Spring is shyly making its way to Europe and the hints of warmth make it possible for BeatBabel’s team members to leave sunny San Diego and head out for another bright scenario in none other than Seville, Spain. It seems that multiculturalism and a rich historical background are becoming somewhat of a requisite for the GALA host cities (Seville, Istanbul… ok, you too Miami). The yearly conference is less than a week away, and there is an undeniable air of excited anticipation. We are always thrilled to attend the GALA conferences, but this year is even more special for us, for several reasons.
First of all, our very own Marie Flacassier, BeatBabel’s COO and the office’s “quickest click in the west,” is also the Program Committee Chair for this year’s conference. Along with the other committee members, she has been in charge of helping organize the conference, putting the program together, and making sure that attendees get to see the best speakers and the most original and insightful presentations. She will be speaking, moderating, ensuring that everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, and that the conference is ultimately a big success! Both her and our CEO, Burckhardt Rueffer, are looking forward to networking around as much as possible and hearing about all the interesting ideas that will be raised during the conference. Of course they are also eager to experience the magic of Andalusia, getting to see La Giralda and the Alcázar complex of royal palaces… Perhaps a day trip after the conference is over, to see the magnificent Alhambra in Granada...
A snapshot of our submission to the GALA film fest!
The second reason this year’s conference is so special for us is that we’ve made our comeback at the GALA Film Fest! Our submission this year is meant to be a clever, funny play on the ongoing Machine Translation vs Human Translation debate, inspired by the splendid Wes Anderson style. The name of our video is “The Interview” (no relation whatsoever to the infamous Sony production) and we are hoping to add a little bit of comedy to the debate, taking a couple of stabs at both positions in the discussion and presenting more questions than answers. On a side note, Wes Anderson took home 4 Academy Awards for his “Grand Budapest Hotel”; we hope to follow his footsteps in this year’s Film Fest!
Interesting fact: GALA also organizes the “Rising Star Video Contest” for students in translation, localization, and interpreting programs around the world. The winners get a free pass to GALA’s Language of Business conference. Last year’s winner from the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares UAH (Madrid, Spain,) Miguel Sevener, is currently a rising star at BeatBabel with the role of Jr. Project Manager; and we are proud to announce that he was also the brilliant director of our film this year. Check out the still image on this blog, and be sure to see the video on our site next week!
BeatBabel will be spreading out, over the next couple of weeks, but the office in San Diego will remain business as usual. Those of us staying put at the home base will continue to take care of projects and clients, enjoying the new offices, getting to know the local eateries a little better and maybe even putting a couple of Klimt prints up on our walls! As you might remember, we recently moved to a bigger office in the heart of San Diego’s financial district, just next to the vibrant neighborhood of Little Italy and downtown. Whether it’s in Seville or San Diego, don’t forget to stop by and say hi! We look forward to seeing you.
The BeatBabel team