Last week, we offered our congratulations to Dmitry Kornyukhov, the winner of TermWiki.com’s most recent contest. Aside from rallying up his fans, working on translation projects, and helping build TermWiki’s database of terms, Dmitry was also kind enough to spend some time with us answering a few questions for our curious readers. Read on for some insightful thoughts from our TermWiki iPad 2 winner, Dmitry Kornyukhov!

Inna Geller is the founder of Geller Translation Solutions, a firm focused on providing translation management consulting services for organizations in highly regulated industries. Prior to founding Geller Translation Solutions, Inna supplied 18 years of senior leadership for the translation/localization function at Medtronic, a Fortune 500 producer of medical devices. This certified Green Belt in Six/Lean Sigma methodology can be seen at many events around the world, where she speaks on topics for a variety of organizations like the American Marketing Association, Life Science Alley, the Society of Technical Communications and others.

Earlier this month, CSOFT hosted our 8th Annual World Operations Summit, a week-long event traditionally hosted at CSOFT’s World Headquarters in the heart of Beijing. During this event, we invite our extended team members from around the world—including linguists, clients and industry experts—for an intensive series of training sessions, presentations, teambuilding and localization-focused discussions.

This year, we were thrilled to have Inna Geller of Geller Translation Solutions join us as a guest speaker. Her presentation on translation risk management was so informative and precise that we asked her if she was willing to do a follow-up interview to expound her risk management expertise for the benefit of our audience. Lucky for you and I, she generously agreed! So check out the interview below to find out what the lovely and talented Inna Geller has to say about translation risk management.

Since the beginning of the month, we have been brimming with excitement as the TermWiki countdown neared its target of one million terms. On Monday evening, April 11th, the TermWiki Community finally did it… the terms, definitions, and translations in TermWiki are now one million and counting!

We are also happy to announce today’s post is an interview with the contributor of the one millionth term, Raúl Barrera! Take a moment and sit down with us as we talk to Raúl about this momentous occasion, his reasons for using TermWiki, and what his favorite TermWiki features are. On behalf of the entire TermWiki Community, thanks again Raúl for all your hard work!

Jo Overline is a programming magician from Gilbert, Arizona USA. He began computer programming at the ripe old age of 15 and had his first big hit with the notorious iPhone app, Ugly Meter.Ugly Meter gained international recognition and was covered by MSNBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, The NY Post, The Huffington Post, and The Daily Mail UK. Based on the popularity of the Ugly Meter, he has appeared live on several national news stations, was promoted by Jay Leno, and was a guest on the Howard Stern Show in New York.

As the smarter and obviously more handsome member of the two-man iPhone app development team known as the Dapper Gentlemen, Jo is the developer behind several popular apps and has quite a few more in the works that will be released in late 2011.

Jo Overline was kind enough sit down with us to talk about the Dapper Gentlemen’s latest creation, Wordicus, the first multi-player, multilingual word game app of its kind. In our interview with Jo, he talks about connecting individuals across countries and languages, finding language support during the software development process, and what direction he believes iPhone and smart phone apps are heading in the future. For more information and to check out more apps by the Dapper Gentlement, visit their website here.

And don’t forget to download Wordicus for free and try it out today!

Could you first briefly explain the concept behind Wordicus and what makes it different from other word game apps?

Jo: Wordicus is a twist on classic word games like Scrabble. In Wordicus, the player shuffles tiles and selects words on a playing field of letters. The player has the opportunity to become “more powerful” by earning powerups, such as bombs, to explode more letters. Wordicus is the first word game in history where players can play in their native language against players who speak different languages on the same game board, essentially creating a global platform for gamers. Users can play up to 20 multiplayer games at one time, competing with players from all around the world, or as a single-player, against the clock or at leisure.

Renato Beninatto is a corporate strategist and analyst with nearly 30 years of executive-level leadership in the localization industry. Renato has forged a reputation for visionary leadership as the co-founder of Common Sense Advisory, the industry’s foremost market research firm. He served as the Vice President of Sales at both ALPNET and Berlitz, where he drove global growth and profitability.

Renato offers strength and sharp perception in predictive analysis, motivational management, and customer-centric sales that continue to inspire his peers in the industry. His signature straight-talking approach has made him a sought-after speaker on industry trends. A native of Brazil, he serves on the advisory board of Localization World and remains an active member of several industry groups worldwide. Most recently Renato was the CEO of Milengo. He is presently the President of ELIA (European Language Industry Association).

For insight into the localization industry mixed with a winning sense of humor, check out his blog or follow him on Twitter today!

CSOFT recently sat down with Renato Beninatto to talk with him about his plans for ELIA, life as an independent consultant (yes, he’s taking clients) and upcoming books he’s writing. We all know Renato’s 30 years in the localization industry indeed make him an expert in our space, but did you also know one of his favorite hobbies is country-hopping? He’s traveled to 54 countries so far, with about 120 to go. Renato says that meeting new people and visiting new places to learn about culture “still fascinates me.” We’re not ones to judge, but this seems far more exciting than his old pastime—collecting dictionaries.

