We founded Delingua’s own academy, DelinguaLAB, in 2018. The idea arose, on the one hand, from our desire to make it easier for new graduates to move from the school bench to working life, and, on the other hand, from the practical need to attract more talents to our sector.
After the summer holidays, it’s time for the eighth DelinguaLAB. Now we are looking for future professionals for all the different jobs in our business. We receive applications in a steady stream as DelinguaLAB is already well-known among students and its message is also relayed by universities and their student organisations.
One of our customers recently told us that DelinguaLAB served as encouragement for proposing the establishment of a similar academy in their company. If you are interested in setting up an academy of your own, read the following and learn why and how DelinguaLAB was born.
Driven by passion
We are passionate about our industry and also want to tell others about it, both our customers and especially to newly minted language experts who are looking for their place in the language service industry. We genuinely want to help and also assume our responsibility for the future of the language industry and the sufficient supply of talented professionals.
What you don’t learn when you study
Translation studies mainly focus on issues related to translation itself. Other tasks in the language service industry, such as project and vendor management, sales and marketing of language services and work with localisation technology, can only be learnt by working in companies in the sector. Quite a few people don’t even know all the jobs that a degree in translation can qualify you for.
Free classroom and online training
Because we want to help and discover new translation industry talents, participating in our programme is free of charge and participants are paid for the work they perform. In our free classroom or online training, the learners selected for the programme will get comprehensive expert overviews of the industry and the needs of customers, learn to use different tools and get a chance to shadow professionals in their work.
Paid traineeship
An important element of DelinguaLAB is the real work assignments that participants get to do. Work performed is paid for in accordance with industry practices. Translators receive detailed feedback about their translation assignments from reviewers and, for other tasks, we are happy to take on trainees for longer periods.
We do not use the programme as a source of free labour.
Mentors as support
DelinguaLAB participants are assigned mentors from among experienced Delingua employees for the duration of the programme. The mentor’s feedback and guidance in everyday life are especially important as, for many, this is their first job in their own field. Furthermore, the fact that many Delingua employees are involved either as trainers or as mentors makes the programme a joint project for the entire company.
Content for marketing
Delingua’s mission is to be the preferred partner in all language services in Finland. Your own academy can be an excellent source of content for both customer and employer marketing. To quote a customer: DelinguaLAB certainly does not make Delingua a less interesting company, far from it.
Co-creation
Even the best of companies cannot rest on their laurels, thinking that they have all the best people and resources. Development must be carried out continuously.
DelinguaLAB offers a great opportunity for co-creation with young talents. We get to both develop as an employer and to create something new. It is not only that we have something to give but that we are open to fresh insights into our established practices.
Although universities provide high-quality learning, the language service industry is undergoing such a rapid and profound transformation that it is difficult to keep up. Nowadays, it is increasingly rare that the material to be translated would come as traditional Word files, the pace of translation required in working life is more intense and hardly anything is translated without language technology tools. For many tasks that are part of the everyday routine for us, there is no specific training available and it may be that new graduates do not have a clear idea of what work in our business really is like.
DelinguaLAB is the best solution we have come up with to tackle these challenges. We are happy to tell more about our experiences to other companies who want to set up their own academy.
P.S. In fact, we believe that future talents should be encouraged even before they go to university. That is why we have started cooperating with Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages . This year, we awarded scholarships to highly accomplished language students.
