From the very beginning, I loved languages and Indian Classical Music and was willing to opt for these subjects. However, I pursued my career in technology. I was awarded a Ph. D. and joined the field of Higher Technical Education. After a few years, I wanted to divert myself from the chosen field of Technical Education. I thought that languages and translation were a good option. After researching the latest trends in the field of translation for a long time, I realised that there are endless opportunities in the translation field. I also realised that I know hardly anything about post-editing machine translation or the use of Computer Assisted Tools in translation. I was curious and really wanted to know about the ‘World of Translation’. There is a common saying that ‘When there is a Will, there’s a Way’. I came to know about the summer internship at Modlingua Language Services from the internet, applied for the internship, got approval, and started my journey with Modlingua.
From day one, I realised the uniqueness of Modlingua's internship, and that all of us were able to log-in to the official website of Modlingua as interns. The training started from the very first web meeting. The first lesson was that any personal or official work related document, must be checked with Grammarly writing tool for grammar, spelling and usage, wordiness, style, punctuation, and then must be uploaded. In the world of Translation, this seemingly insignificant thing, helps a lot to avoid wastage of man hours, manpower. Two important issues namely, controlling errors and improving quality of content, while writing and translating, with Modlingua rubric were addressed.
‘Quality’ has become a buzz word today. All of us are highly concerned about the "quality" of the products or services that we purchase. The same is applicable to ‘Translation processes’. I learnt about ‘Total Quality Control of Translation Processes’ and different quality standards applicable to them in the internship program. Honestly speaking, I knew about ‘Globalization, Internationalization and Translation’. However, I was confused about ‘Localization’. I understood "localization" in its real sense. In fact, my career goal in the field of translation is to localise (translate) technical text books (written in English) into the local language (Marathi), so as to make learning easier for students. The PDCA concept and applicability of SAE 2450 guidelines to 9 parameters were discussed.
I realised the social implications of translation and the social implications are interesting in their own ways. Let me explain it. I came across a term ‘Politics of Translation’ while reading an article on translation by Gayatri. Her observation is that the majority of English language dominated feminists impose their concepts, ideas about solidarity, feminism on the minority language feminists or Asian or Arabian feminists, while expressing the views of the latter. She says that feminists from English dominated countries should learn and speak the languages of women who speak and write in languages other than English. In spite of good intentions, the translators, while translating a source text from a minority language to English, neglect the local colours expressed in the source, so that their Western readers don't find any difficulty in understanding. This is what Gayatri calls the 'Politics of Translation’.
During the inaugural session, Dr Raman Kumar Jha, Vice-Chancellor, AMITY University, Ranchi, discussed the enormous career opportunities in the field of languages. The opportunities are translation of engineering textbooks and reference books in local languages according to AICTE's policy, Broadcaster/newsreader Overcoming the speech disabilities of people in hospitals, Copyright and patent writer, Editor of books and journals, Writing grants and research proposals, Teaching in school, college in the country and foreign countries, Psycholinguistic, Public Relations Officer, Owning a publication house, MBA in communication, Research in linguistics, Writing a resume and a statement of purpose, Translation, Consultants in law firms and publishing houses, government services, banking and finance, International Organizations for communication in local languages Language institutes, front offices, entrepreneurship, Writing for Media TV OTT, research analyst, human resources, field researcher, blogger, and YouTuberCorporate Language Trainer, Content Writer, Hospitality and tourism, Sports and Yogic Sciences, Army and security, General services, To assist learners in CALL, MALL, RALL.
Dr. Amit Nagpal's session on "Social Media & Network Leveraging" was truly eye-opening. I'm... or was... hesitant to leave comments on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.Earlier, I was using LinkedIn occasionally. Now, I visit my social media accounts regularly and I do comment on the posts (that sound interesting). I owe this paradigm shift to Dr. Amit Nagpal’s deliberation on ‘Digital Marketing’ and Dr. Ravikumar’s supporting speech ‘Leveraging Networks through Social Media’. Both of them have not only talked goody goody about social media, but they also mentioned safe practices for writing. As a result, my misconceptions about writing on social media are reduced. I remember the example quoted by Dr. Ravikumar about his daughter. She had uploaded a video on You Tube and, in a short time period, she received considerable likes. I find this example highly inspiring, motivating.