We heard that last September you were elected as the president of ELIA. Can you tell us a little bit about this group and what it brings to the table for organizations involved in localization? Also, in your role as president, what kind of plans do you have for the organization?

Renato: The European Language Industry Association (ELIA) is the brainchild of some Italian organizations that wanted to create an organization that would focus on training, networking, and system development. I was involved with ELIA from an early stage—I was a speaker at their first event while I was still at Common Sense Advisory. I was very impressed with both the atmosphere of the event and the value it generated for its members. I first joined the board, was later elected vice president, and then president.

John Yunker co-founded Byte Level Research in 2000. Over the years he has worked with a wide range of Fortune 500 companies and most recently worked as a senior program manager at Microsoft. He has also written a number of landmark reports, including The Web Globalization Report Card.

John recently launched Byte Level Books, a new press dedicated to publishing books on translation and globalization. Passionate about animal rights, John is also the author of The Tourist Trail. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter!

CSOFT was fortunate to recently sit down with John Yunker to get his perspective on web globalization. In our interview with John, he shares what he believes are some of the biggest challenges in web globalization, how social networking has played a supporting role in the crowdsourcing revolution, and some tips for succeeding in going global.

You were one of the first to study the web on a global level. How has this field of study developed over the years?

John: Seven years ago, I could count on one hand the number of web sites that supported 30 or more languages. Today, there are more than 70 web sites that support 30 or more languages. We’ve quickly moved away from a period in time when you needed to convince companies why they needed to make their web sites global. Now the focus is on how to go global most effectively.

This has been an exciting month for language technology folks, first with the initial beta release of the My Glossary feature at TermWiki.com, which is a free online tool that enables freelance translators, technical writers and other glossary owners to store, translate, develop, share, and perfect their own personal glossaries online—all in a real-time, collaborative environment.

This month also brought TermWiki’s first Galaxy Pad Contest to an official close. In the contest, translators, technical writers, and other developers of multilingual content were invited to enter terms and translations into TermWiki’s master termbase, and the person who entered the most terms would win a free Samsung Galaxy Pad. After a fierce competition, Cristina Fernández—a professional translator from Spain—ended up taking the prize after entering and translating over 10,000 terms!

The cool thing was, Cristina didn’t even know there was a contest going on—she just entered 10,000 terms of her own accord. What possessed Cristina to manage her glossaries like a crazed logophile? Check out this exclusive interview with the winner of the 2010 TermWiki Galaxy Pad Contest to find out! (And congratulations, Cristina!)

Coming up next week, the folks at CSOFT are co-sponsoring a holiday party for the Women in Localization group based in Northern California. This esteemed group aims to create a forum for women to develop their careers in localization and share industry experience, and they have recently opened up their doors for global membership. The three co-founders (pictured below), Anna Schlegel, Eva Klaudinyova, Silvia Avary-Silveira, recently honored us with an interview to discuss the history of their group and its rapidly expanding global presence. They were a pleasure to talk to, so we hope you enjoy!

Happy International Project Management Day! According to internationalpmday.org, the purpose of International Project Management Day is to encourage project-based organizations to demonstrate appreciation for—and recognize the achievements of—project managers and their teams. In celebration of this annual event, we want to highlight the achievements of one of our very own, very motivated project managers, Jo Zhang.

In this featured interview, Jo (shown on the left) talks with Melissa Taing (right) about the challenges of managing localization projects, how to overcome them, and then makes some suggestions on how we can all better express appreciation to the PMs that we work with every day in our industry.

Born and raised in Beijing, Jo Zhang has lived in the capital of China most of her life. After graduating from university in Qingdao, where she majored in English, Jo worked in client and account management for Apple before joining CSOFT as a project manager, where she has provided exemplary service for the past three years.

When not playing e-mail tag with translators, Jo enjoys hiking and traveling. She also loves trying out new cuisine, but will always return to an unwavering love for spicy food. Her positive energy and optimistic outlook on life is nothing short of infectious. Enjoy!

Happy International Translation Day! In celebration of this annual event, we want to honor and highlight the accomplishments of Chiara Conte (pictured on the right), the Chief Italian Linguist here at CSOFT. In this featured interview, Melissa Taing (left) enjoys a lively chat with Chiara, who lights up with passion about the challenges and rewards of her work, and expounds on the difference between good translators and great translators.

Chiara Conte grew up in Otranto, a remote seaside village in southern Italy with a population of just over 5,000 people. Chiara brings with her nine years of translation experience, having first obtained a bachelor’s degree in Translation and Interpretation at the University of Lecce, later having received two master’s degrees: one in Asian Languages for International Cooperation from the University of Cà Foscari in Venice, and the other as a Linguistic Expert for International Enterprises from the University of Salento.

In her free time, Chiara is an avid reader and self-professed lover of pizza in all its forms. She’s got a feisty wit and is quick to laugh—both at herself and at others. She was an absolute delight to interview, so I hope you all enjoy.