The time has come for my second blog entry – I am now older, wiser and more experienced, and will try and go into more detail about the actual „work“ part of my internship rather than the plentiful fiestas and siestas (although there might be a tiny bit of that as well 🙂 ).
Initially, I started at the Translation department, where my task was what I like to call „business localization“, mainly consisting of adapting web site content to a different market (in my case, Russian).
My job, as the name of the department suggests, mainly consisted of translating various travel-related material into Russian, starting from destinations and places of interest to detailed itinerary descriptions.
What seemed a pretty manageable task appeared to have quite a few underwater currents – how do I translate location names such as of lake „Tătlăgeac“ in Romania, for example? Seems easy at first – just transliterate that thing into Cyrillic and done! However, it appeared to not be so easy – in order to properly transliterate, I first had to learn the rules of Romanian pronunciation, then infer several possible ways of transliteration, then google each of them to see which one is most common. Oftentimes the location would be so obscure, that it simply doesn’t exist on the „Russian Internet“, so I was in charge of literally „putting things on the map“ for the first time. I guess this is as close to a modern-day Columbus as it gets.
Needless to say, the job taught me quite a few unexpected skills – such as phonetic competences in languages ranging from Eastern European to Asian, including Mandarin and Mongolian. I also greatly expanded my English vocabulary – when translating a bit about services on board a cruise ship, I learned that the word „baby“ in „baby grand piano“ refers to the grand pianos small size, and that something called a „pillow menu“ is an actual thing – it literally is a menu, but instead of food and drink you get to order a pillow to your liking. If I ever hold one in my hands with the intention of using it for its direct purpose, I will consider myself a very accomplished individual.
There were, of course a few fun difficulties here and there, for example, how do I deal with establishment names such as „Go Ape“ bar or „Thunderballz“ bowling alley? Do I actually translate them? That would make the names turn into a Russian version of „Du Spinnst!“ or „Sturm-Bälle“, which you can imagine sounds a bit odd. If I transliterate them according to the standard procedure, however, it completely eliminates the intended meaning, which is also not so great. I did manage to work things out, and my supervisors were usually quite helpful here, but it did make for a few fun jokes.
After a month of 40-minute bus rides to the Translation office I got „promoted“ to the Content department at the main headquarters of the company much closer to the city center. Here new challenges awaited – I am now responsible for creating and controlling the entire hotel network in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Sochi. I am not familiar with the precise statistics, but I believe they go something like this: 99.9% of all tourism in Russia usually involves visiting one of these three cities. Consequently, 99.9% of all Russian hotels, pensions, guest houses and the like are also located there. And who do you think is going to take care of sorting them all out, making them look presentable online and grouping them into regions on the map? Correct – it’s going to be me. So, this is pretty much the task I am working away at right now. Another two weeks to go and another two cities on the way.
The corporate culture here is quite friendly – my new supervisor is open to my comments and questions, and we make it work even despite the slight language barrier. Being a Spanish office, it sometimes gets a bit loud and out of control, but I’ve learned to embrace it as a part of the full cultural immersion experience. Sometimes things happen that make my head turn – for example, door-to-door sales people walking in like they own the place and selling kitchen knife sets and rejuvenating creams to the employees. It isn’t so much the fact of their appearance that surprises me, but the excitement and stir they cause – I have never seen them leave empty-handed –, but oh well, who wouldn’t want a full kitchen set for a mere 12 euros?!
Outside of work I am enjoying summer time slowly rolling into the beautiful Costa del Sol. How crazy is it to be able to go for a stroll on the beach after work? Have some beer and tapas by the harbor? Go out with friends and friends of friends and people those friends met through other acquaintances? Get juicy fresh fruit at the corner shop down the street? Oh Malaga, thou hast stolen my heart and thou ain’t giving it back in the foreseeable future.
Stay tuned for my last writing piece as the closing credits for my internship roll in to a fiery Latin soundtrack in just a couple of blissful weeks. Hasta la próxima!