By Simran Kaur Wadhon
About the Program
The two months summer internship of Modlingua Pvt. Ltd. 2018 was regarding Translation business, Project Management, and Teamwork. It consisted of online lectures and consultations with our mentor Mr. Ravi Kumar. Through the Zoom app, he gave us guidelines and explained how to do projects, write essays, articles, etc. Apart from online lecturers, we were also added to Modlingua’s facebook group so that all the interns can interact and have a teamwork spirit. The internship included online meetings and weekly assignments through which interns could gain experience in marketing, research, and management.
The first assignment we did was ‘Analysis of errors and omissions in content writing’. For this assignment, we were supposed to identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, etc in our career goals and professional profile that we submitted to apply for the internship. While we had an online meeting for this assignment, we were explained the importance of error-free work.
For the second assignment i.e. ‘Quality control in content writing and translation’, we were supposed to write an essay on one of the five topics. We were provided with the instructions and five videos to understand the assignment.
Our third assignment was ‘Transcription’. For this assignment, every intern was instructed to select a video and do word for word transcription. We were again provided with certain videos which helped us to understand how transcription should be done.
For our fourth assignment, we had to provide subtitles for a selected video. For this, our mentor, Mr. Ravi Kumar gave us detailed guidelines on how to provide subtitles without making a mistake. The interaction with Dr. Julian Zapata regarding Speech to text technologies helped immensely while subtitling.
Our fifth assignment was about Social Media Marketing. For this were provided with four options. It was meant for the intern to explore about various topics, such as content writing, online marketing, artificial intelligence for translation, globalization, localization, Internationalization, and promotion of professional courses.
The sixth assignment was ‘Script Writing’. For this assignment, the interns were asked to write a detailed script on the life, achievements, failures and major works of a well-known person in the field of Translation, Interpretation, Content Writing, Editing, Teaching, Writing or Literature.
The seventh assignment was regarding script writing of a business personality. For this, the interns were required to choose a business mogul that inspire them the most and give a detailed account of their life, education, hardships, failures and achievements, and their major works.
Expectations
Before joining the internship at Modlingua, I was worried about how an online internship will provide me with an experience of working as a budding translator. I thought that as an intern I won't be able to learn as much as I wanted to. Being virtual internships have its own advantages and disadvantages, but thanks to the efforts of our mentors, even though it was an online internship I faced no problems. Every doubt was heard, everything was explained in detail, so there was never a sign of miscommunication. We were not only interacting with our mentors but we also had special guest lecturers who gave us valuable tips and information regarding languages and how you can utilize your bilingual or multilingual quality. Having interactions with our guest lecturers was one of the best experience I've ever had. I never thought that while doing an online internship I would be able to have interactions with such great mentors.
Experience
After studying Japanese for a year, I really wanted to get an experience of how multilingual firm works. It was really difficult to find an internship which would help me to know more about how I can use my merit of knowing a foreign language. At that time I was getting internships which had nothing to do with budding translators or interpreters. I was really disheartened to know that internships for translators were less to nothing. While searching for internships, I came across Modlingua’s website and I thought that finally there is someone who appreciates and motivates aspiring translators and interpreters to understand the workings of the multilingual industry. Thanks to Modlingua Learning Pvt. Ltd. I was able to get what I wanted. Modlingua provided me the pathway to explore what all happens and what all one has to do in a multilingual business.
During my experience in Modlingua, we did various projects and volunteering. Modlingua provided me with what I wanted. It was not just any internship rather it made me understand and gain the marketing experience and what all we have to do as a translator or an interpreter. We used to have weekly meetings in which we were provided with a detailed explanation of the certain topics and then we were given assignments accordingly. While doing these assignments, I understood that in order to become a translator or an interpreter, my work would need to be 100% authentic and should meet the requirements. We were reminded of such guidelines every time we were given a project. These assignments allowed me to understand how much dedication and patience is needed while doing error-less work. Projects after projects we understood each quality and merit a translator must have. Along with various assignments, I opted to volunteer for writing a creative essay. As a student of English Literature, I was used to how to write essays but by volunteering to write an essay, I was able to understand more about multilingual facets. Although I was able to gain experience through the assignments I was doing, but through volunteering, I got to enhance my knowledge at a deeper level.
From the beginning of this internship, Modlingua was shaping us as diligent and perfectionist translators and interpreters.
As an aspiring translator, my experience as an intern at Modlingua has been great and fulfilling. I would really like to thank Modlingua to provide me with such a platform where I could enhance my skills and talents and along with it gain experience in marketing and research.
Conclusion
In the end, to sum up, I can say that the virtual platform Modlingua provides to budding translators and interpreters is beneficial and a perfect way to develop entrepreneurial skills of translators. Also, Modlingua is the best platform to showcase our activities through the published assignments which ultimately helps in our own branding. This summer internship program is a portal for all individuals who would like to get decent opportunities to understand the marketing aspects of a multilingual industry.
