Final Report on Summer Internship at MODLINGUA, 2021.

                              -NIKITA GUPTA

The key to a successful career is to gain initial experience before graduation. The internship lays a solid foundation for your resume and professional network.

But my case was a bit different. I went for an internship after completing my post-graduation. As a German learner, I found this opportunity in the Modlingua Summer Internship Program in 2021. My vision is to complete the basic training first, and then use this time to gain work experience after post-graduation and before entering the corporate world. This learning experience is provided to me at Modlingua.

Modlingua is an ISO 9001 certified translation, training, and delivery service based in New Delhi, where special attention is given to ensuring that translators not only have good academic qualifications but also have sufficient knowledge in certain fields. They also ensure that all their independent translators comply with their local translation and practice process and quality control system based on a proven system of best practices. They emphasize translation quality, global project management, task automation, consistent process, flexibility, and customer performance.

This summer, i.e. summer of 2021, I undertook a two-month Internship program at Modlingua, and it was a lot more than I thought it to be in the best way possible. I thoroughly enjoyed my internship period and now I can say, that I have very valuable experience under my belt. I know this is going to help me when looking for jobs and needing references. I remember, how was I dreading it in the beginning, but now I am so happy to know that it was required. "We all know that practical experience is the best, and internships offer students that hands-on experience they need.  I feel that quality internships just like one provided by Modlingua are essential to developing key skills that you can't get in a classroom.  Innumerable skills such as multitasking, communicating, learning to deal with diversity, and dealing with deadlines are different when you are working for someone else, not yourself like you do in college is gained while training. Therefore, Internships are also a great way to network with people in the industry. 

I must say, I learned that customer service is hard. Neither can you please everyone nor is it your responsibility to do so. You are going to meet people who in this world are simply difficult, and there is nothing you can do about it. In addition, I have learned that stressing over little things will not get me anywhere. Furthermore, I have learned to work well as a team and that without my counterparts the work would not get done. Another aspect that I learned throughout my internship is to never be afraid to ask lots of questions. By asking questions I got answers. The most pertinent point is, I learned more than I thought.”  At first, I thought I really had a good start as a senior but realized that I think many courses cannot prepare you for everything the world has to offer.  I believe Modlingua has done a good job in training me. I feel that during my time interning the most challenging part of my work was:

• Leading the internship, as I was selected as the “Lead Intern”,
• Sharing tasks with others,
• Coordinating work with my co-interns and keeping them all at the same pace.

"It would be beneficial to encourage students to find their internship based on their future career goals. It's not always necessary to stick to what's listed or given to us to find the perfect internship. I found this internship on my own. It was not served to me on a platter. What attracted me to this Internship is my keen interest in the German Language. I felt that the organization placed prominence in similar areas and having the privilege of serving as an intern with Modlingua gave me that further exposure I needed to advance my career. After getting to know about the Internship at Modlingua, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to offer my skills and knowledge as a fresher. To be a part of prestigious research groups like this was an honor for me and provided me a chance further to strengthen my strong learning and organizing skills.

As my internship period draws to a close and I reflect on all I have grasped, I realize what an excellent journey this has been. I gathered much knowledge in the classroom, but a hands-on approach has been invaluable. It has served as a beneficial ending to my formal education. In my opinion, the best way to learn is by doing. I am truly grateful for this opportunity. I believe Mr. Ravi Kumar, my mentor, and CEO, and director of Modlingua has done a tremendous job in implementing the internship program for foreign language learners.

From my own point of view, I believe, the internship plays important role in a life of a student. It's a little bit of a real-world experience. Today, I can say that this Internship has helped to strengthen my knowledge of commitment, focus, driving, and excellence. For instance: Since I was a lead intern, so I along with my coordinator ‘Payal’ were given an onus to prepare for the webinars. We both were mentors and helped our co-interns to deliver what was expected from us. This made me confident, that yes I can handle and deal with people from different cultures. As I already mentioned, this program was for foreign language learners or linguists, so here I came across students learning foreign languages like French, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Mandarin, and so on. What personally benefit I received from this internship is to comprehend the significance of one’s Professional Profile, for example: on LinkedIn. Before joining this internship, I was there on LinkedIn, but I feel I was not using it up to the mark. Timely and in a repeated manner, we were taught, why it is important to leverage networks. What is its role, so on? Furthermore, learning about citizen journalism was altogether new for me. How the internet has led to the introduction of new and innovative ideas of engaging news. I was a shy person, on camera. But here, in this internship, we were required to make videos, which helped me and made me comfy with the idea of a camera.

