ERIKA DE COLLE

Meet our Translation & Communications Specialist Erika

It’s time to introduce another star from Team MD! Say hi to Erika, our talented Translation & Communications Specialist 👋

As a growing company with great ambitions, someone structured is needed to make sure that language keeps up with development. At Maya Delorez, that person is Erika. Besides being somewhat of a linguistic genius, she is also an inspiring colleague with a structured way of working, a positive mindset and an impressive speed on the keys. At MD we all agree: every company should have an Erika on board!

Tell us a little about yourself, who is Erika?
“She’s a multilingual language geek with a love for nature and, of course, horses! I was born in Italy, grew up in Germany and chose Sweden as my new home in 2021. Since I grew up bilingual, mediating between languages and cultures has always been a part of me, and I knew pretty early on in life that I wanted to be a translator. I’ve been riding ever since I was a kid and I hope to soon be able to pick it up again here in Sweden. Fun fact: While I started out as an English rider when I was little, I switched to Western as an adult. And at the moment, I’m the only Western rider at MD. Yee-haw!”

What does it mean to work as a T&C specialist at Maya Delorez?
“It means that I’m basically responsible for everything language-related. You being able to read this text in several languages, for example. I take care of German translations, Swedish and English are also done in-house. For the other languages, we have an incredible team of freelance translators that help us translate into all the languages we have on our page.  So apart from being the German translator at MD, I’m responsible for planning and coordinating translation projects as well as the quality assurance of all of MD’s translated content. Also, I often help the MD team with language-related issues and questions.”

How did you end up in Sweden and at Maya Delorez?
“In August 2017, I came to Sweden for the first time ever and I immediately fell in love with the country, its nature and – as a linguist – with the melodic language that is Swedish. Then, during my Master’s in Translation Studies, I could choose a fourth language to study and one of the options was Swedish. So of course I chose Swedish and traveled A LOT to Sweden in the following years. When I was done with my university studies in the fall of 2020, I decided that – why not? – I wanted to move to Sweden and see how it is to actually live there. So I checked for jobs and stumbled upon this company called Maya Delorez that was looking for a German-speaking colleague with horsey experience. I sent my application, had my job interview, moved to Uppsala in January of 2021 – and the rest is history!”

What does an average day look like? Examples of work tasks?
“An average day starts with a cup of tea and checking the translation schedule for the upcoming days and week. Who in the team needs which texts translated, into which languages and when does it have to be done? As soon as everything is clear, I set up translation projects, assign the different languages to our team of freelancers and then get started with the German translation myself. I’d say these are my main tasks every week. I also proofread a lot and write articles for our website from time to time. And when needed, I help my colleagues in Customer Service with questions from our German-speaking customers.”

What challenges do you face in your role at Maya Delorez?
“Well, localizing our entire website into several languages is definitely a continuous challenge. But one I find super fun! I had always worked as a translator, but at MD it’s the first time I actually oversee the entire process from source text to finished product. Consistency in terminology is always a big issue when translating such large volumes of text. As I’m a rider myself, I grew up with terms like half halt, halter and hackamore, so for me personally, translating for MD usually comes quite naturally. The challenge was to find a dedicated team of freelance translators that would help us identify the correct equestrian terminology, achieve consistency and that would hit the typical MD vibe in their respective target languages. And I believe we have absolutely succeeded in that!”

What do you like most about your job?
“Surely that MD is led and run by young, talented women. It’s cool to be part of a young company that has lots of potential. And apart from that, I’m super happy that my job allows me to be pedantic about language and pick apart texts, haha. I love writing, I love being creative with language, and I especially love finding the PERFECT words to convey a message. So I find it super cool that geeking out over language is my actual job and that people appreciate me for doing it. Love it!”