A Leader for the Next Generation of the Language Industry: Nazanin Azari
Nazanin Azari has equal parts of both technological and language industry expertise while staying solidly grounded in the reality of what clients need. After a more general background in digital media, cultural studies and UI/UX design, she became a translator and interpreter. By working hard and continuously learning, she has become one of the most trusted names in Canada for localization and language technologies.
After working with other Canadian language service providers in increasingly important roles, Nazanin became the Product Localization Manager for Shopify. She then completed an apprenticeship at Blackbird, which offers a purpose-built software solution for the localization industry. While there, she honed her technology skills and oversaw several improvements at the company.
As the Director of Operations for NATIONS, Nazanin is looking forward to optimizing operations and boosting turnaround times by applying her vast technical knowledge.
“We are developing models that are going to be for the next generation. We are moving above and beyond what we already have in the way of technology capabilities and ecosystems, both in the public and the private sector. I’m working on operations that are going to be for the next generation, trying to constantly ensure that we are the best partners for our clients,” she says.
Deep background in language and AI technologies
Nazanin has always had a great interest in technology and how it aids performance. She sees technology as an augmented tool for everyone from project managers to marketers to content developers to localization managers.
“I don't feel like anyone needs to obey technology the way it is. I feel like technology can mimic us and make life easier for us. I'm interested in what the next generation of technology in the form of machine learning and artificial intelligence can provide. I don't believe that artificial intelligence is going to replace any of us, but I feel like we can use it to modify and automate a lot of steps in our workflows. Your ecosystem needs to be smooth and easily navigated,” she says.
While Nazanin has built a significant reputation at various technology companies and language service providers, she says that she is on a lifelong learning journey, and wants to learn and know more. Many consider her an expert, but like a true expert she feels like she has barely scratched the surface of her knowledge base. Her experience with AI technologies, especially, goes much further than simply learning how to use prompts effectively. She has helped to finely hone specific AI technologies to be more useful in language industry applications and has done the same with localization tech.
For Nazanin, there is a big accessibility component in localization, internationalization and translation that goes beyond the business of the industry. It is about the accessibility of technology for different cultures and different languages.
She sees our industry as bridging the gap between different types of technology experiences all over the world. It’s important to her to develop strategies where people get the same coherent experience with technology no matter who they are, what they are, what languages they speak and where they are located - essentially bringing the principles of User Experience (UX) to that entire journey.
NATIONS counts ourselves as extremely lucky that Nazanin has decided on NATIONS when she could have worked anywhere, and we look forward to exploring the future together with her.
