The Gotham Translator: Interview with Celine Imbaud

09/10/2010

Did you ever wonder what it’s like to start your own translation company? Or what the differences between the US and the European language service markets might be?

The Gotham Translator interviewed Celine Imbaud, the founder of ITC Global Translations Inc., who agreed to give us a glimpse of her fastpaced world at the head of a successful translation agency. She also talked about her crosscultural experiences working in the language industry on both sides of the Atlantic.

Celine graduated from The University of Lyon and, thanks to an exchange program, received an MBA in international business from the UNCC of Charlotte, NC. After various jobs in the US and France, she decided to set up her own translation company in France in January 1999. Having worked first in the food industry and then in business real estate, her husband is now helping grow ITC’s client portfolio here in the US.

The Gotham Translator: What year did you get your MBA and what gave you the idea to work for a translation agency? Did you already have prior experience with translation and interpreting?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I graduated in 1996. I then moved to Florida to follow my husband who opened a restaurant there. I first worked as an international assistant for a scientific instrument manufacturer and then met an American woman who owned a translation company. She was looking for a marketing/sales manager and offered me the job. I worked there for a couple of years and when I returned to France in November 1998, I decided to start a translation company. It is the love of languages, strong relationships with various translators and this experience in Florida that motivated me to work in this field.

The Gotham Translator: Did you know right away that you wanted to start your own translation agency / company? Why did you do it in France and not in the US? From what I understand, you got your MBA in the US and started your first agency in France?

Celine Imbaud ITC: For personal reasons, we wanted to move back to France and have our children there. I did not know anything about the translation market in France but since I enjoyed this business so much in the US, I decided it was worth trying to offer the same kind of services to French companies. It turned out to be quite challenging but the company has grown since then!

The Gotham Translator: What was your mission statement or your personal goal in starting a translation company?

Celine Imbaud ITC: First, I wanted to offer the best quality and best service possible. This is why my first goal was to get in touch with freelancers who had the same view of this business. As for the personal aspect, being able to make my own decisions (and mistakes!) as well as running my business my way was very valuable for me. I am quite an independent person!

The Gotham Translator: How would you describe your experience starting up a business in France from the legal and fiscal point of view? Was it tough, challenging, a mere formality?

Celine Imbaud ITC: Very challenging! Although things have changed a bit because the government is really trying to motivate people to set up their business and make it easier for them, back then, you had to go through a lot of trouble to start a company. Nothing could be done online so you had to go from one office to another, filling in all kinds of documents and if one was missing, you had to stay in line all over again! All offices were independent from one another instead of having one common place where you could do all the required registrations. A little bit of a headache but I finally did it!

The Gotham Translator: Was your American MBA an asset in starting a business in France and, if so, why?

Celine Imbaud ITC: Yes it was, as I learned how to use various financial, accounting and marketing tools to manage my business. One thing that the MBA and the people I worked with taught me is how much emphasis US companies put on customer service compared to France. Even though you still get good service in France, I have to say that here, in the US, clients’ needs are really taken into account and everything is done to please them.

The Gotham Translator: Do you know many other translation agency owners/founders with an MBA?

Celine Imbaud ITC: No, not really. As a matter of fact, most translation agency owners I know are in France and they mostly have a business background and some others are translators. Since we are fairly new in the US market, I did not get a chance to meet many translation agency owners here yet.

The Gotham Translator: How big was your company in the beginning? How many inhouse employees and how many freelancers did you end up employing over the years?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I started by myself, in a small room! Then, as I got more and more projects, I hired a translator as a project manager. Then, as we got even more work, I hired another translator and that went on and on until today. I now have 5 translators/project managers in house, 1 sales person in France and 2 in the US, and 1 administrative assistant in France and one in the US. As well as close to 100 freelancers whom we work with on a very regular basis.

The Gotham Translator: How does your French agency stand out from other translation agencies in France? Do you think you had a different approach to the business coming with an American MBA?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I think our main strength is the quality of our services and the fact that we respond very quickly to our clients’ requests. And this is what I brought back from the American way of doing business when I went back to France.

The Gotham Translator: How fast did you grow? Did your location have any strategic importance in the success of your company?

Celine Imbaud ITC: It is always hard to grow…you don’t want to grow too fast but at the same time, you have to adapt your size to your clients’ expectations. As for the location, I don’t think it played a role as all is done by email. In Lyon, thanks to the TGV, we are only 2 hours away from Paris so we can visit clients in Paris very easily. However, having offices in both Europe and the US is a real asset as we can ‘use’ the time difference to be even quicker to respond.

