Final Report on Summer Internship at MODLINGUA, 2021.
-NIKITA GUPTA
The key to a successful career is to gain initial experience before graduation. The internship lays a solid foundation for your resume and professional network.
But my case was a bit different. I went for an internship after completing my post-graduation. As a German learner, I found this opportunity in the Modlingua Summer Internship Program in 2021. My vision is to complete the basic training first, and then use this time to gain work experience after post-graduation and before entering the corporate world. This learning experience is provided to me at Modlingua.
Modlingua is an ISO 9001 certified translation, training, and delivery service based in New Delhi, where special attention is given to ensuring that translators not only have good academic qualifications but also have sufficient knowledge in certain fields. They also ensure that all their independent translators comply with their local translation and practice process and quality control system based on a proven system of best practices. They emphasize translation quality, global project management, task automation, consistent process, flexibility, and customer performance.
This summer, i.e. summer of 2021, I undertook a two-month Internship program at Modlingua, and it was a lot more than I thought it to be in the best way possible. I thoroughly enjoyed my internship period and now I can say, that I have very valuable experience under my belt. I know this is going to help me when looking for jobs and needing references. I remember, how was I dreading it in the beginning, but now I am so happy to know that it was required. "We all know that practical experience is the best, and internships offer students that hands-on experience they need. I feel that quality internships just like one provided by Modlingua are essential to developing key skills that you can't get in a classroom. Innumerable skills such as multitasking, communicating, learning to deal with diversity, and dealing with deadlines are different when you are working for someone else, not yourself like you do in college is gained while training. Therefore, Internships are also a great way to network with people in the industry.
I must say, I learned that customer service is hard. Neither can you please everyone nor is it your responsibility to do so. You are going to meet people who in this world are simply difficult, and there is nothing you can do about it. In addition, I have learned that stressing over little things will not get me anywhere. Furthermore, I have learned to work well as a team and that without my counterparts the work would not get done. Another aspect that I learned throughout my internship is to never be afraid to ask lots of questions. By asking questions I got answers. The most pertinent point is, I learned more than I thought.” At first, I thought I really had a good start as a senior but realized that I think many courses cannot prepare you for everything the world has to offer. I believe Modlingua has done a good job in training me. I feel that during my time interning the most challenging part of my work was:
- Leading the internship, as I was selected as the “Lead Intern”,
- Sharing tasks with others,
- Coordinating work with my co-interns and keeping them all at the same pace.
"It would be beneficial to encourage students to find their internship based on their future career goals. It's not always necessary to stick to what's listed or given to us to find the perfect internship. I found this internship on my own. It was not served to me on a platter. What attracted me to this Internship is my keen interest in the German Language. I felt that the organization placed prominence in similar areas and having the privilege of serving as an intern with Modlingua gave me that further exposure I needed to advance my career. After getting to know about the Internship at Modlingua, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to offer my skills and knowledge as a fresher. To be a part of prestigious research groups like this was an honor for me and provided me a chance further to strengthen my strong learning and organizing skills.
As my internship period draws to a close and I reflect on all I have grasped, I realize what an excellent journey this has been. I gathered much knowledge in the classroom, but a hands-on approach has been invaluable. It has served as a beneficial ending to my formal education. In my opinion, the best way to learn is by doing. I am truly grateful for this opportunity. I believe Mr. Ravi Kumar, my mentor, and CEO, and director of Modlingua has done a tremendous job in implementing the internship program for foreign language learners.
From my own point of view, I believe, the internship plays important role in a life of a student. It's a little bit of a real-world experience. Today, I can say that this Internship has helped to strengthen my knowledge of commitment, focus, driving, and excellence. For instance: Since I was a lead intern, so I along with my coordinator ‘Payal’ were given an onus to prepare for the webinars. We both were mentors and helped our co-interns to deliver what was expected from us. This made me confident, that yes I can handle and deal with people from different cultures. As I already mentioned, this program was for foreign language learners or linguists, so here I came across students learning foreign languages like French, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Mandarin, and so on. What personally benefit I received from this internship is to comprehend the significance of one’s Professional Profile, for example: on LinkedIn. Before joining this internship, I was there on LinkedIn, but I feel I was not using it up to the mark. Timely and in a repeated manner, we were taught, why it is important to leverage networks. What is its role, so on? Furthermore, learning about citizen journalism was altogether new for me. How the internet has led to the introduction of new and innovative ideas of engaging news. I was a shy person, on camera. But here, in this internship, we were required to make videos, which helped me and made me comfy with the idea of a camera.
I come from a commerce stream background blended with a foreign language, “German”. Modlingua taught me exactly all of the required skills and tasks needed to have a career in the desired field. So to say the least I do believe that the internship completely met my career goals and exceeded my expectations of what great value it would bring to me." Finding an internship was a lot like finding a real job. You don’t get handed a list of places to look. You have to go out and make the list. So if I had to suggest one thing NOT to do I would not make finding an internship any easier on students. It is surely not a piece of cake. It is a good experience even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time." I think during these unprecedented times, I have utilized my time for exploring myself and gaining knowledge at the same time. So it is a win-win situation, where we all are acquiring something or the other that too not at the cost of losing something. As I step into the "real corporate world" having this internship experience was good for me to start as a professional. I imbibed responsibilities of working: being punctual, hard-working, and having supervisors act is all part of having a job. I am very aware that I will be starting at the bottom, but with experience this time of any company that I work for only to work myself up, and I am looking forward to that. Having an internship only gave me more of a competitive edge because I got experience from that.” Here at Modlingua, I worked with very talented people, and I know that I wouldn’t have gotten as much know-how as I have already, if I were to be in a bigger company where interns may not get the chance to be as hands-on as I have been able to. This internship has given me even more real physical world experience than I had before this experience. It has also given me the chance to learn more about different businesses and how I can use my skills to help in various ways. “I gained a new sense of professionalism and a clearer view of what it meant to be in the professional circles. I would advise every student, who is learning a foreign language or otherwise to grab the opportunity and do an internship.
As a whole, I believe that this internship was successful in furthering my knowledge. Every good thing has to end, so is this internship. Now, when my internship at Modlingua is over, I believe interning is the best way to find out if you fit into that particular career. It also helps you learn and gain so much experience that you would not have had without being in the workforce instead of the classroom." I am so grateful for this experience in a somewhat sheltered environment. I now feel ready to conquer the world.
