The Impact Behind the Numbers

As a translation agency, we talk a lot about numbers: number of words, number of minutes, number of pages, number of files. We use these quantities to calculate price and turnaround, to determine which projects to go to which project manager, and to decide what to assign to which linguist. Last year, we translated over 15 million words, transcribed over 100,000 minutes of audio and delivered over 7500 projects (in over 75 languages!). We’re proud of our numbers  –  but they only tell a small part of the story.

What’s the impact behind those numbers? Whose voices do we share? Who do we help  – and what do we help get done?

We periodically check in with our team and ask them to share highlights of some of their recent projects. Here’s a sampling of the impact we made through a number of different translation and transcription projects:

• Ensured that urgent COVID-19 information could be disseminated to schools, corporations and governments across the country
• Translated inquiry-based, distance-learning social studies curricula that provide culturally responsive instruction 
• Helped ease the transition to living in the US for newly resettled Farsi- and Swahili- speaking refugees by translating intake forms and materials
• Transcribed university seminars on ending the HIV epidemic
• Helped keep non-English speaking employees safer on the job by translating workplace safety manuals and training modules
• Transcribed interviews that supported government-funded research on reuniting Syrian refugee families displaced by the current crisis
• Ensured that Spanish-speaking childcare providers could access important training information at an early childhood education entrepreneurship summit
• Helped victims of domestic abuse by translating financial empowerment resources
• Transcribed clinical trials to understand whether a new medication can successfully treat kidney disease among patients with lupus and online webinars on gene therapy for the treatment of hemophilia
• Translated tools around groundwater challenges to help access to long-term safe and affordable drinking water
• Created affordable housing surveys for non-English speaking residents to gather feedback that will influence the development of future housing
• Translated materials related to a case supporting exploited Hispanic workers in the food industry
• Transcribed essays and historical interviews to help create a fully bilingual experience for a museum exhibit on Puerto Rican art and culture
• Translated documents for a Ukrainian woman to reunite her with her mother and allow for them to live together in the same country

Sometimes we get so focused on the details of a project that we forget to look up from our computer screens and think about the impact of what we’re doing. We provide translation, transcription, voiceover and subtitling services for a wide array of clients across a variety of industries. But regardless of the industry, there’s something important about each project. Each time we help clients understand and connect with their audiences.  Each time we walk a client through a process that, from the outside, seems intimidating. Each time we deliver a project faster than expected. Each time we talk about the importance of cultural nuance in translation. And each time we chat with a client about their favorite soccer team or bottle of wine they enjoyed over the weekend…

We love the connections we create with our clients and linguists, and we love knowing that we’re helping you create connections that matter to you. 

We feel lucky that we get to work in an industry that we’re passionate about, and we’re proud of the impact  –  large or small  –  that we make every day.

Talk to us about how we can make an impact where it matters to you!!