By Rebecca Ariadna Moreno White
About the internship
The internship at Modlingua had the duration of approximately three months, beginning in June 2017 and ending in August 2017. Before we started with any of the tasks and lectures, we were asked to choose some main topics we wanted to work on such as the following: Project Management and Quality Standards, Business Development, Social Media Marketing, Online Marketing…
During the internship we had not only a constant interaction over a specific Facebook group, but also weekly meetings through an online platform (GoToMeeting). During the online meetings and lectures our supervisor, Mr. Ravi Kumar, briefed us about the agency and explained how we would proceed during the entire internship, as well as explained what activities would be carried out. Sometimes we had two meetings in a week. He used slides to guide us, since it is easier to learn something with visual content. It was also very helpful that, with such a method, we could ask any question regarding the lecture via live chat or via microphone.
After creating our profile, having some online meetings, and joining the Facebook related group, we were able to get a great feeling of understanding as to how the internship would evolve and what kind of environment we would have with such a large international group of people.
Our first assignment was to create our professional profile on Modlinguas webpage, in order to have a way to submit all the future activities. In our profile we had to include our professional background, as well as explain which skills we were working on developing throughout this internship. In between assignments one and two we, from the social media marketing, had to promote the Modlingua YouTube channel and our profiles at social media of our choosing, which I did through Facebook groups and other social media.
For the second assignment, we had another meeting in which Mr. Kumar oriented us and then asked us to write a small article about networking in the translation industry, in which we had to relate with images, either of a wolf pack, of ants working together or other images, the one of my choosing was Networking and ant behaviors.
For the third assignment, we had another online meeting about Google Search Engine, relationship between Content writing, Online Marketing and translation, Globalization, Localization, Internationalization, and Translation of Content and then write about one of those topics, the one of my choosing was that of Globalization, Localization, Internationalization, and Translation of Content. In the assignment four, we had a conference, a lecture with Prof. Ioanna concerning the topics Entrepreneurship and Personal Branding for translators. In this lecture, we were shown some differences between in-house translators and freelancers. With this assignment we had to write about the visibility of the language professional in the society, how to gain clients being freelancers alternate options for language professionals, and relate this concept of power relations in society and position of a translator, my article was about entrepreneurship.
In the fifth assignment, we had a meeting about Quality Standards and its connection to translation services, the development of various quality standards in Translation Process across the globe, the equal roles of linguistics and non-linguistics aspects in translation and the quality standards function in this balance, mine was about quality standards in translation services. In the sixth assignment, we had a meeting about Project Management, how it improves quality and increases efficiency at any workplace, the relation of project management and translation management, the role of charter and documentation in project management. I wrote about project management, charter, and documentation in any workplace scenario.
For the development of every assignment, it was necessary to watch the YouTube videos released by Mr. Kumar at the Modlingua channel, attend the meeting to fully understand what was expected from us, as well as the use of proposed external resources for further research. There were some extra assignments to do within the Facebook group with other interns and trainees. All of the assignments were submitted and published on the Modlingua website, which we also had to share on social media, in order to reach a monthly target of views.
Teaching Methodology
Even though, there is times when we just could not participate of the meeting, for some reason. Mr. Kumar had to deal with a lot of people (around 200), and sometimes a person could feel lost in some explanation, or simply don’t understand what he or she had to do, or which time they had to take the lessons. It is complicated to deal with too many people. Because of that, Mr. Kumar made videos on YouTube for those who just could not participate of the meetings; for people who participated of the meeting, but had some questions they were not able to ask or doubts they were not able to solve during the meeting; and for outsiders who showed their interest in the subjects that were being discussed.
Besides that, we had an interesting discussion with a teacher and researcher from Greece, Prof. Ioanna, who I mentioned before. This professor gave us a brief about CAT Tools and marketing for the translation field.
It was very interesting to listen to this lecture, as CAT Tools are nowadays essential to work in the Translation industry. They enable us to create memories, which can speed up our work and help us throughout technical or complex texts.
Expectations
I registered for this internship in order to learn more about the translation industry and about the industry of translation in other countries out of Europe. I had high expectations for this internship, especially with it being so international. I was wondering what kind of information and tasks we would be asked to take or what else I could learn and about the environment of an international translation company. I found it very interesting to find people taking the internship came from various backgrounds and had different nationalities. As well as felt intrigued by knowing more about someone who understood the topic, with plenty of experience in the field.
I found the assignments interesting, although I was surprised at first that we did not do translations in themselves. I enjoyed writing the texts for the blog and sharing my opinions, points of view and knowledge in the related topics. Using different platforms such as the blog, Facebook, YouTube or GoToMeeting throughout the internship was an enriching experience, as it helped us understand how all these tools can be used in order to achieve a better understanding on how to “brand” ourselves and get know better. Although I enjoyed the internship, I do believe that some translation practice would increase the level of understanding that the interns could achieve of what working in the translation field really means.
Personal evaluation
I found out about this internship through LinkedIn, and I was immediately interested in joining the experience. Modlinguas summer internship was a very interesting new experience for me. From the beginning of the internship Mr. Kumar provided us with the reality of a real job experience. With that, we had to fulfil tasks, attend meetings and meet deadlines. This internship helped expand my horizons in the translation business and all the possibilities we, as language professionals, have on the industry. It has given me a real insight of job experience so as to fulfil tasks on time, attending meetings and meeting deadlines. As a language enthusiast and a graduate in Translation, Modlingua has not only given me an insight to the working world, beyond languages.
I learnt many things thanks to interacting with Mr. Kumar and the other participants, which was very easy during each one of the online lectures. I strongly believe that some more lectures from other professionals from this industry and related areas could provide a bigger view on some of the topics that this internship covers. Taking this internship proved to be a valuable experience on a professional as well as a personal level. I would like to thank Modlingua for giving me this chance, as well as thank all the other participants from all around the world who enriched thins experience so much.
About Modlingua
“Modlingua Learning Pvt. Ltd.” New Delhi, India. Founded by Ravi Kumar, Modlingua is a leading translation company certified by ISO 9001:2008 that provides certified translation services, all of their team members are native speakers or took formal language course in foreign countries. Modlingua has high quality professionals within different areas of expertise and are in touch with the latest technologies in the translation business. As well as this, as it is specified on their main webpage, its “established Total Quality Management (TQM) ensures that their clients receive high-quality services in translation, interpretation, recruitment and all other language related services”. “Modlingua derives its strength from HRLingua, its huge language resource repository of 15 000 plus native freelance translators, interpreters and multilingual language experts” and “enjoys an international reputation of being a socially responsible company involved in promotion and development of translation profession within India and across the globe.”.