I come from a commerce stream background blended with a foreign language, “German”.  Modlingua taught me exactly all of the required skills and tasks needed to have a career in the desired field.  So to say the least I do believe that the internship completely met my career goals and exceeded my expectations of what great value it would bring to me."  Finding an internship was a lot like finding a real job. You don’t get handed a list of places to look. You have to go out and make the list. So if I had to suggest one thing NOT to do I would not make finding an internship any easier on students. It is surely not a piece of cake. It is a good experience even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time." I think during these unprecedented times, I have utilized my time for exploring myself and gaining knowledge at the same time. So it is a win-win situation, where we all are acquiring something or the other that too not at the cost of losing something. As I step into the "real corporate world" having this internship experience was good for me to start as a professional. I imbibed responsibilities of working: being punctual, hard-working, and having supervisors act is all part of having a job. I am very aware that I will be starting at the bottom, but with experience this time of any company that I work for only to work myself up, and I am looking forward to that. Having an internship only gave me more of a competitive edge because I got experience from that.” Here at Modlingua, I worked with very talented people, and I know that I wouldn’t have gotten as much know-how as I have already, if I were to be in a bigger company where interns may not get the chance to be as hands-on as I have been able to. This internship has given me even more real physical world experience than I had before this experience. It has also given me the chance to learn more about different businesses and how I can use my skills to help in various ways. “I gained a new sense of professionalism and a clearer view of what it meant to be in the professional circles.  I would advise every student, who is learning a foreign language or otherwise to grab the opportunity and do an internship.

As a whole, I believe that this internship was successful in furthering my knowledge. Every good thing has to end, so is this internship. Now, when my internship at Modlingua is over, I believe interning is the best way to find out if you fit into that particular career. It also helps you learn and gain so much experience that you would not have had without being in the workforce instead of the classroom."  I am so grateful for this experience in a somewhat sheltered environment.  I now feel ready to conquer the world. 

Report on a summer internship at Modlingua

Submitted by: Somya kori

First-year postgraduate student 

Department of Chinese studies

Jawaharlal Nehru Universitylocalization

25 June - 18 September

Modlingua summer internship 2021

Table of contents

• Acknowledgment
• Information about the company
• Information about the internship position
• Description of internship experience
• Conclusion

*Acknowledgment

 I would like to thank my advisers Ravi sir and everyone at the company for their patience and assistance during my internship. Thanks to their guidance, I was able to develop self-management skills, self-learning skills, technology skills, research skills, digital marketing skills, and learn about artificial intelligence and CAT Tools as well as how to use apps such as SDL Trados and MemoQ. Having these skills will strengthen my resume and take me to the next level of my career.

*Information about the company

Modlingua is an ISO 9001 certified translation, training, and language service delivery company based in New Delhi.

“Modlingua® aims at becoming the client’s preferred language partner by delivering high-quality language solutions within the stipulated time and at competitive prices. They rely upon a team of professionals comprising highly qualified scholars, professors, lawyers, engineers, managers, and technocrats. Their team members are either native speakers or have taken formal language training in the native countries. Special attention is paid to ensure that their translators not just possess excellent academic credentials but are also sufficiently experienced in specific domains. They also make sure that all our freelance translators are in tune with our translation-localization methodology and quality control process that is based on a demonstrated system of best practices. They emphasize translation quality, global project management, task automation, process consistency, flexibility, and customer service.

With a view to remain abreast with the rapidly changing technology scenarios, the Modlingua team has adapted itself by constantly upgrading its domain expertise in the translation industry and adapting to meet ever-changing technology needs including localization and CAT tools as per the needs of clients. Their innovative project management system “HRLingua” serves as a database repository of 5000-plus translators from India and abroad. This platform helps us in having easy access to the global community of language professionals and translators who constantly maintain contact with the Modlingua team.

Modlingua enjoys an international reputation of being a socially responsible company involved in the promotion and development of the translation profession within India and across the globe. They have been regularly organizing events, seminars, and conferences on various themes related to translation, project management, culture studies, and social media. They maintain a consultative relationship with various government agencies, universities, and research centers across the globe.

*Information about the internship position

Established in 1999, Modlingua is in the business of doing Certified Translation, Conference Interpretation, Court Interpretation, Corporate Training, Language Placement, Research, and Publication. They are well-known in the field for their translation and localization. Its mission is to spread and promote translation and localization. The company plays a role in promoting the translation domains for the welfare of the local community as well as worldwide. I felt that their mission was compatible with my worldview and my future career goals, which is the reason I applied for an internship position with them.

