When you ask a Klooker about their typical day at work, you’ve got a 100% chance they’ll answer something along the lines of “There’s no typical day here” or “Each day at Klook is different”. And while that’s true, it’s also soooooo unsatisfying if you’re trying to figure out if Klook is the right place for you! So in this series, Klookers take us along on one of their (un)typical days at work — no excuses.
This time around, Kayden Tran, from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, walks us through his day of handling localization for Vietnamese users and his passion for languages and syntax!
7:49 Commuting
I’m not a morning person, but I always make sure I’m on time for work. In Vietnam, it’s challenging to get around without a motorbike so most Vietnamese have their own. I’d start my motorbike engine in advance of my set-off time, so I’d be ready to set off promptly.
My colleagues usually find it fascinating to see me early in the office, even though it takes me about 1 hour to commute to work (FYI - Google Map says that my house is just 15km away from the Klook office, so this tells you about the traffic situation I face every day).
9:00 Arrival
Usually, I am the first one in the office at this time.
Quiet mornings are a blessing!
9:20 Starting the day with some ‘energy’ drinks
I feel a bit empty if I don’t drink something in the morning. Luckily, we’re always spoiled for choice. I can either make some tea from our cafeteria or order a pick-me-up via a food ordering app.
My work desk, which brings me joy and fun.
9:30 Checking my to-do-list and emails
The first thing I do in the morning is to check my to-do list and emails. I’m a bit of an organization freak, so I go through my email list thoroughly and keep the unread ones as things to do later.
I create tasks on my calendar to better manage and avoid forgetting tasks.
10:00 Communicate with freelancers
Now’s the time to communicate with freelance translators! Cross-border travel is back again (hooray!), so the demand for localization is higher as more local users book activities in other countries. We need to have as many activities translated into Vietnamese as possible so they can have a seamless booking process with useful and engaging information. Therefore, outsourcing support is crucial to the Vietnam Localization team.
The freelancers are excited to collaborate with us since the travel industry is slowly recovering.
10:30 Translating & Proofreading Activity Page
This is one of our top products in Thailand and it has been fully localized so that Vietnamese users can buy from it. This is my focus time when I translate and proofread the activities on Klook’s platform. If other teams want to sell their products to Vietnamese users, they need us to bring our products closer to the local users. For example, if we want to market a product in Thailand to Vietnamese customers, we will step in to help them with that.
A sample of a localized activity page, book now on Klook for your Thailand trip!
12:30 Lunch ordering
The Vietnam team is very close and we usually gather around to have lunch together. I bring my own food on most days, otherwise, I would order food along with the team. While our dining area is quite small, having lunch and chatting with other Klookers at the same time allows me to relax a bit.
Join the Vietnam Team
13:00 Lunch
I make full use of this time to complete my daily commission in video games as well. Recently I’ve been quite fond of Genshin Impact and Alchemy Star.
A quick daily commission wouldn’t hurt…
14:00 UI/UX writing & communication with other stakeholders
The localization team works with many other stakeholders whenever they need a localized version of a new feature. Seb, our English UX Copywriter, is the most important person to partner with. To deliver good translation and transcreation for UI/UX, we need good English source text from him.
During this time, I browse the Klook app to find bugs and see whether the translation fits the length of the app.
Before & After: Oops, a bug detected!
A little copywriting and translation for a CLM (customer lifecycle management) project I did recently.
15:00 Meetings with other team members
Working in the localization team is truly a joyful and exciting experience. Since each language has its own requirements and style guides, we usually gather around to find the most suitable solutions for all APAC languages.
I love meeting the team! They are so energetic and full of wisdom.
Knowing other members’ perspectives and opinions is also a good way to gain more knowledge. They might discover unnoticed bugs, quicker translation methods, useful tips for localization tasks, etc. We are open to questions and suggestions. Therefore, I constantly learn and grow when working in this team. One of the most important things is to speak up or proactively ask questions to ensure a smooth workflow and that your language is adaptable with a specific solution.
I have to admit, there are still so many new things for me to learn from the team I'm a part of - despite having joined Klook for over a year - and I'm constantly adapting and growing to keep up with changes and developments at Klook. Now that borders are reopened, I’ve started looking at data dashboards to keep track of users’ demand and keep activity pages up-to-date.
Localization isn’t the only task I focus on. After 3 months at Klook, I had the chance to host my own Vietnamese language class for my former Content Operation team. We’ve also had language classes such as Japanese, Korean, Spanish, etc.
Me teaching Vietnamese to the team after 3 months at Klook!
Oh! Did I mention that we usually order milk tea during this time of the day? We wouldn’t be able to get through the day without milk tea.🧋
I can’t live without this!!
17:00 - 18:00 Wrap up
Time to wrap up my day and go through my to-do list one last time. I create reminders of projects and tasks for upcoming days to make sure I keep track of them and don’t miss anything.
18:00 - 21:00 Korean practice time!
Recently I picked up Korean again because I haven’t practiced much for almost a year. I’m passionate about languages and I’ve been learning Korean for almost 2 years now. When the government implemented a national lockdown policy during the pandemic, I learned the Thai language by myself via YouTube videos and online materials to keep a positive spirit. But I think I’ve forgotten everything. *Oops*
Even though Korean is super hard, I find it quite interesting and fun to learn.
22:00 Home
I’m finally home. Now, back to my part-time job – playing video games!
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Posted by Kayden Tran, Localization Specialist
Passionate about languages and video games, Kayden is a full-time localization specialist at Klook Vietnam and a part-time gamer outside of working hours. Has he told you that he has a passion for video editing and has his own YouTube channel? Shhhh that’s a secret. Besides English and Vietnamese, he can speak a little Korean too.
- Life at Klook
- Localization
