myGengo

myGengo

Type	Language Translation via crowdsourcing
Industry	crowdsourcing
Founded	2008
Founder(s)	Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan and Mountain View, California
Services	Translation
Website	http://mygengo.com/

myGengo is a Tokyo-based web application company specializing in translation services. It was founded in December 2008 by Robert Laing (CEO) and Matthew Romaine (CTO). myGengo’s human translation platform uses crowdsourcing to source a worldwide pool of freelance translators. The company offers three products built off of this platform : Translate, String, and the API. As the word "gengo" is Japanese for "language,"^[1] the name myGengo literally means "my language."

Products

Translate

Translate is the first product to be offered by myGengo. It allows customers to order translations via file upload, or typing or pasting text into an online order form.^[2] Translations can be ordered at three different service levels (Standard, Pro, and Ultra) and customers are charged on a per word basis. An English to Japanese text at Standard level would be charged $.05 per word.

String

String is a free localization management tool released by myGengo in 2009. Project managers can upload language files from a website or web app and then invite translators to join the project. From String’s interface, project managers can view the status of translations and any changes that have been made.^[3] “Public projects” can also be created on String, which allow for the sourcing of community translators.

API

myGengo’s API was launched in April of 2010. It allows developers to integrate myGengo’s translation platform into third-party applications or web sites. The API is aimed at the translation of dynamic content such as blog posts and product descriptions on e-commerce sites^[4]

People

Founders

myGengo was founded in 2008 by Matthew Romaine and Robert Laing. Matthew was an alum from Sony Corporation where he was an audio research engineer in Sony's Broadband Applications Laboratories as well as a translator for English speaking management and Japanese speaking engineers in the Corporate Technology Division. He also studied computer science at Brown and Stanford universities in the U.S. Prior to starting myGengo, Robert Laing headed UK-based design agency, Moresided.

Translators

myGengo's translation platform is supported by a team of over 1,500 translators worldwide. Translators must first pass a translation test before becoming qualified with myGengo. There is a separate test for each level of service myGengo offers: "Standard," "Pro" and "Ultra."

Funding

myGengo completed a $750,000 Seed money round in September of 2010. Investors included Dave McClure of 500 Startups, last.fm founder Felix Miller, Delicious founder Joshua Schachter, Brian Nelson (CEO at Japan-based ValueCommerce), Pageflakes co-founder Christoph Janz, Benjamin Joffe (CEO at China-based Plus Eight Star), and a number of Japanese angels. This was followed by a further seed funding round of around $1,000,000 in mid-2011.

myGengo completed a $5.25 million Series A funding led by Atomico and joined by 500 Startups in September 2011.

References

1. ^ [1] "My Gengo Offers Fast, Reliable (And Low Cost!) Language Translation," SF NewTech, October 18, 2010.
2. ^ [2] "myGengo is Mechanical Turk for Translations," TechCrunch, January 11, 2010.
3. ^ [3] "Exclusive Interview: How Does myGengo’s String Help Site Translation?" Asiajin, November 25, 2009.
4. ^ [4] "myGengo's New API Let's You Plug Human Translation into Websites and Apps", April 29, 2010.

External links

• mygengo.com Website
• [5] TechCrunch, "Human Translation Platform myGengo Raises $5.25 Million From Atomico, 500 Startups"
• [6] ZDNet Japan, "グローバリゼーションの時代だからこそ人力翻訳を"
• [7] Inc.com, "6 Cool Crowdsourcing Business Tools"
• [8] The Japan Times, "Japanese now a little less lost in translation"
• [9] Crunchbase Profile