Swati Awasthi

I am from Delhi and I am currently pursuing PGDBM(Business management) from NMIMS. I did my graduation from College of vocational studies(DU). Since I do have an inclination towards foreign languages, I am learning Japanese from The Japan Foundation.

I have worked with companies like Genpact, Interglobe technologies and IBM from 2011-2017 as a financial advisor, travel consultant and escalations lead respectively. While doing my day to day job activities, I took the initiative to be associated with the language team and started mentoring the new hires from soft skills perspective and quality targets.

In 2015, I decided to move ahead in the field of language. It was then when I started shadowing our language coach and attended a couple of training to realize what was missing in me. Gradually on weekends, I started content writing. In addition, I used to do translation jobs on a part-time basis.  Finally, in 2017 I quit my job and began working as a freelancer. As a full-time freelancer, I have worked with brands like Amazon, Amway, Netflix, HBO (VICE NEWS), Jagran etc.

When it comes to hobbies I like to connect with people using social networking and sometimes just sit and listen to some music. Apart from this, I have interest in art and craft though I rarely get time to do that. I also like to play chess and go for a walk when I want to talk to myself.

Well this was a brief introduction which can be concluded by saying that I love to observe all that surrounds me or can be of any positive impact

Career Goals

Values seem to always affect the kind of path we choose in life. The biggest decision our values affect is the career path we choose to follow and the way we decide to approach it. Our life is based on certain core values and these values make us who we are as a person. It is important for me to stick to my core values in order to have that satisfying life I desire.

One of my prolonged wishes was to be self-dependent, therefore I started working when I was pursuing graduation. But it took a long time for me to decide that I really want to do something that can help me to understand my own capabilities and broaden my horizons. It was then after 4 years of my job, I decided to work as a freelancer. And then I entered into the field of translation and content writing.

Gradually I started getting exposure to big brands. I can say that I really enjoy my work since I feel that I have got the responsibility to make anything more relevant and useful for my audience. it’s very true that lack of awareness of the translation quality standards pulls translators on the back foot. I have a short-term goal of working at international level in as many languages as possible.

Once I accomplish this short-term goal I would then move ahead with a long-term goal and see if I can form a team of translators and work with them on different national and international projects. I also have a keen desire to travel as much as I can and experience different cultures and people.

Along with fluency in Hindi and English, I intend to improve my Japanese so that I can work with more languages and make myself that much more productive and employable. After working directly with agencies and other brands, I have realized that a translator doesn’t get paid well just because we lack in marketing and sales management skills. Moreover sometimes due to non-adherence to project management guidelines we either miss on fair remuneration or we even miss valuable clients. Thus with the internship at modlingua, I am looking forward to learning the basics of marketing, project management and sales management etc, since translation solely is not sufficient when it comes to work with a team and promote oneself as a freelancer or an agency.

I would summarize this topic by adding that when we are on a job it a must to follow the instructions and discipline to survive but unfortunately when most of us think of becoming a freelancer, we kind of ignore these important aspects and fail in our targets. This should not be done, so I would really put my heart and soul to make this decision of becoming a freelancer right for me.

Swati Awasthi is a Summer Intern 2018 at Modlingua