InterpreTalk Mobile App - On-Demand Telephonic Interpretation for Android and iPhone

By ClientSide News Magazine

www.clientsidenews.com

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Client Side News interviews the key InterpreTalk Mobile app architect Mauricio Vicente of Language Services Associates

CSN – Mauricio, can you describe how this app works?

Mauricio – Sure. With this application, mobile users will be able to connect to a live telephonic interpreter in less than 30 seconds. All users need to do is download this app from the iPhone App store or Android Market, enter their contact and billing information, select their desired language from the list of languages on the screen and click on the “connect interpreter” button. Once the interpreter is on the line, the user will have the option to either dial out to a third party or put the phone on speaker to begin the conversation. It’s as simple as that.

CSN – Sounds easy enough, what does LSA hope to accomplish with the launch of InterpreTalk Mobile?

Mauricio – With the launch of InterpreTalk Mobile, we will be able to continue on LSA’s mission to facilitate foreign language communication and eliminate multicultural communication barriers worldwide through cutting-edge technology solutions. We are very excited that consumers will now have the opportunity to benefit from our premier Interpreting by Telephone service.

CSN – What makes your app different from other language apps on the market?

Mauricio – While there are many apps available for translation services, there are very few apps for live telephonic interpretation support. That being said, there are several features that make our app stand apart from the competition. For starters, InterpreTalk Mobile is the first on demand telephonic interpretation app available for both the iPhone and Android devices. Second, we offer a competitive per-minute rate of $2.89. Third, our app is available in 15 language offerings, which is more than many of the other applications out there. And finally, we have one of the fastest connect times available. After the user clicks on the “connect interpreter” button, he or she will be connected to an interpreter within just 30 seconds.

CSN – Which languages are available now and will you be adding more language offerings in the near future?

Mauricio – We are currently offering live telephonic interpretation support through InterpreTalk Mobile for a total of 15 languages; Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, French, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Urdu and Vietnamese. We absolutely plan on adding more languages in the near future, depending on market demand.

CSN – What were the key factors in determining those languages as your initial 15?

Mauricio – These languages represent more than 80% of our most requested languages.

CSN – Who can benefit through using the app?

Mauricio – Pretty much anyone who is struggling with a language barrier will benefit from InterpreTalk Mobile - from a business professional conducting a meeting with a global client to a student traveling abroad for his or her studies to a family hosting a visitor with limited English speaking capabilities. In all of these situations, InterpreTalk Mobile will ensure effective and accurate communication for all parties involved.

Allow me to provide you with a brief scenario. Let’s say you’re traveling abroad for a business trip and when you check into your hotel you realize the front desk clerk doesn’t speak English. All you need to do in that situation is download our app, quickly enter your contact and billing info, select your desired language from the language list, click on the “connect interpreter” button and put the phone on speaker. The interpreter will begin facilitating the conversation immediately.

CSN – Who do you anticipate this service to be most popular with and why?

Mauricio – We expect this application will be most popular with the general consumer traveler who comes across a language barrier of some sort. We also anticipate this application being very popular with global business professionals – those who are constantly conducting business deals, whether on the golf course or at a restaurant, and need on-demand live telephonic interpretation support to ensure accurate communication.

CSN – In order to be accessible abroad via mobile, smart phone your phone would typically have to conform to foreign cell network protocols and international rates would generally apply. Is this the case with your new app, or is it an integrated VOIP application? Or both, considering you would be limited by network access with the VOIP option?

Mauricio – We designed our app to work with the phone application that comes with the smart phone. When people travel overseas, they usually activate an international roaming plan with their carriers, which enables them to place and receive calls when they are not in their home countries. The carriers take care of making sure the device will be able to register to a local cell phone network. We don’t discard having a VOIP option in the future but we would like to make sure that the quality of the call is sufficient for the interpreter to be able to do a good job.

CSN – What will LSA’s marketing and promotional approach be for this app?

Mauricio – LSA’s Marketing Department is in the process of executing a comprehensive PR and marketing campaign in an attempt to generate awareness and build excitement around this new app. In addition to participating in media relations interviews, such as this one, we will be reaching out to bloggers and technology writers with free promo codes and executing a number of social media tactics.

CSN – What’s in the future horizon for InterpreTalk Mobile?

Mauricio – We definitely plan to make upgrades to our app in the very near future. For starters, we hope to add more languages of limited diffusion to expand our audience base. We are also exploring the idea of creating an app for the Blackberry. Finally, we are hoping to make customer-specific enhancements per industry vertical. Our Research & Development team will continue monitoring the marketplace to see what upgrades make the most sense – so stay tuned!

Want to try it?

Here is the link to download INTERPRETALK® Mobile from the iPhone App Store - http://itunes.apple.com/app/interpretalk/id392084843?mt=8

Published - November 2010

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