Job Opportunities, Program Roles

Language Associate – Tamil, Translation Network, Production, Pratham-Shah PraDigi Innovation Center

About Pratham

Pratham was founded in 1995, to provide pre-school education to children in Mumbai slums. Over the last 29 years, Pratham has grown to be India’s largest NGO working to provide quality education to underprivileged youth and children in over 21 states and union territories across the country, with a range of interventions.

Pratham is a widely recognized organization, having received notable awards such as the WISE Prize for Innovation, Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Henry R Kravis Prize in Leadership, and the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year for Public Service. For more details, refer to www.pratham.org.

About Pratham-Shah PraDigi Innovation Center

PraDigi Center has produced over 10,000+ videos and 900+ learning resources in the last few years. These resources can be viewed at www.prathamopenschool.org. These resources have been deployed and monitored in many rural and urban communities. With each passing year, this repository of content – videos, games, and applications has grown to cater to the interests and engagement of children.

Translating videos into 14 regional languages and English helped us become relevant and accessible to learners in all states. In this effort to make engaging content reach learners across India, Pratham has been actively collaborating with youth-driven start-ups, content creators, and interest groups.

About the Role

We are looking for a language associate to support and oversee the end-to-end language translation & video production workflow of our translation network. This is a full-time, year-long contractual position.

Responsibilities

1. Translation/Review: Translation/Review of scripts of digital learning resources (videos, games, reading cards, remote course content, posters etc.) for varied age groups on various subjects as per the domains of preparation for school, work and life.

2. Managing Regional Language Translation Network

    • Overall Task management as per programmatic needs. You will be expected to prioritize translation/review and production as per timelines and ensure its completion within the specified timelines.
    • Ensuring all translators, reviewers & studio teams are abreast about the immediate and monthly targets through regular communication.
    • Resolving comments/queries from the translators, reviewers and studio teams through a smooth communication channel. 
    • Ensuring bottlenecks in the translation/review/video production pipeline are resolved timely so that the monthly targets are achieved.
    • Exploring avenues of collaboration with more studios, subject experts, translators and reviewers for your specific languages, thereby expanding the localization network. Also, while exploring prospective collaborations, negotiating and finalizing appropriate rates with studios, translators and reviewers is crucial.

3. Supporting the central team 

  • Maintaining a clear tracking strategy for each stage of content development in the respective language. Ensure delay at every stage w.r.t to all resources are avoided.
  • Ensuring this overall tracking data is updated on the dashboard with utmost clarity, making it presentable to the internal team as well as external stakeholders.
  • Coordinating with the technical team to ensure content is uploaded and made accessible on our digital platforms (Youtube Channel, Pratham Open School website etc) 
  • Keeping clear track of finances, developing quotations and MoUs, and coordinating with the accounts team to ensure regular and accurate payments are made to studios, translators and reviewers.

Desired qualifications and requirements

  • Basic Proficiency in Tamil, Hindi and English: In-depth grammatical knowledge of any language is not required, however, good enough knowledge for issue resolution is important.
  • Translation/Review Skills: Good command of the respective regional language along with English/Hindi to carry out basic translation or review in a specific subject or multiple subjects. Prior experience in translation/review of scripts and videos of digital resources is desirable.
  • Basic subject knowledge: In-depth knowledge of any subject is not required, however, basic knowledge of subject matter for resolution is important.
  • Technical Skills: MS Word, MS Excel, Google Suite Drive, Gen AI tools.
  • Project Management Skills: Ability to design and adapt through short and long-term strategies.

Essential Soft Skills

In this position, the soft skills written below are the most important:

  1. Should be proactive
  2. Must be comfortable with all accounts-related formalities and maintain a clear strategy to track & manage finances.
  3. Good communication skills for issue resolution and negotiation delivering effective feedback and articulation.
  4. Organization and multitasking.
  5. Willing to deal with ambiguity and learn on the job.

Application Process

  1. To apply for this position, please fill the Google form available at https://forms.gle/gnnNXur1mxXJoV3Z7
  2. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for the initial round of interview.
  3. Further shortlisted candidates will be required to submit an assignment and attend a final round of interview.

1. Current Résumé should contain:

  • Contact Information of the Applicant
  • Academic Background, universities attended/degrees acquired
  • Past work experience, highlighting relevant skills
  • Languages Spoken

2. Previous work samples of translation.

3. Statement of Purpose explaining why you are suitable for the position (Max 300 words). Also,  please share your thoughts on ‘Strengthening and Diversifying a Pan India Translation Network’, in the form of an essay. The standard script of the respective regional language should be used in the essay. 

Date of Joining: Immediate  

Salary: Negotiable as per the skills and experience. 

Note: Pratham is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workforce and consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age or disability. We encourage individuals from underrepresented groups, especially persons with disabilities to apply.