BY VATYA RAINA

Introduction
 
An internship is an official program that is offered by an employer to potential employees. The modern concept of an internship has evolved from the medieval apprenticeship, where a skilled laborer, often a craftsman, would take on and teach a young person their trade. In exchange for being taught a trade, the apprentice would agree to work for the craftsman for a specified length of time. 
I would like to thank Mr. Ravi Kumar to take such an interesting initiative and provide students with an amazing opportunity to explore this world of language business, across the globe.
 
About the programme

This summer internship programme took place from June 2018 to August 2018 with 120 interns across the globe. The internship was a total online programme, we were connected through the platform of watsaap and facebook. Initially, we were given videos to see and articles to read to develop a basic understanding. Eventually, we started working on our assignments and submit it to the page abiding by the guidelines given by modlingua. Starting from the orientation, in June, we moved to guest lectures and online seminars. We were acquainted with the professional working conditions through this internship. 
Regular lecturers were held after the orientation programme. These lectures were taken by the international lecturers’ on different topics related to language. These topics helped the interns to build a vast understanding of the language world.

About Modlingua

Modlingua is India’s No.1 ISO 9001:2008 certified legal and notary approved Translation, Interpretation, transcription, and language placement services. 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.
While living in Delhi, when the idea of doing an internship came into mind, I got my name registered with Modlingua. In books, in class, drinking tea at the dhabas till half-midnight, in many other places, listening and understanding discussions about society. It becomes important to go beyond the discussions to work on ground level to understand society. In order to achieve the goal, we need to understand the difference between the ground truth and our discussions, to bridge the gap.

This initiative of Modlingua to gather interns from all over the world and make them come together and work for a common good is remarkable. I was able to understand the different aspects of the language world through this internship. I had many questions in mind before starting the internship, questions that were related to the language business. Modlingua successfully answered most of my questions and I feel much confident now.

After getting registered at modlingua by submitting a curriculum vitae and letter of presentation which included personal and professional information along with the career goals and an attached profile picture, we were provided with our assignments.

Given below is the brief report of the assignments that I successfully completed.

•     Analysis of error and omission in content writing

In this task, we had to submit the corrected version of the earlier drafted version. We had to check on some basic things like, change from total number of source text to total number of target text, errors related to articles, errors related to punctuation, symbol, signs, space, omissions, spelling errors, precise choice of words, factual errors, pay attention to an eye for details, profile photo quality, add further comments, time taken to correct the number of words and time taken to prepare the report. Through this assignment, I learned to prepare a precise report by controlling the errors through artificial intelligence tools. Grammarly and Modlingua rubric were some of the many artificial intelligence tools that were put to their best use during this internship. A clear difference was visible after submitting the corrected version of the draft version and this improvement was only possible through the correct format of the report and artificial intelligence tools.

•     Quality control in content writing and translation and the importance of feedback

One important thing that I learned during the internship is when we deliver our work it has to be quality work on time. We not only have to deliver work but deliver it with full efficiency. A customer satisfied work can be reached through an extensive analysis of possible errors and suggestions on how to improve quality by minimizing errors. This efficiency can be maintained by using artificial intelligence tools like Grammarly and Modlingua rubric. These tools keep a check on spelling, syntax, spacing, punctuation to start with and further helps us to check sentence formation and plagiarism as well. All these tools help us to deliver a quality report on time which will, in turn, make our customers satisfied.

•     Transcription

We had a session to understand the working and methods of transcription. We found out that there are two types of transcription: Full transcription and Verbatim transcription. A full transcription is basically used for subtitling and brings out the true intent and emotional state of the speaker. In full transcription, we do not filter anything and write everything that comes out of the speaker’s mouth. In the latter, we focus on the major points and can also take the liberty to understand the statement and frame it in our own words. In this assignment, we also had a chance to transcribe the audio file from one language into any other language and not just English. We were also allowed to transcribe the audio file in more than one language and explore other possibilities in different languages.

•     Subtitling

Our understanding of different types of transcription was put into use through this assignment. I was involved in the transcription and subtitling of the video available on the youtube channel of modlingua. The name of the video which I subtitled and transcribed is, JNU prof. Ganguly calls for organizational development in language. Subtitling uses many other elements as, transcription, interpretation, and translation. Therefore, subtitling makes us learn many tools at once and it makes us efficient.

•     Scriptwriting ( on a famous personality in the field of translation and interpretation)

Jerry Pinto is one of the famous names in the business of translation. My research was about his major works as I thought that Jerry Pinto has always tried to enter the spaces critically and challenged the conventional grounds which the edifice of Indian society and general public conscience was build and captured. I learned that while translating a text from one language to another the source text should not lose it’s essence when converted to the target text. Jerry Pinto keeps this view in mind and people can learn this fact from his works.

•     Scriptwriting (social or business entrepreneur)

In this assignment, we were told to cover the success mantra of the business or social personality which influenced us the most. My research in the last assignment was about the life and major works of Dr.Sudharshan Hanumappa. His contributions to society have been very important, which is why I felt important to talk about it.

Volunteering options I opted

I opted to volunteer and write a creative summary on a lecture given by Mr. Ravi Kumar on “Grammarly and Modlingua Rubric.” Volunteering is very important and interesting for an internship as it says that you are enjoying the internship. One need not just complete an internship but complete it with passion. While writing a creative summary of this video, I realized that I was able to better understand the words in the video. Now, these words were not merely words for me but I was very well able to put it to practical use.

Everything I do is on the computer or over the phone. I don't have to show up to the office, and it's possible that I’ll never meet the people I'm working with in person. But, that doesn't mean it's not important to get along with them. Before I even applied for my internship, I checked out the publication's “About” pages to get a feel for the company. There is no one to keep checking on me in person daily. So, I can match my deadlines in my pajamas sipping coffee and completing my task.
One thing to note here is, even if we do not have anyone in person but we should not be afraid of asking for help from our seniors or our boss.

My experience

I have gained a valuable work experience in these 2 and half months which will help me explore my career path. I have not only, learned new skills and techniques but have also developed and refined my old and already known skills. Mr. Ravi Kumar and Modlingua have developed their huge networking system which has benefited it’s more than 120 interns. After completing the internship, I feel much confident before entering the working world. During the internship, some paid projects were offered to the interns on the first come first serve basis which helped in the better understanding of the working world to the interns.

I feel more confident after this internship. Thank you Modlingua!