Language Master

Calls come in from across the world to Day Translations in Tampa, which offers document translations and interpreters.

As business is global, Tampa executive Sean Hopwood helps people connect. That makes commerce flow and deals happen.

But Hopwood, 29, isn't a real estate broker, an investment banker or a contracts lawyer.

He is founder and chief executive officer of Day Translations Inc., a company he started about a year ago in north Tampa that offers translators for documents and interpreters for live conversations and other services.

Through a network of hundreds of interpreters around the world, Hopwood directs an operation that sometimes receives more than a hundred requests a day.

They span from translating legal documents from one language to another to being in a hospital to interpret a doctor's diagnosis for a patient speaking another language.

The services also include voiceovers for corporate training videos and radio commercials.

Hopwood was born in Joliet, Ill., grew up in Bartow and moved to Tampa to work and attend college. A lifelong love of languages drove him to travel overseas, date women from other countries, work in a youth shelter with Mexicans, compete in salsa competitions and study foreign languages in school.

While in college, Hopwood considered studying pharmacy, but his grandfather told him to study what he loved and he would make money at that. His name was Francis J. Day. So Hopwood named his business Day Translations as a tribute.

After he mastered Spanish, French and Arabic, Hopwood bought advertisements in newspapers offering translation help to people and businesses.

Hopwood worked a diverse series of jobs where he got to try out different languages, including stints as a waiter, an interpreter in a hospital and in a Spanish-speaking law firm, Joyce and Reyes.

Hopwood earned a degree in Spanish and international business, then earned an MBA while working for a Turkish import-export firm, and, of course, learning Turkish.

Hopwood keeps a small staff of eight, including himself, who work from home in various countries, including Italy, Colombia, Argentina, India, Australia and the United States.

Translators need to pass an entry test on language, which Hopwood wrote, to work for the company. And every three months, there's an updating test on language and formatting skills.

That's because language and typeface fonts have to be uniform to maintain a professional image.

“If they see an old translation, and the type is different, that's okay,” Hopwood says. “I want them to see ours and be impressed. Little things do make a difference.”

After a call comes in and the company agrees to help, Hopwood calls a translator nearest the client. The translator contacts the client and turns his work in. It then goes to a proofreader for any changes, then to the client.

All work needs to match the format of the original document. Day Translations invoices the client after it sends the finished product.

Often, quick turnarounds are needed. Once a Miami law firm needed translators in three hours. Another client called at 3 p.m. and needed three interpreters in three different cities by 6 p.m. the next day.

“Everyone wants things done quickly,” Hopwood says. “That's the whole point of why we're here. If they wanted it a year from now, there would be no urgency. So we respond and keep things simple and we are very consistent.”

Hopwood pays his translators immediately. That keeps them happy and loyal, he says.

There are big competitors, such as Applied Language and Wise Translations, some of whom have large corporate contracts.

To differentiate itself, Day Translations charges lower rates, pays translators more and uses the same translators every time. It never uses translation software, which can sometimes garble sentences. People do all of Day Translations' work.

“We create more of a community,” Hopwood says. “We do not have call waiting. We are always available. I haven't had to check a voicemail in two months. We try to keep things simple.”

But it can't please everyone. Some customers, including the British, want a translating service to answer its telephone in their language with their accent.

“As soon as they hear my accent, they want someone English,” Hopwood says. “They are disappointed.”

His most asked for language is Spanish. Followed by Arabic. One customer asked for a Nepalese translator in Austin, Texas. Hopwood came through.

“We've never been stumped,” he says.

Hopwood's vision is making Day Translations a name brand.

“I would like to hear everyone that says, 'I'm going to Google it or Youtube it,' to also say, 'I'm going to Day Translation it,'” he says. “I want to be the standard of excellence that people refer to.”