We again turn to STC’s Corporate Value Program for a spotlight. This month we talk to LinguaLinx, with answers by President David Smith. The Spotlight consists of a series of questions—some informative, some entertaining, and others pure nonsense—that help readers get to know the STC community better.
What is the name of your company and where is it located?
LinguaLinx, Inc. is headquartered in Cohoes, New York, just north of Albany—the state capital.
How many employees does the company have?
43
When did the company start?
March 2002.
How can STC members use the services you provide?
From our experience in the multilingual environment, consistency and quality start at the source. Translation is becoming highly commoditized, so we are drawing upon technical writers and editors to assist us in providing a full suite of outsourced documentation solutions—essentially a turnkey solution for the entire content lifecycle—to our corporate clients. Further, we have found that a majority of content does end up being translated in one form or another, so writers, editors, and consultants alike can use our resources and experience as a fellow STC member to provide professional assistance in the area of multilingual and multicultural communications.
What other types of services do you provide?
Translation, interpretation, multiplatform publishing, telephonic interpretation, language training, XML migration and structured authoring consulting, translation memory alignment, glossary development, multimedia development, audio/video production.
Are there any specific kinds of linguists you’re currently looking for?
In addition to writers and editors, we are constantly recruiting professionals from all backgrounds and subject-matter areas, possessing varying levels of technical skills in any language combination.
How is being a member of the STC Corporate Value Program valuable to your company?
In addition to exposure and assistance with branding ourselves differently than the traditional translation company, we have access to both professionals and vendor partners in STC which are unique and not found in language-industry trade associations.
In a perfect world, who would be your ideal celebrity endorser and why?
Billy Mays. His impassioned way of promoting products.
What’s your favorite language to translate?
Russian—I can read it.
Your least favorite?
Spanish—given the multitude of dialects and regional differences, there’s always someone who raises concern over the way things are done, whether they’re a qualified linguist or not.
How about the oddest thing you’ve been asked to translate?
A letter from an American man pledging his love to a woman—translated into Portuguese.
Can you tell us a little bit about Cohoes?
Its ethnic history makes it a great fit to house a multilingual communication company. The name Cohoes is derived from Native American languages, and French Canadian and Irish immigrants settled in the 1800s to work at the textile mills. To their surprise, they found the remains of an eight foot tall mastodon buried under one of these mills! Hall of Fame baseball player George Stacey Davis was also born here.
Finally, feel free to brag a little bit—about anything you want.
We’re very proud of making the Inc. 500/5000 two years in a row.