We have a very special post for you today. We sat down with Adrian Gonzalez, who joined the Language Insight team as Operations Director at the start of 2013. Here, he talks about his own background in languages, the value of professional translation services and where he sees the future of Language Insight.
Hi Adrian. We know you’re incredibly busy so thanks for taking the time to chat to us. We’ll kick off by asking you to tell us a little bit about your own background.
I come from a background of languages. I am half Spanish and I wanted to build on my skills in this area by continuing the subject at university. I speak Italian too and my decision to learn this language was motivated by my love for the country, the culture and the people, so I started studying Italian at 18.
On reflection, I think at this time in my life I was drawn to a career as an interpreter at the European Union. However, once I had graduated I felt like most people do at that age and didn’t really have a set career path in mind. I knew I enjoyed languages and wanted a job that was related to this in some way. That’s how I ended up in market research.
You joined Language Insight from Kantar Health. Tell us about your market research background.
After university, I applied for a job at a market research agency that was looking for someone who could speak Italian. I was lucky as I got offered this job straight after university and I was also lucky because I got to use my language skills as part of the role. I also got to travel to Italy and I gained exposure to qualitative and quantitative market research methodologies, which meant I developed new skills.
A few years after this I left to work at Kantar Health (previously TNS Healthcare), where I started out in the coding department. Again, I was recruited for my language skills, which shows just how valuable these skills are.
I have a theory that people who are good at maths are also good at languages, because both of these disciplines involve rules and regulations you have to learn and follow. By this definition, technology was also something that interested me, so I moved from my job in coding to being a scripter.
Sounds quite technical!
Well it was really interesting and I got to understand the mechanism behind online studies, but after a few years of primarily speaking to a computer I came to the realisation that I was a people person. I started taking on other responsibilities including overlay/overwriting management and then moved into a general operations role that would allow me to be more personable.
It’s fair to say your background in languages helped you to forge the career path you’re on now. What advice would you give to someone thinking of learning a language?
To anyone who is thinking of learning a language to become a professional translator, I would say that you should go into it with your eyes open as it’s a very competitive industry. It’s good to have a profession or an area of expertise to make you stand out.
Of course, having knowledge of a particular industry can give you an edge when it comes to getting translation contracts within that sector.
That’s right. Outside the linguistics industry, being able to speak a language is really advantageous. It means an employer is likely to consider you over someone who doesn’t have language skills.
Do you think it’s important for today’s businesses to invest in professional translation services?
Companies now can reach out to a lot more people because the internet has removed barriers. This means your products can retail to a much larger audience, but being able to reach them is key.
What would you say to a business considering getting its website or promotional materials translated?
It is important for businesses to invest in professional translation services. I will give you an example: I know of one business that asked one of their Italian employees who could speak a little Spanish to translate their website from Italian to Spanish.
Well that breaks the linguist’s first rule of only translating something into your mother tongue.
Yes, and also this guy had no translation degree and no experience translating. As a result, the finished product was totally wrong and the company couldn’t use it.
Would you ever advise using a machine translator over a human translator?
Even though today we can use machines to do our translations for us, we must be cautious with this approach. Languages are constantly evolving and that means translations need the human touch. They should be done by someone who lives in the country where your target language is spoken, and by someone who is exposed to that language on a regular basis.
The key is to invest in a quality translation, or the result will negatively impact on your business.
What advice would you give to anyone who has decided to invest in translation services?
I would advise a business considering these services to make sure they get a translation that is localised for the market they are targeting. You should also give the translator the freedom to edit the content so it is tailored for this audience. All too often, businesses want an exact translation, but this may not always be effective or perform the way you want it to.
Language Insight opened an office in London earlier this year, which you are leading. How’s everything going there?
Our office is in a great location with views of the Shard, right smack bang in the middle of Bermondsey. The office is in the middle of all these little, winding streets with lots of restaurants lining them. It’s also near the park, so if the snow ever clears we are looking forward to having lunch there one day.
There are four of us here covering French, German, Italian and Spanish. We are all new recruits, but Language Insight is growing so fast we may need to move into a bigger office soon! We are a people’s company and we are focussed on training and supporting people who take on a career in languages, and work closely with the local universities and language students.
What are your hopes for Language Insight? Where do you see the future of the company?
Language Insight has already established a great position within the translation and interpreting market in the UK, so I think next I would love to be able to open offices abroad. Ideally we would start first with an office in Europe, then America and then the Asia-Pacific region.
As a business we already innovate, which is evident in the proprietary translation memory technology we have designed. This product is innovative within the UK language industry, and the high quality of service we offer also makes us stand out. So, I think the next step is to go multinational.
Image credit: Dave Catchpole
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