By Aliya Esmail
This reflection describes my experience of Modlingua's June-August 2018 summer internship. It is a participant's evaluation of that programme, not a description of current courses, requirements or platform features.
I joined the internship expecting to learn about marketing myself as a freelance translator, the translation business and a translator's working environment. I learned some interesting things and valued the guest lecturers, but the programme focused more on communication than I had expected. My experience was worthwhile, though I would have welcomed a wider range of translation-focused material.
Revising work and thinking about quality
Before the programme began, we submitted a short biography and an essay about our goals. Our first assignment was to proofread that work and record errors and corrections in a chart. It stressed the importance of reviewing our own writing before another person reads it. Even small mistakes can affect a professional impression.
The task occupied roughly the first three weeks of the internship in my experience. The next assignment asked us to discuss quality control, choosing from questions about the Modlingua rubric and quality standards for translators. I thought these two assignments could have been combined, particularly given the time spent on the first.
Transcription and subtitles
For the third assignment, we selected a video from Modlingua's YouTube channel and prepared a transcription in a Word document. This felt closer to the practical work I had expected. We then used the transcription to add subtitles, checking that the timing matched what was being said.
I felt transcription and subtitling could have been one assignment, leaving time for other topics. Uploading subtitles also caused technical difficulties. The Facebook group helped participants ask questions and share answers. This describes our 2018 workflow rather than instructions for using YouTube today.
Marketing and script-writing assignments
The fifth assignment covered social media marketing and professional visibility in the translation business. I chose a question about appearing on the first page of Google search results rather than later pages. It prompted me to think about how a prospective client might find a translator online, without establishing a fixed benefit from any particular ranking.
The sixth and seventh assignments were presented as script-writing tasks. They involved biographies of a person who had contributed to translation and an entrepreneur who had influenced us. I did not feel that I learned much from those assignments. That was my assessment of their value to me, not a judgement about every participant's experience.
What I expected and what I valued
I was looking for a clearer view of freelance marketing, the business world and a typical translation work environment. Communication was a useful subject, but the balance of the material differed from what I understood had been advertised. I hoped future programmes would keep a stronger focus on translation.
The guest lecturers were an unexpected benefit. When I could attend, I enjoyed hearing professionals discuss their areas of expertise and add to the material shared by Ravi Kumar.
Access across time zones
The programme connected participants in different countries through Zoom, Facebook and WhatsApp. That international reach impressed me, but time zones, work schedules and technical problems made participation uneven.
I was working while taking part, so I could not attend most online meetings. Recordings were posted on YouTube, but I would also have benefited from meeting minutes or a short summary of the main points. Slides with relevant information and article links could have made the material easier to access.
Problems with logging in, microphones and background noise delayed some meetings and reduced discussion time. Early technical difficulties also contributed to the later assignments feeling rushed. Written resources would not solve every problem, but I felt they could have reduced reliance on live attendance.
A worthwhile experience with room to improve
The WhatsApp chat and Facebook group helped me feel involved in a programme based in another country. Despite the difficulties, I appreciated the team's efforts to make an international internship accessible.
I was glad to have participated. Learning from different perspectives and receiving guidance mattered to me. My positive overall view sits alongside specific suggestions: combine overlapping tasks, offer more translation-focused material and make written summaries available to participants who cannot attend live meetings.
