “This program is one of the things that attracted me to inWhatLanguage in the first place, the opportunity to serve, make a difference and give back.”

All in all, this particular initiative has been extremely especial, according to Karlie Bodine. Not only it is the first of the New Year, and it has involved one of our newest team members for the first time, but it has also given iWL the opportunity to improve children’s lives. “Many of us at inWhatLanguage have a soft spot for children so our team was delighted to help in any way we can,” smiles Karlie. “We know our service will benefit many children for years to come!”

iWL Case Studies: showing what we are worth

Last week, we introduced you to the latest addition to the iWL team: Project Manager Abel Atwater. It was the first of the many changes that we can expect this year at inWhatLanguage: we are growing and aiming high, and that requires movement and a lot of fast development!

That also applies to our website. Yes, it was not that long ago that we completely revamped the website to give it a more user-friendly interface and a cleaner look. But that is not enough: we want to really, REALLY show what we are capable of and to prove to our potential clients that we are their best option when it comes to translation services.

For that, a whole new website structure is in order. A structure that includes, among other things, real case studies based on projects that we have worked on in the past.

In the case of inWhatLanguage, writing case studies hardly need any “creative skills”: we have had such amazing clients and such interesting projects in the past that just describing it all a little bit makes up for quite an impressive portfolio. Some notorious cases are FIFA, Dartmouth or ZAGG, whose feedback you can easily read in our main site any time. But there are definitely many more clients that deserve a special mention.

We have worked with Harvard University, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Established in 1636, this private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has centuries of history, as well as an enormous influence over the global business world. And we have been part of its activities in its Business School and Media Department, translating content in 5 different languages.

We have worked with Sunnylands, an estate currently run by the not-for-profit organization The Annenberg Foundation Trust, where the world’s most powerful leaders and CEOs go to spend time together and talk about business. They needed their website translated to Chinese and Spanish. Guess whom they asked for help? Us!

We have also worked with the hotel management company Montage. With some of the best hotel resorts in the world, Montage was definitely a great opportunity for inWhatLanguage –and they actually came to us after recognizing our good work with Sunnylands. They needed their website translated to Asian languages, and we were very excited to work with them!

Last example of amazing companies that we have worked with is Megadyne, an electrosurgical products company was founded in 1985. Megadyne is huge, and definitely a great star mark on iWL’s portfolio – not only due to its size, but also due to the nature of the translation project we worked on with them. They needed marketing material and product information sheets (medical product information sheets, that is) translated to 18 languages.

A real challenge for those who lack experience, but not for inWhatLanguage: medical translation? Bring it on, we say! Our linguists have the subject-matter expertise required to tackle this and any other medical translation project whenever it may be needed.

Stay tuned to read the complete case studies soon!

First recruitment of the year: Welcome, Abel Atwater!

In our previous post we said that 2015 would be a year full of changes and new people at inWhatLanguage. Well, it’s been 9 days since 2015 began, and here is the first testament to the truth of that statement!

This week we get the chance to meet the newest member of the iWL team: Abel Atwater, Project Manager for inWhatLanguage since the start of the year! Here is a little autobiography to get to know him better:

Abel Atwater surrounded by his family!

My name is Abel Atwater. I grew up in Wyoming and Utah for the first part of my childhood. My family moved to Maine when I was eleven, and that’s where I went to middle school and high school. I graduated from Penquis Valley High School in 1999.

I went on a two-year Spanish speaking mission for the LDS church from 2000 to 2002 in Salt Lake City. That’s how I ended up back out here. I fell in love with the Latin American people, their language and culture on my mission and decided to study Spanish in college.

Meanwhile, I joined the US Army Reserves in 2003, and I was deployed to Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008. Upon my return, I continued my studies and earned by BA in Spanish from BYU in 2009. Since then I have been working as a translator and interpreter continually both for the LDS church as a volunteer and professionally.

Since my mission, I have been totally enveloped by the Spanish language and Latin culture. My wife is from Veracruz, Mexico, and we speak Spanish at home. I’ve never gone to church in English since I finished my mission, and now I’m the president of a Spanish-speaking congregation. Many have told me that they don’t even think of me as a “gringo”, but as one of them.

I’m 33 years old and have been married to my beautiful wife Lucelly for ten years. We have four wonderful children, Abel, Naomi, Genesis and Michael, ages 1 – 8. My all-time favorite pastime is just to be with my family, eating, playing, going out on the town, learning, going to church and praying together. My personal hobbies are singing and writing. I am actually writing a dystopian novel right now.

I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity and blessing to work at inWhatLanguage. I’m so looking forward to all the opportunities I’ll have to learn and grow, as well as to make my own contribution to the success of the team.

Welcome to the team, Abel! We are definitely excited to have you with us, too :D

Welcome to 2015, the year of inWhatLanguage!

Happy New Year!! We wish you the best of luck, happiness, success and health for this year 2015.

At inWhatLanguage, we not only celebrate the start of the New Year, but also the possibilities that it brings for the company! 2015 is undoubtedly one exciting year for all of us: lots of changes, lots of progress, lots of potential!

2014 will be certainly hard to surpass, though: it was really a great year for iWL. Here are some highlights:

• We have grown by almost 150%.

• We have brought on some amazing new professionals full-time to the core team

• We have worked with 500 new clients.

• We have tripled our translator database.

• We have finished amazing projects for companies such as FIFA, Harvard, ZAGG, and many others.

• We have certainly deepened our technical abilities.

• We have created the wonderful iWL Cares program, with which we have accomplished our dream of giving back to the community with the fruit of our work.

• We have traveled abroad to many beautiful places such as Mexico and Brazil and expanded our business network.

• And we have also expanded our own cozy office space!

But hard to surpass does not mean impossible! With all of these experiences, our path now is clear: to do more, better and bigger!

“During the course of 2014 we also did a heavy amount of planning in 2014 to lay the foundation for a big year of building in 2015,” iWL CEO Cody Broderick points out. 

Wanna know what is coming in 2015 for inWhatLanguage?

• iWL “Unify” - Our own proprietary, cloud-based translation management system!

• New website in Q1 - Revamped to include our new technology, 20+ case studies, etc.

• Additional software development and future models to automate and simplify translation process for iWL clients.

• 20+ expos and conferences.

• New team members.

• Further expansion of office space.

• FUN!

• Shooting nerve guns, barbeques, amusement parks, parties, exciting trips...

• More iWL Cares, with better and more creative ways of giving back.

Some people feel down after the Christmas holidays, having to go back to their routine job and doing the same old thing... But not us! With so many awesome new things on the horizon, we couldn’t be more excited and ready to give it our all and continue moving ever forwards.

“I’m stoked for 2015 and beyond!” says Cody Broderick, and he certainly speaks on behalf of the entire team.