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!

Summer season: leave everything to inWhatLanguage!

Summer is the time for vacation, and now that the World Cup is over, we all want to take a break for a little while and take things easy. That doesn’t mean that your site has to remain idle, though: summer is a great time to think about going global with your business and translating your website in order to enter new markets. And the best thing is that you can take it easy and relax while doing it: just leave everything to us!

If you go on a vacation to a foreign land where they speak a language different from yours, you will clearly understand how important it is to translate your website and marketing materials if you want to expand your business to other countries. Imagine that you enter a shop looking for a very specific item that you absolutely need, but cannot find it by yourself. You request help, and an assistant comes to you.

If this assistant doesn't speak a word of English, or of any language you feel comfortable with, chances are that you won’t be able to convey what exactly you are looking for. The result will be a failed sale for the shop, as well as a disappointed customer. You will get out of the shop feeling frustrated and annoyed, and you will not be entering that store again any time soon.

If this assistant speaks your language poorly, the probable result will be a very tiresome, broken half-conversation that may or may not end in the desired purchase: you might get out of the shop with the item you wanted, but it will be a very basic acquisition since, after all the effort of trying to explain yourself and understand the other, you just do not want to spend any more time than necessary looking for better offers or extras.

If this assistant speaks your language fluently, you will feel at home in the shop. You will be able to explain exactly what you need and what you are willing to pay for it, your quality standards and any other requirement you may have. The assistant will be able to respond efficiently to your wishes, and may even throw in some extra items that could be of interest to you, making the whole experience much more satisfying and useful in the long term. You will get out of the shop feeling satisfied, with a high-quality product that you needed, and you will probably want to go back to that shop for your future needs.

This last case is the same with a properly translated website. A website is a display case of what you offer, and you want to make sure that your target audience can understand it comfortably and feel “at home” while browsing it. It increases your chances of increasing sales a hundred-fold, and even more so if you make sure that the agency you hire for it is reliable and experienced.

So all in all, this is our recommendation for a relaxed, yet productive summer: leave things in inWhatLanguage’s hands, and enjoy your vacation while we make sure that your website is fit and ready for new markets abroad. Happy summer season!

inWhatLanguage: all the languages in one great agency

Once upon a time, humans lived in a relatively confined space on Earth, and they all spoke one language: the mother tongue of all languages today. That is how this article from Quora explains the situation we have today. “Everyone could have spoken the same mother tongue, and things could have stayed that way until now,” it goes on. “But that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite happened. As humans spread across the globe and population growth exploded exponentially, so too did the number of languages. In fact, it's estimated that there were approximately 10,000 languages spoken only a couple of hundred years ago.”

"There are two reasons for this. The first is that languages change. The second is that language is identity,” concluded the article’s author, Marc Ettlinger, PhD in Linguistics from UC Berkeley.

As I have posted in Facebook shortly after reading this, a clear consequence of this is a world full of possibilities for linguists, translators and people who love languages, and a clear market for them to put their skills into play. The needs that arise from the existence of 10,000 languages in the world are endless, and it is evidently impossible for a single agency to meet them all. However, offering translation services in more than 100 languages is already a pretty amazing feat, and that is exactly what inWhatLanguage does.

103 languages, to be exact, are neatly listed in alphabetical order on our website, from Afrikaans to Zulu: we have professional translators, linguists and proofreaders at your disposal in all those languages. Among them you will naturally find the World’s Top 10 Languages, as estimated in the infographic from Funders and Founders that you can find at the beginning of this post: our Mandarin translation services are top-notch, as are our services in Hindi, Spanish, English, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese and Punjabi. But you will also discover other languages for which you might have difficulty finding a reliable, high-quality translation service around: Bushman, Sindhi, Masai, Tsonga or Xhosa, to name just a few.

And not only that: we offer localized and specialized services for each of those languages. As a reputable translation agency with years of experience and an excellent grip on our clients’ needs, we understand that translations must often be focused on certain areas of expertise and/or particular regions were a special dialect or variant of a language is spoken.

If you are in need of translation services, no matter to or from what language, inWhatLanguage is the way to go. We are always open to dialog, we carefully assess your requests and offer the best solutions in the widest range of languages you can ever find.

There might be thousands of languages in the world, but when it comes to translation, you only need one agency to trust. inWhatLanguage: all the languages in one great agency.

inWhatLanguage Cares visits Veterans Home!

It may be summer time, but there are no holidays for good deeds! This month, the inWhatLanguage team went to visit the William E. Christoffersen Salt Lake Veterans Home to enjoy a little quality time with its residents as part of our inWhatLanguage Cares program.

Erin Millet and Veronica Johnson enjoying a meal
in good company!

“Caring for and honoring our nation’s heroes”: this is the motto of the William E. Christoffersen Salt Lake Veterans Home. “It is said that a nation’s gratitude is measured by the way its people honor their defenders,”, it is written in its official website. “To defend the Constitution, serve in harm’s way, and bear the cost of freedom for all is a sacrifice worthy of active gratitude. In everything we do here at the WilliamE. Christoffersen Veterans Nursing Home, we strive to honor and serve our nation’s aging veterans, as they have honored us through their service and sacrifice”.

It is, undoubtedly, a beautiful endeavor, and inWhatLanguage Cares wanted to be part of it. “I am grateful to know that those veterans who have sacrificed so much to service their country do have a place and community where their needs are taken care of,” says Vice President of Operations and Project Management Maurice von Zupthen. “Their sacrifice made it possible for me to come to the U.S. to study, reside and ultimately establish myself here.”

“It was a great experience to share time with them,” says iWL Project Manager Veronica Johnson. “I think they sometimes feel lonely and they like to have people there with them. Some of them even asked me to stay for good,” she remembers with a laugh.

The inWhatLanguage team joined the Veterans during a Cheese and Wine Social event and brought along sherbet and fresh fruit, which they all greatly enjoyed, according to iWL Office Manager Erin Millet. Not only that, they actually managed to make a new, unexpected friend: “The home keeps a 53 year old tortoise in their courtyard that we were able to pet!”, says Erin Millet. “The Veterans are a joy to be around and it was an honor to visit with them.”

Soccer fans Veronica Johnson and Maurice von Zupthen were able to enjoy the last part of the USA vs Belgium match – a game they couldn’t miss!

All in all, an enjoyable experience for everyone, and a day that both the iWL team members as well as Veterans will remember fondly in the years to come. Go, inWhatLanguage Cares!!

Maurice von Zupthen and iWL Sr. Account Executive Brian Palmer sharing quality time.	Erin Millet, Brian Palmer and Ty Palmer preparing the goodies!
Brian Palmer mingling with the only 4-legged resident of the Veteran's home.	Maurice waving at the camera!
Maurice von Zupthen helping out.	Veronica Johnson and Maurice von Zupthen enjoying the USA vs Belgium match!