Every living being is capable of communicating with its kind. The communication system is used to express emotions, views, warnings and more. Plants communicate through a complex chemical and root system, animals of the same kind communicate in howls, growls, groans, roars, grunts and other sounds. When it comes to human beings, it is even more complex and peculiar to their way of communication as it comes through languages. Language is known to change according to the region, country, state and even cities. This world is home to over five thousand languages.
A Prolific Pioneer
As the world comes closer over trade, entertainment, the social media and other aspects, crossing the language barrier is important. Being global or local isn’t sufficient. People and business now need to go Glocal and learning another language or the language of the target customer goes a long way in helping the cause. While it is not easy for a person to know all the languages, thankfully there are a few who have taken the matter into their capable hands. Madhuri Datar, a Masters in French, proficient in German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, English, Hindi, Marathi and many more, set up the Language Department at the Kirloskar Group and found a niche market and a service that remained untapped in the 1970s. Her earlier translation and interpretation experience dealing with foreign visitors while working with Criminal Investigation Department (CID), had her prepared for the arduous task ahead.
After completing several assignments for leading commercial and industrial units in both public and private sector throughout India on behalf of Kirloskar Consultants, she finally found her calling as the founder of Language Services Bureau (LSB) which she established on 2nd September 1979 in Pune. Her life and linguistic journey has been covered by many leading publishing and media houses and she has received several awards for her contributions to the industry.
The Company is now headed by her daughter Devaki (Datar) Kunte as its Head of Operations. A second-generation entrepreneur, Devaki is a linguist-entrepreneur who knows French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and basic Japanese. She has taught Translation Studies at French Post Graduate course in Pune University and has also studied Marketing Management.
Services Bridging the Communication Gap
A pioneer of Professional Interpretation & Translation services in India, Language Services Bureau specializes in technical translation and interpretation services. It provides a bouquet of language-related services and specializes in Technical Translations, Localization, Professional Interpretation services, Language training classes and Documentation.
The bureau provides high-quality authentic language (translation, interpretation, localization, training and documentation) services to help clients grow their business anywhere in the world by overcoming the language barrier and translate business ideas into profitability. It is uncompromising on matters of quality and timeline and maintains a zero-delay track record for many years. LSB upgrades itself by adding new services as per the times and demands of their customers. Employees being its biggest asset, it takes pride in selecting the best in business. Command on the target and source languages, knowledge in the domain of work, understanding of the target culture, mannerisms and etiquettes, a helping, open and positive mindset are all essential ingredients that make an employee at LSB. The company is focused on being a one stop-shop solution for any language requirement considering its experience and a vast range of languages offered, right from Assamese to Montenegrin and Tagalog to Swahili.
The Current Demand
Devaki notices that the demand for language services continues to grow rapidly with the emergence of free trade in the global economy. As companies conduct business transactions with one another, language services help them in overcoming the communication barrier. In an increasingly globalized world, localization also plays a very important role.
India is a densely multilingual country and the need for language experts with proficiency in Indian languages is growing with the penetration of mobiles and the internet. India is also a very important localization market where multilingual Indians working in varied foreign and Indian languages are available. Hence many LSPs and other foreign companies regularly outsource their work directly or through their own Indian representations. The future is bright for the Indian Language Industry since machine translation is still in a very nascent stage for the languages and requirement is very high. Devaki also points out that in terms of online content availability and translation into Indian languages, only 1% content online is in Indian languages.
The Future Plan
LSB’s future plans include skilling individuals and companies for a brighter future through its training programs. The year 2018-19 is its Ruby Jubilee –LSB is celebrating 40 years of operations, and various events have been planned throughout the year to highlight the importance of languages in different walks of life. It also plans to expand globally as a pioneering INDIAN LSP. Advising young entrepreneurs to “Keep learning, be true to yourself, under-commit and over-deliver”, Devaki and LSB continue on its mission to conduct business in an ethical, transparent and sustainable manner and see its employees grow with the company while working towards continued customer satisfaction.
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Source :-The 10 Most Admired Language Service Provider Companies
