Rufus is our new Senior Project Manager, based in London. With 7 languages and over 10 years of translation and localisation experience under his belt, Rufus tells us more about his professional background and why translation technology is of growing importance.
What’s your background?
I was born in London and am half English and half Chinese. I hold a degree in French and Spanish and a postgraduate diploma in technical and specialised translation in Italian and Portuguese. I also recently studied Japanese for two years at evening classes.
What localisation experience do you have?
Before I started my career in project management, I worked as an into-English translator which has allowed me to fully understand a linguist’s point of view and the importance of preparation of source texts, context, and terminology control. After accepting an in-house position with ITR and working as a project coordinator and project manager, I spent 10 years working in Los Angeles and New York focusing on database publishing, software, multimedia, and audio-visual localisation. I returned to the UK and have continued in the localisation industry.
Why did you want to work in the language industry?
I have a love for languages, technology and design and find the localisation industry is an exciting field to be part of because it is always evolving and adapting to the new technologies emerging.
I love seeing the various versions of a document, especially in the non-Western European languages, such as Japanese or Arabic, and enjoy managing and being part of this creation process.
What would you consider to be your biggest professional success?
Heading up a multilingual mobile banking localisation project that involved specialised preparation of early mobile phone file formats, extensive software testing using emulators and actual live devices on multiple platforms. This was coupled with a rapid software development cycle requirement and languages such as Japanese and Russian. I found this exciting and a challenge and was able to save the client costs by deploying processing scripts for the file preparation which resulted in being awarded more projects and languages.
What do you find particularly challenging in this industry?
The challenge to maintain quality of our translations coupled with the speed of software development cycles and getting proper context for translators.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In the localisation industry, working with some form of audio-visual based projects. My hobbies include creative visual music video and video art projects, so working on audio-visual localisation is a great chance to combine my interests in design, technology and languages.
What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
New challenges that come with new software, platforms and media.
What are your hobbies outside of work?
In my spare time I love to collaborate creatively with musician friends of mine and create music videos and video art pieces. I also am an avid ice hockey player and play defence for the local ice hockey team – The Slough Scorpions.
Any tips for those starting out on their localisation journey?
Research the translation productivity technology that is being used first. Language skills are just the beginning of the range of skills you need to work in the localisation industry.
With the ever changing arena of platforms and methods to perform translation, the quality of adaptability and being able to work with technology and software is a must.
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