Marking 5 Years with Translatus

by Matthew Miodonski

Last Wednesday, August 8, 2007, I marked my 5^th year with Translatus Inc. While I hope to raise a glass of something bubbly, be it champagne or beer, this week when I am back in Prague with those I have worked with for much, if not all, of those 5 years, in the meantime I have been reminiscing about different experiences over the past 5 years.

As one more American in Prague looking for a job teaching English, I came across an ad in the now-defunct Prague Pill after 3 fruitless months of unemployment. (Just as, I’m sure, many people in the Northern Hemisphere forget that when it’s winter where they live, it is summer in Southern Hemisphere, I apparently forgot that when it is almost summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is still almost summer when you go to a different part of the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, there was no one to teach.)

My first-ever meeting was with Porsche AG two months after taking the job. Yes, that Porsche. My Sales Director and boss at the time, an Irishman named Mathew (I won’t say “also named …” as his and others’ use of one “t” ruins it for the rest of us) handled most of the meeting, as I trembled only a few feet away. My following two meetings were also stressful, but I was slowly learning.

Marktredwitz, Germany. That is a town I will never forget. You see, after a trip to see Grundig in Nürnberg, I was returning via Germany’s truly excellent rail system, but there was a connection I was supposed to make to get back to Prague the town before Marktredwitz. I slept through it. Although Germany’s rail network is truly wonderful and extensive and clean and reliable, it had one too few trips going from Marktredwitz to Prague that evening—I ended up spending a good part of the afternoon and night stadtbummeln in the small burgh, and I slept on a bench at the train station. I caught the next train to Prague at about 4:30AM in the morning.

They were not all mishaps. Just two months after my meeting with Porsche AG, I met with some very nice women at MAXDATA in Marl, Germany. MAXDATA is still one of our most important clients, and they have been a genuine joy to work with. Though I am not in touch as often as I used to be (or should be) from here in Chicago, while living in Prague I estimate that I visited them at least a dozen times, each time a pleasure.

There was the time my airline went out of business after a 4-hour strike by airport workers in Milan. (As well as the time I met a nice German girl on the resultant 23-hour train back to Prague.) The time I, horrifyingly, thought it would be funny to change the salutation of a new employee’s email to something less-than-flattering thinking she would catch it in time. (She did not catch it—how was she to know her new boss could be so, well, stupid?—but, through some miracle, the recipient did not even notice. That (forgiving) employee has since become our most productive sales person in the relatively short, but memorable, history of the company.

There was the old one-room office where a young sales team (I was one of two original members of said team) slowly grew … as the rest of the office heard them grow with telephone sales blunders: “Do you speak English? [Person on the other end apparently answers in the affirmative] Great! So do I!!” There were lean times as the company experienced what many start-ups endure. There were triumphant times as we stabilized and grew, new Sales and Operations team members making—and leaving—their mark. There were the opportunities to travel through Europe on business: Brussels, Munich, Köln, Geneva, Milan, driving on the Autobahn in rented 4-valve Škodas and Opels …

… Fantastic memories, all.

As mentioned at the beginning of this entry, I will be back in Prague later this week to meet with the new team members, and you will hear from me again on what the next five years might bring.

Cheers.

Translatus Chicago Welcomes Veronika Svobodová

by Matthew Miodonski

Translatus would like to welcome Veronika Svobodová to its Chicago office.

Veronika is an alumna of La Salle University, Philadelphia with an M.A. in Professional Communication and Public Relations. She is a native Czech with international experience acquired through living in different countries of the world, including Indonesia and Greece. Before joining Translatus, Veronika worked in the Cultural Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Prague.Veronika, who has been with the company for over one year, makes the move from Translatus’ Prague Operations Department where she served as a Project Manager. As North American Account Manager, she will assist with Translatus’ North American Sales efforts and will manage the translation needs of North American clients.

While Veronika is new to the United States, her unique background of living abroad for much of her life, as well as her learning new cultures in various locales, will suit her well in her efforts from the U.S.

Everyone at Translatus wishes Veronika well, as we know she will be successful in her North American endeavors and will enjoy her time in Chicago.

In the next few weeks, Veronika will share some of her experiences and impressions of the United States.

For more information about Translatus in the United States, please contact:

Matthew Miodonski

President, North American Division

Email: mmiodonski@translatus.com

Tel: +1 773 603 0091

www.translatus.com

Translatus Opens New Office in Chicago

by Matthew Miodonski

President, North American Division

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Translatus has opened a new North American office on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue at 333 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1000. As a native Chicagoan, this news is particularly exciting for me to share!

Chicagoans feel a great deal of civic pride for this city for many reasons. Chicago has undergone a multitude of staggering changes over the past 15 years. Chicago is now considered among the most important and influential cities on the globe. Construction is booming throughout the city. Neighborhoods are being revitalized. Companies like Boeing and United Airlines have made downtown Chicago their home. Internationally known companies like McDonald’s, Motorola and BP Amoco also have their international or national headquarters in the area.

Translatus Inc.'s new North American headquarters in Chicago, at 333 N. Michigan Ave. The building at the center-right, with the crown protruding over the John Hancock center's anttenae, holds Translatus' office at Suite 1000.

The Chicago area (known as “Chicagoland” to locals) has been the Top Metro for new corporate investments and expansions for 5 of the last 6 years. Chicago was the first U.S. city highlighted by China’s EXIT magazine, the only magazine associated with the China National Tourism Association. The recently re-elected mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, has made great efforts in promoting the city to the emerging Chinese markets. (From World Business Chicago.)

This picture was taken about two blocks from Translatus’ office from the Michigan AvenueBridge over the Chicago River. The new Trump Tower Chicago, at right, illustrates the building boom underway in Chicago. The building designed in the style of classical Greek architecture is United Airlines’ new corporate headquarters.

It has been an exhilarating first few weeks in such an energetic and inspiring setting. I believe Chicago, as the United States’ transportation hub, and one of the great transportation centers of the world, is the perfect spot for Translatus to be in North America. I look forward to the growth that Translatus will achieve in the Windy City!

From the base of 333 N. Michigan Ave— immediately at right— one can see three of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The neo-Gothic flying buttresses of Tribune Tower, home of the Tribune Co.; the terra cotta façade of the Wrigley Building, home of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company; and, further in the distance, the John Hancock Center, with its tapered sides, and revolutionary external ‘X’-bracing.

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Mr. Miodonski graduated from the college of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.A. in Rhetoric, as well as a Minor in Germanic Studies. He has over 6 years of experience in customer service and sales roles, including almost 4 years in sales and account management for Translatus.

For more information about Translatus in the United States, please contact:

Matthew Miodonski

President, North American Division

Email: mmiodonski@translatus.com

Tel: +1 773 603 0091

www.translatus.com