Last week, four of our interns from 2021 have officially concluded their internships at Untranslate. Maurits, Dilara and Maaike explained what they learned at Untranslate during a short presentation at the UGent campus (albeit with a mask and streamed via Teams), in front of their fellow students, professors and employees of other work placement companies. Jarne, the fourth intern who joined the team in 2021, also brought his internship to a successful end. Thanks to the time these students spent at Untranslate, they know what to look for in their future job descriptions. A useful insight at the start of their career!

“The work placement has helped me gain a better idea of where I want to go. It was the variety of tasks that attracted me to the Untranslate position” – Maurits

“During my 3-month internship at Untranslate, I have acquired valuable new skills and enriching knowledge. Thanks to the entire Untranslate team, I was able to learn a lot in a short period.” – Maaike

“Something I really enjoyed about the internship was that the tasks were very diverse and as a result, I learnt many different things. I realised the variety of the tasks is something I would like to have and continue in my future career.” – Dilara

Jarne found the internship period has shown him other aspects of ‘life as a linguist’ than the theoretical lessons in the (virtual) auditorium: “Thanks to my internship, I now know that running a translation agency asks for a lot more than what I initially thought. You need to think, for example, about marketing and operational efficiency as well.”

We at Untranslate found it valuable to receive feedback about how Maaike, Dilara and Maurits experienced their internship. What did they think of their tasks, the guidance and team atmosphere, and having to work remotely? Were there any challenging assignments and, if so, how did they take tackle them? In any case, we were happy to hear that our detailed documentation about workflows and tools did come in handy! Our people management skills seem to be on point as well:

“I only have praise for the guidance and mentoring I received.” – Maaike

“Everyone felt really approachable, so I did not have any issues asking for help or clarification on tasks.” – Maurits

We look back at our coopration with Dilara, Maaike and Maurits with the same positive feeling, which makes our enthusiasm to offer work placement positions even bigger!

Nathalie De Sutter explains: “Coaching an intern involves a great deal of responsbility. It is a first work experience for many interns: they start to apply their theoretical knowledge in the actual work field and, on top of that, they have to get used to working in an office: the schedule, communication channels, work arrangement with colleagues, vendors and even clients… A whole new world opens up. Spending an entire day in the office also takes some getting used to! At Untranslate, we like to immerse our interns in our daily activities from the very start. This means that they participate in team meetings, presentations and workshops with clients, sales and marketing related activities, brainstorming on operational efficiency and – to keep the best for last – our ‘after work’ sessions, which, for now, still take place online.”

Els Van Humbeeck, HR responsible at Untranslate: “Knowing your colleagues are available and ready to help (even virtually), is an important given for an intern. Even when working remotely, there was always someone from the team available to explain a word of two. But the other way around we received useful information from our interns as well: their training in Computer-Assisted Language Mediation at UGent provided us with the latest updates on trends and tools regarding translation technology and social media.”

We are convinced that a bright future awaits these four recent graduates. We wish them all the best of luck!