A person who is interested in being a citizen reporter should know about "making video reports". I also tried to make a video report on ‘Challenges in Online Education: Jamshedpur’. I have written various articles which may be considered as blogs: Importance of Social Media and Leveraging networks, Relevance of Citizen Journalism, Programming Languages in AI and Applications of AI in Translation, Audio-medial translation.
Another interesting session was conducted by Mr. Deep Saxena on ‘Natural Language Processing (NLP) and its use in Translation’. Prior to this session, Dr. Ravikumar discussed ‘Growing Importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI)’. My opportunity to present information related to programming languages and applications of AI in translation was useful, whereas my friends dealt with the importance of AI and its types. I knew about applications of AI in technology, manufacturing industries. This wonderful session helped me to understand applications of AI in translation, NLP and its typical terminology like tokenizing, stemming, lemmatization, POS tags, entity recognition and chunking.
While checking the job profile for a translator, I came across the word "Trados’ frequently. The video presentation ‘Introduction to CAT Tools: SDL Trados vs. Others" explained the use of the computer translation software. Dr. Ravikumar has provided some Dos and Don'ts or Practical hints, to be followed, while going for machine translation.
All of us watch movies, serials or sports on OTT platforms. Language is no more a barrier nowadays since most movies and series carry subtitles in different languages or are translated into different languages. Assignment on ‘Audio Medial Translation (AMT)’ gave me an opportunity to learn about the technical advances in the translation field in depth. AMT means the transfer of verbal components, contained in audio-visual works and products, from one language to another language. Film dubbing, film scripts, recorded speeches from conferences, narration work for films, video tapes, slides, audio tapes in different foreign languages, company profile presentations, voice-overs for feature films, television programs, theatrical plays, musicals, operas, Web pages, and video games fall into the category of audio-visual products and require translation. The main methods of AMT are captioning, subtitling, revoicing, dubbing, and subtitles for the opera and theatre for localization purposes. AMT Tools, based on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, include BETA, XTM Cloud, Memo Q and Subtitle NEXT.
Dr. Ravikumar always mentioned ‘Customer Care’ and ‘Project Management’ in the translation industry. Today, Translation is considered as an ‘Industry’ and not as a ‘Service’. Like any other industry, ‘Customer Care’ and ‘Project Management’ are integral parts of the translation industry too. A Translation Project Manager organises and looks after the clients’ translation projects. The Project Manager's job is to check the client's requirements and to appoint the finest translator/s for the translation job. They are also responsible for coordinating, collaborating, planning, organising resources, and controlling the quality of translation projects. In the case of difficulties, as and when they arise during translation projects, the Project Manager is supposed to resolve the difficulties. Ultimately, the Project Manager is responsible for delivering the right outcome and client satisfaction. A Project Manager
- Evaluates and analyses the source documents and identifies the number of elements to be translated.
- Chooses the members of the translation team, develops a project strategy, and guides the team members.
- Informs the client informed about the translation's development.
- Briefs the client on technical difficulties or industry jargon.
- Assures that the translation outcomes are complete and adhere to the project's original terms.
An excellent translation company provides more than just translation. It provides ‘Customer satisfaction’. The brand image of the translation agency is influenced by customer happiness/satisfaction. It increases customer loyalty and trust in the brand. All clients, who have concerns, should be able to reach out to the translation agency readily. A responsive website often serves this purpose very well. For people who aren't fluent in English, the translation agency should provide timely, accurate, and relevant information through multiple languages in a pleasant and courteous manner. Good customer service fetches more clients. However, customer satisfaction does not mean that each and every customer demand should be met. I got an idea of how to protect the translation agency’s interests, without succumbing to the customer pressure, through the internship.
During my 2 months of internship, I made many friends, of course, virtually. I must mention Payal, the Co-ordinator of the Interns group, and Nikita, the Lead Intern, who helped me actively resolve any issues.
I am grateful to Modlingua Language Services for offering me a summer internship. It was an honour to be a part of such a prestigious and well-known brand. I learned a lot about the ‘World of Translation’ including its scope, the current scenario, the latest trends, and technical advancements. To be honest, the summer internship programme has helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats in the translation field. Despite the fact that my internship has ended, I am sure the knowledge I have acquired and the network I am involved in, will definitely help me to pursue a career change from an Academician to a Translator for translating all kinds of technical and scientific documents. I hope that I remain associated with Modlingua for many years to come.
