Hello all, and welcome to the first of what we hope will be many posts recording the many projects of the Globe Multilingual Services team at MIIS! In this short blog post, I will detail some of the projects currently underway at Globe and what you can expect from each of those projects moving forward. I will also give you the inside scoop on how project team members see the current work they are doing. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Access Now
The first project I would like to introduce is Access Now. This project entails translating and localizing a guide to digital security, featuring colorful and entertaining characters. Not only is the text being translated, but the project also involves a great deal of desktop publishing (DTP) work. Desktop publishing, abbreviated as DTP, refers to the recreation of documents and visual material formatting in preparation for translation and localization. The project began at the end of August. There is still plenty of work left to be done, however!
Nathalia Rio Preto Vieira Machado has been working on the project since her first year at MIIS. She says it was a “personal project [she] adopted as a child” during her first year at the Institute. Commenting on the DTP work that will be involved, Nathalia says that the following is the most challenging part of the project: “For sure it’s going to be doing desktop publishing for the booklet cover. It consists of several calligraphy words related to digital privacy arranged in a certain shape which we could not really tell what it is.”
She also had this to say with regard to everyone’s experience on the project: “Every Globe project has its own specificities, but I think the most important part is that this is the first hands-on experience of some students with a real-life translation workflow, so this will be a valuable experience for everyone’s career as localizers.”
Carmel River Watershed Conservancy
Up next is the localization work Globe is doing for the local Carmel River Watershed Conservancy. This project involves the localization of text from English to Spanish. For this project, the team will also be working on localizing video content. That means the creation and timing of subtitles, as well as other audio-visual localization work. This is a newer project for Globe, so stay tuned for more updates in the future!
Changrui Shi is leading the project, and he says that some challenges for the current project are actually finding Spanish translators, as well as working with a client that is just starting to learn about new technology and the localization process. This will definitely test the team’s management abilities in the days to come!
Additionally, talking about how his current work will be transferable to future projects, Changrui says: “Being able to deal with a real client and oversee the whole life cycle of a project gives me the opportunity to practice real-life scenarios at work in the future. For example, negotiating scope of work, making plans, recruiting team members and translators, [and] managing workflow and processes. Even though the project is fairly small, it gives me a high-level view and hands-on experience of the whole process.”
What’s Coming Next
More projects like Arctime and work with the JCC (Jewish Community Center) should be underway soon, so check back for future updates on Globe’s progress. Thanks again for reading and have a fantastic day!
Changrui Shi is a second-year Translation & Localization Management student at MIIS who has a background in Environmental Science, with experience in project management, account management, and business development. He is currently an account manager at Globe Multilingual Services handling the CRWC project and the PD Avengers project.
Nathalia Rio Preto is a professional conference interpreter and NAATI certified translator and a second-year student in the Translation and Localization Management program at MIIS. She has been able to join her love for translation with her increasing interest in data security and privacy by being the account manager for Access Now through Globe. She was born and raised in Brasília, Brazil, where she is currently stuck due to the pandemic.
Daniel Weber is a second-year student in the Translation and Localization Management program at MIIS and a member of Globe Multilingual Services, run through the same institution. Before coming to MIIS, he worked for 4 years as a professional translator with mobile game developers in Tokyo, Japan. He was born and raised in sunny Los Angeles, California and currently resides in Monterey.
