By Tavleen Kaur
Editor's note: Adapted from Tavleen's August 2018 internship report. This is a personal account of that programme, not a description of current internship arrangements or software features.
My summer internship at Modlingua introduced me to several kinds of language work. In my report, I described how writing assignments, online sessions and discussions with other interns helped me connect classroom learning with practical tasks.
Comparing my draft with the edited version
One exercise asked me to compare the profile and career goals I had submitted with the edited version on the website. I used the programme's error-analysis rubric to look at punctuation, omitted words, word choice and grammar. Seeing the changes side by side made revision more concrete than simply being told that a piece needed improvement.
That exercise also made me think about the reader. A small error can make a message unclear. Reviewing the text was therefore part of communicating well, rather than only tidying its appearance.
Quality and feedback
Another assignment focused on quality in content writing and translation. I learned to look beyond completing a task and ask whether the work met the reader's or client's needs. The sessions introduced checking tools and termbases, but the wider lesson was to review the work carefully and use feedback to improve it.
Feedback mattered because it could show where my understanding was incomplete. I wanted to learn how to respond to it, revise and make the next piece better.
From listening to a written text
Transcription gave me practice in turning speech into text. The task called for concentration and patience: I needed to listen closely and preserve what the speaker meant. A later assignment used my transcript to prepare subtitles for the same video.
These tasks helped me see connections between listening, writing and translation. The report records what I practised in 2018; it is not a current step-by-step guide to YouTube subtitling or a technical definition of transcription types.
Writing, marketing and working with others
Other assignments introduced social-media marketing and script writing. I explored how content written for different audiences could support communication, and prepared scripts about people whose work I wanted to understand. Researching and organising those scripts gave me another way to practise writing.
Online meetings and interaction with other interns were part of the experience. I valued being able to fit the programme around my classes without travelling to each session. Working through assignments also gave me practice in planning, coordination and teamwork.
Looking back, the main benefit was the chance to try different tasks and reflect on them. Error analysis, feedback, transcription and writing each gave me a different reason to slow down and check my work.
