Strømmen does a lot more than teach languages privately, recently a funny thing happened that made me realize how technology has changed the way businesses operate and the need for the services that we provide. A few years back Strømmen began working for a company (which shall remain unnamed) that makes virtual slot machine software. We first started our working relationship with a fellow in Ohio that needed a few video games translated into Italian. Being my fortè I handled the text strings personally, learning a lot of Italian gambling terminology in the process. Based on our good work, we soon followed up with German, Norwegian and Swedish for the company’s entire game line-up. I found the idea of localizing these games very exciting; an unspoken collaboration that would make our client’s games more successful in smokey Norwegian cafes, swedish dive bars, and Italian game rooms.
Over the years we have continued to help the company both attract more clientele through professional email translation, and more users, through video-game translation. One day I received an email asking if I could do an in-person interpretation for a SKYPE teleconference. I was a little taken aback, because I believed this company to be based in Ohio and explained that I didn’t think the session to be feasible. I was surprised to find out that another employee of the company worked from home only a few blocks from my office in Los Angeles. This international software development team is spread across the globe working from home offices. The internet allows for an almost surreal amount of coincidence, our services being found through a new york web-posting by a client in Ohio, eventually leading me to an in-person meeting 5 minutes away. I guess the moral of this story is that the world is small, and the internet allows for more opportunities to for that to be realized.
One day, while trying to compose a complete invoice, I had a difficult time pulling up an address, and decided to use the email address, name, and phone number instead.