Chang Su

Chang Su is a conference interpreter with over 3 years of experience in translating and conference interpreting. Chang shares his most interesting experience in the business so far, his motivations for becoming an interpreter, and how he got started with KUDO.

How did you become an interpreter?

I studied Spanish Literature at university, and I wanted to pursue a language-related career. Spanish has always been my passion. When someone asked me about my graduation plans, I answered, “As long as it’s Spanish-related, I would be super happy.” In the end, I decided to get a master’s degree in translation and interpretation. Even though Spanish is considered my C language when I’m interpreting, I’m still happy to use my language skills when working.

How did you become acquainted with KUDO?

While I was at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey for a semester as a Translation and Localization student, I heard of Ewandro Magalhaes’s ‘Career Bootcamp.’ After I graduated from Bath, I contacted KUDO and eventually started my work from home journey.

What is your most interesting experience in the industry?

When I graduated, all in-person meetings were canceled, and Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) became a trend in the interpreting community. Beginning my career as an interpreter when the entire industry was being somewhat redefined was a very interesting experience for me. I was extremely grateful that I could start my career here at KUDO as an in-house interpreter because it gave me a lot of exposure to the industry’s inner workings. I’ve learned a lot from our interpreters, just from staffing assignments. I can pick up interpreting best practices and learn how to better communicate with the participants, operators, and project managers.

During one of our meetings, the client had subpar sound quality and slow internet speed. However, all of the interpreters showed their understanding, had a pleasant chat with our KUDO operator, and created a positive vibe. Either as an interpreter or an operator, we can create a positive vibe while technicians fix the problem. It’s these small wins that really have an impact on me.

What is your role at KUDO, and how has interpreting prepared you for it?

I’m a Project Manager and Conference Interpreter at KUDO. Simultaneous interpretation is a must-have skill for this role as we support sales demos, conferences, and training daily. I’m mainly supporting demos in English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese combinations. Whenever our sales colleagues ask clients to click on the Language Selector and listen to another language, our clients think we are doing magic on the platform since they hear our sales colleagues in another language. It’s also lovely to see that our support can help clients break language barriers in their internal training, board meetings, and global town halls.