On June 25th I met with Raymundo Gomez through Zoom, an intern for State Farm, that works as a Spanish translator at the In Language Quality Team Department (IOQT). The department is temporarily remote, but there is a chance that during the fall they will be back in the office.
Raymundo explained that his work is divided into two sections: CTS, Translation, and CRS, Consistency reviewer. Translators working on the CTS section will get new projects and translate them right away. Consistency reviewers will go through the translations done in the projects again to make sure there have no spelling and grammar mistakes. Additionally, they look for trademarks and that the translator used specific vocabulary that the company uses.
They have three programs that they used: Translation Memory (TM), Turn Database (TD), and IOQT glossary. The IOQT glossary is a dictionary of words that the company has used. All of these programs assist in completing the translation faster because it has samples of translations they have done in the past. Also, these programs help the translations stay consistent for future translations.
[ Example of a State Farm agent in my hometown. His site is in Spanish and English.]
The In Language Quality Team Department is in charge of translating everything that the company needs like manuals, insurance policies, and every website in each portal. Additionally, Raymundo indicated that State Farm has many agents for insurance in the country. Every time a new agent gets hired to State Farm, they have to create a website for clients to find them. The IOQT department then creates the Spanish portal which sometimes they only have about two days to create the translated portal for the agent. Moreover, the department also takes care of the scripts in Spanish for commercials and advertisements.
Although Raymundo is fluent in French, State Farm does not have included that language yet because their clientele is mostly speaking English and Spanish. The company is working on expanding the language department and adding other languages in the next two years.
Raymundo explained that the department works as a team because every project has to go through the initial reviewers (IR), consistent reviewers (CR), and translation reviewers (TR) in order for the projects to be published. There is constant communication with the team because they have to make sure every project is translated the same way. Not only that, but he gave me an insight into a Monday routine. At 8 am, they have a team meeting online where they are given projects with deadlines and people claim the projects they want to do. From 9 am to 1 pm, they work on the projects, and after that, they have a second meeting. During the second meeting, they give updates on the projects such as if they are done or if they need more time. After, they either continue to work on the initial projects or start a new one.
[This is one of the programs he uses called WorldServer.]
In order to complete the projects, he uses his computer and two monitors. He needs those monitors because he needs to have open the World Server program on one, which allows him to have open the source and the target. On the other monitor, he has a glossary and dictionaries. The last monitor has the Translation Memory program.
[I was not allowed to take pictures of his setup for privacy reasons, but this is an example I found on google.]
Teaching Implications...
Through the interview, Raymundo made me realize that working as a translator isn’t just an individual role. It takes a team to get a translation done correctly. Not only that but if working for a big company like State Farm there has to be a consistency of vocabulary or phrases in every translation project. This means that there should be collaborative work done through students. For example, a Spanish essay can be done as a team because students will be able to brainstorm together and ask questions on things they might not know how to say in Spanish. Also, they can all proofread the essay in order to turn in a project that has been looked at by all members of the project. They can also check to see if they have included the vocabulary from the chapter.
Additionally, normalizing the use of dictionaries in Spanish classes either on their phones or computers. Technology can speed up the process of looking for a particular word they might not know in Spanish. This can also make students feel more comfortable instead of raising their hands and asking the teacher what a particular word means. Also, not because one is fluent in a specific language means knowing each word in the dictionary.
Finally, it made me realize to let students know that just because their major is in Spanish means they can only be Spanish teachers. There are many other roles they can do by knowing a second language. It would be a great idea to have a weekly guest explain his career and how knowing Spanish makes a difference in his job.
Do, Mean, Relate, Think, and Be...
Do: The use of technology allows Raymundo to use the software programs such as Translation Memory (TM) and IOQT glossary to speed up the process of translation, but also to keep State Farm's trademark with new insurance agents. It allows him to translate documents in order for State Farm to have more clientele understand their business and be interested in purchasing the insurance plans they offer.
Meaning: Through the use of technology allows Raymundo to translate documents in Spanish to the Latinx community. They don't have to use Google or a dictionary to understand what the English document says. By the use of technology, he is able to help people understand the information at a click of a button, "Español."
Relate: The use of technology allows Raymundo to work from home and interact with his coworkers through Skype and connect with them at any time. Through the daily meetings on Skype, he is able to interact with his managers and get assigned projects. Not only that, but they are able to talk to each other about questions they might have and provide opinions on translations. Additionally, the consistency reviewers are able to provide feedback on the translation if they catch a mistake in spelling and grammar. The IOQT department is able to use technology to reach a Spanish-speaking audience.
Think: Raymundo stated that Translation Memory preserved the translations they have done in the past. It has been able to cut the amount of work they might spend on a project if there is a sample of a translation. By having these samples, they are able to think and see if they need to make any modifications to the sample to keep it up to date.
Be: As a Spanish Translator, he is able to use dictionaries and the IOQT glossary to translate scripts for commercials and advertisements, but also to manuals or websites information. By being a Spanish Translator he is able to help the Spanish-speaking community understand important insurance documents and policies.
Thank you for sharing about this career! It is insightful to see how learning world languages helps not only in communicating, but also in translating and making materials accessible to everyone. I can see how you could foster these types of skills with your students and like the idea of being able to use technology to help with the translation process.
This is awesome! I know this is such a big deal and so many of us do not realize how big of a deal it is in our classrooms as well. I do not teach in a very diverse area, however, I know that there are so many ELLs out there and it is important that we help them in as many ways that we can! Translation apps are definitely beneficial since most people have a smart phone these days.