GALA Champion Aki Ito

In this series of interviews, GALA members share their insights on the pursuit of globalization & localization.

This month's GALA Champion is Aki Ito.

For more from GALA Experts, subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Starting out in localization

After leaving Dell I had a really bad job. It was so bad that I had to leave the company before lining up the next full-time job. Although I was in sales with Dell, I did some translation and interpretation work because I was working in both U.S. and Japan. I sent my resume to local translation agencies with a hope that will get some projects until I find the next full-time job. I got a project from one agency, and eventually they offered me a full-time position as the Asian Language Manager. Since I was looking for a full-time job, I thought I should take it until I find my "real" next full-time job. But I fell in love with the work and the industry and decided to stay.

Joining GALA

I wanted to do something bigger than just working for an LSP. I wanted to contribute at the industry level. When I first attended a GALA's meeting in 2004 I thought this was it.

Favorite GALA event/program and why

My favorite program is the GALA Local Networking Event... because I invented it! It started like this. I used to travel a lot, but I hated to have meals alone. So I contacted GALA members in my destinations and had gatherings. It turned out that it was beneficial for those locals because not everyone can attend industry conferences.

Why join GALA? Take a look at the member benefits.

If you had a magic wand and could reimagine a new business model for our industry, what would it look like?

I would imagine an industry that enables everyone on this planet communicate with anyone with no language barrier and no time lag. I know I am not the one that will make that vision into reality, but if we want to challenge ourselves and be truly innovative, I think our ultimate goal should be creating a world where no one needs translation services and just do what they want to do with no language barriers.

When hiring new people, what are the essential skills and what are the new skills you are looking for?

Essential skills:

  • Being able to say hello and thank you
  • Skills to express yourself without being annoying
  • Skills to listen to people attentively
  • Skills to take memos about people's pain points and come up with some options to alleviate them
  • Solution selling skills to sell yourself to future employers, sell your department to VPs, sell your company to prospects, etc. without being a pushy salesperson.

New skills:

I don't know exactly what. It really depends. But I like candidates who can demonstrate to identify people's pain points because the answers to new skills you need is in there.

What does it take to persuade an organization that localization is really a worth investment?

I think it's a waste of time trying to persuade an organization if their CEO does not believe in localization. If you are a localization manager who is constantly having this battle inside your company, it's better to find another company that the CEO supports globalization and localization. If you are a salesperson at an LSP, it's quicker to find a potential customer whose CEO understands the importance of localization for their global expansion. If you think you can persuade people, you should think how you feel if someone tries to persuade you on something you are not that interested in.

What should we as an industry do about the misinformation and the hype surrounding AI? What is your organization doing about this?

As an industry, organizations like GALA should keep publishing the right information to avoid misinformation. As each company or individual, you have choices: get deeply involved, observe, and ignore. At LocalizationGuy, we either observe or ignore depending on the types of information around AI. Voice of the customer (or CEO's passion) should be the driver for your decision on how much to be involved.

What is a professional accomplishment you are proud of?

I served as a member of the GALA Board twice. I serviced as the Chair for a year during my tenure.

What is the best career advice you have received?

When I was working for Dell as a multi-national account rep, my sales manager told me, "salesperson is lucky because you get paid for getting 9 rejections out of 10 chances." He continued, "if you are a product engineer with that ratio, you are fired." Lesson learned: never afraid of rejections and keep moving your feet until you get what you want.

 

Sign up for our newsletter on globalization and localization matters.