A chat with Spanish project manager Kelly Kremko:
Where are you from?
I am a native of beautiful San Francisco, California and am currently a candidate for a Masters of Arts in Translation and Localization Management (English-Spanish). I graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2007 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and minors in History and Spanish. After graduating from USF, I worked at a real estate investment and development firm and then at a nonprofit preschool (both in San francisco). 40% of the families who had children enrolled at the preschool were recent immigrants from Latin America and were monolingual Spanish-speakers. It was in my role as translator and interpreter that I realized I wanted to pursue a master’s degree in translation. After successfully completing my first year at MIIS, I spent this past summer in Lima, Peru working as an in-house translator. I have also worked as a volunteer translator and project manager for Stop Trafficking!, a local anti-human trafficking newsletter, and as a volunteer translator for Democracy Now!, an independent, national news program.
When/why did you begin studying your B language and what is your experience with it?
This is interesting…I actually learned English when I began grade school at the age of 5. My mother is from Peru and my father is from Poland (he speaks Spanish, among several other languages), so I grew up in a Spanish-speaking home. I learned how to read and write in Spanish before I could even do so in English. My mother always made sure that I had Spanish workbooks to practice vocabulary and grammar as well as books for reading comprehension. She never mixed Spanish and English when speaking to me, which helped tremendously in my clear distinction and preservation of the two languages. I studied Spanish in school from the age of 8 through my time at USF, where I minored in Spanish. I love reading in Spanish and listening to rock en español.
How did you find out about localization?
I found out about localization when I first arrived at MIIS. My original plan was to pursue a master’s in translation but my professors encouraged me to add localization so that I could have the opportunity to learn about the project management process, computer assisted translation tools, desktop publishing, and website design. It has been a great fit for this over-achieving, jack of all trades.
What projects have you worked on for L10N and what are you working on now?
I became involved with MIIS L10N during my first year at MIIS. I started out as a blogger and translator, and even had the opportunity to do a voice over in Spanish at the end of the school year. This year, I have managed the translation of content for the MIIS website, Google ads, and Facebook ads. I also edit and manage the posts that our bloggers contribute to “MIIS en español” and had the opportunity to subtitle a video presentation (after one of our translators transcribed and translated the content).
How many memebers do you have on your team and what do they do?
The Spanish MIIS L10N team currently has 7 members (plus me). 5 of the 7 members are active bloggers, and contribute an average of two posts every month. 3 of the 7 members are active translators on our team. We are lucky to have two native Spanish-speakers who have worked on various translation projects from English to Spanish. These two talented translators (René Díaz and Nathalie Marin-Gest) are natives of Mexico and have translated content for the MIIS website, Facebook ads, and Google ads, among other interesting projects. The volume of translation work from Spanish to English is substantially less, but Caitlin Jones had the opportunity to transcribe and translate a 911 call that included interpretation services. Professor Barry Olsen used the subtitled video in his October 2012 presentation on interpretation studies.