By Muskan Batra
Transcribed in July 2018 during the author's Modlingua internship, from Ravi Kumar's Modlingua Live orientation talk to the Summer Internship 2017 batch of more than 270 interns worldwide.
Source video: Top 3 Essential Skills Every Summer Intern Needs - Modlingua Live
Welcome to the Summer Internship 2017 Orientation
Namaskar, my name is Ravi Kumar. I represent Modlingua as its Founder and Managing Director. We initiated our internship training programme in the summer of 2016, which was our first batch, and in 2017 we had our second batch starting on 7 June. We were very happy to inform you that in that summer training we had two hundred and seventy plus interns who represented almost all the major countries of the world. It was heartening to be dealing with such a diversified group of young talents who were interested not only in translation but also in professional development. Our focus areas were project management, social media marketing and entrepreneurship development, along with CAT tools, IT integration and the variety of professional development requirements which a professional needs. I would like you to kindly go through all the training materials uploaded on the YouTube channel of Modlingua. Do subscribe and stay with us.
About the Speaker and Modlingua
Before I brief you about myself formally, I welcome you all to our orientation programme for Summer Internship 2017. My name is Ravi Kumar and I am the Founder of the Modlingua group. Modlingua was founded in 1999 when I was a student of the Master's programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University. I have my BA, MA and M.Phil in Spanish and Latin American studies. I have considerable knowledge and expertise in Spanish and Portuguese and the basics of French, apart from Hindi, English and Bajjika, the village language to which I belong. Bajjika is my village language, based in the Vaishali district of Bihar, very near to Patna. Vaishali is famous for hosting Buddha for twelve years, where he spent his life in introspection before he attained salvation. Vaishali is also famous as the birthplace of Mahavira, the Jain guru and thinker.
Apart from my language capabilities, I am also a web developer. I specialized in teaching Spanish as a foreign language at Complutense University in Madrid, and I also did a specialization in Artificial Intelligence from Copenhagen Business School. Later, after thirteen years of teaching experience at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, I went for my Ph.D. programme at the University of Ottawa, Canada, which I left in between for personal and professional reasons. I came back to India and re-initiated training programmes to promote my business. I have also joined a law course and completed my bachelor's degree in law, and I keep trying to upgrade myself through various means and collaborations. I am also the Founder President of the Indian Translators Association and an ex-elected council member of the International Federation of Translators, which connects one hundred and ten associations of the world.
Professional Development Beyond Language Skills
With this brief, I would like to take you to our website, modlingua.com. You will notice that we have some key points which help us not only from a business point of view but also from a social point of view, because we firmly believe in carrying out research as well as social activities, especially in terms of promoting professional development among linguists - the professionalisation of our translation and language profession. If we do that on an individual basis or a collective basis, we will be able to increase our personal profile and, at the same time, collectively increase the profile of the translation profession, which is many times seen from a totally different angle by so-called professionals from law, medicine or management backgrounds. To be on a par with these people, you need not only linguistic knowledge but also professional knowledge. When you have this knowledge, it gets reflected in your personality - what is called Habitus. It shows on your face whether you are empowered or not.
Many times, because of lack of knowledge, lack of experience and lack of exposure, translators are considered docile people. Anybody can come and exploit them and pay them less for their work. In a supply chain of globalization, where a variety of people are involved, translators play a major role in translating text from one language to another - without that, a message cannot be conveyed. Yet in that whole supply chain, translators are the least paid. Project managers, testing engineers, salespersons and directors are given high salaries for the confidence, experience, knowledge and network they have, while translators remain at the low end. So why should translators not bargain for a better deal? That becomes possible only when, apart from being a linguist, we also have knowledge of project management, sales management and marketing, and can handle technical issues. When we add these small values to our own selves, it makes a big difference in the long run and a real impact on the overall performance of a translator and of the translation profession.
The Indian Translators Association and Closing Remarks
Keeping this thought process in mind, Modlingua is not only involved in doing business; it is also involved in promoting the translation profession. That is the reason why, with my initiative and with certain close friends, we were able to launch the Indian Translators Association in 2006, which has organized international mega conferences, including sponsorship from Microsoft. If you google my name, Ravi Kumar, with Microsoft, it will give you some background history of our activities in the initial days.
Slowly and slowly, we all evolve and become better human beings. I believe your association with Modlingua will be fruitful not only as a one-to-one or business relationship but also on a personal basis and as a team. Just imagine: as a team of two hundred and seventy trainees along with certain experienced people, if we apply our brains and remain positive about our activities, we can create a visible impact in our own personality, in our own business and in our own profession. I once again thank you all for being a part of this initiative and for giving time to Modlingua, and I am sure we will have a more collaborative and fruitful relationship. Thank you for listening. Any questions or thoughts are welcome - we will break for ten minutes and move on to the next agenda for the day. Thank you for your time.