The Gotham Translator: Where did you look for your subcontractor base? What were your standards in choosing your translators/interpreters?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I first started with translators I knew. Then, little by little, I guess they started to talk about us and as you know, the translation world is a small world so translators heard about us and began to submit their resumes. We do test all translators who submit their resume. Their tests are proofed either inhouse or by senior translators and, based upon the test, we accept their application or not. After, since we do proof all translations inhouse, we give them a regular feedback on their work. And I think they really enjoy that. As a matter of fact, we did a survey among our translators earlier this year (120 translators were surveyed and 92 of them responded ie a 76.6% response rate) and 90% of them said they really enjoyed working with ITC because we were very quick to respond to their questions and help them in completing their translation assignments. 100% of them would recommend other translators to work with us. We were very happy to see those results as we always try to be as helpful as possible…

The Gotham Translator: How did you go about advertising your services in France? Are French companies (your clients – the project donors) used to employing language professionals or are most still convinced that they can get it all done inhouse, by the “bilingual” secretary?

Celine Imbaud ITC: Well, as part of the EUATC and CNET (The French National Chamber of Translation Agencies), one of our main goals is to “educate” our clients so they understand that translation services represent an investment and not a cost for the company. So we really emphasize the fact that we want to work on a long term with a company, helping them to build dedicated glossaries and translation memories. But of course, as everybody knows, we always encounter companies for which the price is the main factor…

The Gotham Translator: How is translation / interpreting perceived in France as a profession (not just by other industries but by the society at large)? What about other European countries?

Celine Imbaud ITC: In France, a translator is still somewhat considered as a “secretary”. People have a hard time understanding that translating requires a high level of education and it is a full time job. This reasoning is, in my opinion, even stronger in the Southern European countries like Spain and Italy. On the contrary, the translators in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Finland seem to be able to better value their services…

The Gotham Translator: What made you come back to the US and start an offshoot of your company here?

Celine Imbaud ITC: First, we know the US market is so big, we thought there would be some opportunities for us…Also, I wanted my two children to learn another language and get exposed to other cultures…

The Gotham Translator: Are the legalities of starting a company in the US easier? Or is that just an misconception?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I have to say it is much easier as almost everything can be done in one place and via internet. The only difficult part is when you try to set up a company as foreigners but we had some help there.

The Gotham Translator: How would you compare your French/European clients to US clients? Are they more or less equal in terms of what they expect from your services? Or do they have different demands?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I would say they are pretty much the same, with always very tight deadlines! Also, they target obviously more South America than our European clients. I also find that our US clients feel reassured by the fact that they know that their translations intended for the European market are done in Europe.

The Gotham Translator: What are, in your opinion, the most obvious cultural differences between the language services industry in Europe and here in the United States?

Celine Imbaud ITC: It appears to me that in the US, the market is a little bit more “structured” than in Europe. Also, you find here very large translation companies whereas, there are only a few in France. On the other hand, it is the much smaller number of players on the French market that allows us to meet on a regular basis and agree on several aspects of the translation services. And I really enjoy meeting with “competitors” as we all learn from one another and it gives us a sense of “belonging” to a true business sector. In France, we are currently working on developing a translationdedicated standard.

The Gotham Translator: How easy is it to penetrate the market and establish yourself here as opposed to in France?

Celine Imbaud ITC: It is a bit more complicated here as nobody answers their phone! It is much harder to get to talk to someone here and thus, marketing is tougher. On the other hand, since we already have a strong reputation in Europe, we can show US leads our experience and previous projects.

The Gotham Translator: How would you compare your working relationship with your French/British subcontractor translators and their American equivalents? What about other nationalities? Any differences you can think of?

Celine Imbaud ITC: I don’t find a real difference between European and American translators. Of course, it is always a challenge to adapt to every translator’s culture and habits but overall, I find that professional translators are very reliable and helpful, no matter where they are in the world.

The Gotham Translator: Do you have any advice to give to those planning on starting up their own business?

Celine Imbaud ITC: You have to be patient and not give up even when it becomes really challenging! Also, the key I think is to be able to build strong relationships with translators and the clients so we can all work as a team to achieve quality translations.

The Gotham Translator: What about freelancers who might be interested in working for you?

Celine Imbaud ITC: We are always looking to work with reliable and quality translators and proofreaders. Also, we are always looking for specialized translators in the medical and technical fields. Translators who have strong writing skills are also more than welcome! They can contact us through our email address found on our websites www.itcfrance.com and www.itcglobal translations.com.

ABOUT ITC

ITC is a translation company able to provide highly specialized technical, scientific, and communication translation services for over 25 languages.
With our 11 years of experience working for international companies and our offices in Europe and the United States, we have built a solid reputation as well as a client list including such well known organizations as the World Health Organization (WHO), Sanofi, l’Oreal, Publicis, Reebok and Toyota, to name a few.