*Description of internship experience

During my internship with the company. On the first meeting, with Ravi sir, he taught us how to fix our mistakes regarding our profiles and resumes and all other little things about how to make a profile and resume look good that I could not learn anywhere else. Our very first meeting was an introduction, and I was eager to learn more about my fellow interns. Even though there were people representing different backgrounds, there were also people from different age groups, which is something that I found intriguing. They also introduced us to certain groups which every language learner or language professional must follow. During the internship, I learned self-management skills, self-learning skills, technology skills, research skills. I was able to put these skills into practice in given projects. The work was challenging, and I learned how to use Grammarly and Modlingua rubric to control errors in writing and translation- this is very convenient and can help to correct any mistake you might not be able to see despite rereading it again and again. Through this, you can save time and enhance productivity as well as the quality of work. total quality control in the translation process- with the help of apps like SDL Trados memoQ etc you can save your time, increase productivity,  improve quality, and With Artificial intelligence and CAT Tools total quality control in the translation process will be improved.

 Deconstruction and the politics of translation- a critical analysis of Spivak. And I learned that if you want to represent a certain kind of issue or topic, which is in a different language. First of all, you need to gain knowledge of that particular subject. And more importantly, Need to learn the culture and background of that subject. Otherwise, the issue might get lost in translation. And you might not be able to represent what you were planning to portray.

Language and Technology- Research has demonstrated that it facilitates language learning, saves time, and helps professionals perform better.

 The future of language jobs in the age of innovation Artificial Intelligence and entrepreneurship.

Social media and the power of networking- A new generation of business leaders are realizing the importance of networking and social media. If one is to go by one's LinkedIn experience, it seems that the larger your network, the more likely you are to climb the corporate ladder faster.

 social media and leveraging network- Here what I learn, Go Where Your Audience Is, Create Unique Posts for Each Social Network, Don’t Forget Influencer Reach, Post Well and Post Often, Be sure to measure the performance of your social media so that you know what works for your company. Once you find what works, take off running. Continually promote your offers on social media using the best practices that work for you. In order to expand your brand or business, you need to focus on leveraging your network. But that doesn't mean that you start adding up random people. Only add those people or brands that will help you expand your brand. Find the brands who want to collaborate with you or whom you want to collaborate with. And please be careful with whom you are collaborating because some frauds are waiting to fool the new innocent brands or influencers. Ask for what they have done to date, their achievements, and do proper research that will help you not to get into the trap of fraud.

Relevance of citizen journalism-Disaster media has been updated immediately with text and images by citizen journalism. There have been many times when it has helped citizens in disaster zones. Many people in countries experiencing political turmoil, and often in countries where print and broadcast media are controlled by governments, have shared information about hot spots using a variety of technological tools. I have also learned that citizen journalism can be subjective, which might affect the provided information.

 The relevance of IT and its use in Translation- In every industry, technological innovations have a profound impact. Information Technology is increasingly used in a wide range of industries today. The translation industry is no different. So, on what expect it benefits our translation industry. Here are few points- Improved Quality,  Improved Productivity, Reduce cost, Access to better connectivity, Automatic translation. Thus, we can conclude that IT is relevant and useful in the current era for language professionals and the translation industry.

 Artificial Intelligence and its importance in language and translation-AI and machine translation make it easier and more natural to produce increasingly accurate results.  When introduced to new material or challenges, machine learning technologies can produce similar results to those produced when using outdated knowledge. For repetitive translation projects without any cultural context, there are a number of solutions available today that can produce professional results. Although machines are evolving, they will still need a language professional to handle everything.

Digital marketing, as well as how the translation industry works. Modlingua also has a YouTube channel where it has videos relevant to digital marketing,  the translation industry all the essential knowledgable things regarding translation and localization. I watched many of those. This work helped me gain more confidence in myself. It was a valuable experience.

*Conclusion

The work experiences I encountered during the internship allowed me to develop self-management skills, self-learning skills, technology skills, and research skills. I think I still need to work on myself. However, the overall experience was positive, and everything I learned will be useful in my future career in this field. Before I applied for this internship, I wasn't aware of translation tools and digital marketing things and I'm sure that these will help me in the future. Which will help me save time and increase my productivity. In the two three months with Modlingua, I feel I was able to learn as much as I could. However, I would like to learn more about translation projects and how to deal with clients. 

The experience of this internship helped me build my knowledge of digital marketing and the translation industry. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to get practical experience.