TranslationPerfect interpreters break the language barrier

It was 1995 when Dennis Ayzin came to the United States from Moscow. A trained information technology expert, Ayzin had one major challenge — he couldn’t communicate in English.

At first, Ayzin took a few English as a Second Language classes at Johnson County Community College. Still, it was a challenge.

“I would have sticky notes in English and Russian….My apartment was covered in sticky notes for some time,” Ayzin said. “I had a goal of 50 words a day.”

Ayzin even bought items at the grocery store that he didn’t recognize because of his lack of language skills.

“It pushed me to learn the language and culture,” Ayzin said.

Eventually Ayzin mastered English and today, he and his wife, Mira Mdivani, own TranslationPerfect, with an office on College Boulevard in Overland Park.

Q: What is TranslationPerfect?

“We provide language services for health care providers, the courts, law firms, school districts and businesses who work in international markets who don’t speak English or who are hearing impaired or deaf,” Ayzin said.

TranslationPerfect has more than 600 interpreters who provide services in Kansas City and a 10-state region; 450 interpreters are in the Kansas City area itself.

Interpreters speak European, Asian and African languages, including Burmese, Swahili, Hindi, Farsi, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and Amharic.

The company also offers translation services for documents, primarily intellectual property. It added added interpreters for the hearing impaired in 2005.

Q: Who started the company?

Mdivani, then a professional linguist, started TranslationPerfect while she was attending law school in Kansas City. Mdivani, who is also from Moscow, did freelance work for several companies before starting her own under the name Vertex Corp.

Ayzin and Mdivani met through mutual friends and chatted about the business. He joined the company in 2001.

Q: What was your prior business experience?

As a systems architect for computers, Ayzin brought computerization to the interpreting company. In 2002, Ayzin developed a proprietary online portal for Vertex. By 2004, Mdivani and Ayzin, who later married, renamed the company TranslationPerfect to better reflect the business’ direction.

“The system allows all parties that participate to log in, get information and records that are available to our clients and interpreters,” Ayzin said.

Today, Ayzin handles all of the day-to-day operations for TranslationPerfect while Mdivani focuses on her law practice.

Q: Who are your clients & how do you recruit them?

“Health care is around 50 percent of our volume and that’s divided into two markets — hospitals and physical therapy,” Ayzin said.

About 30 percent of TranslationPerfect’s business comes from the legal community, including local, state and federal courts, law firms and others. Ayzin said the remaining 20 percent comes from U.S. companies and international firms.

Q: How did the company gain such diverse clients?

“In the beginning, it was primarily word of mouth,” Ayzin said. “Now we have been in business so long that most of our business comes through online ads, working with organizations in Kansas and Missouri….But the best marketing is by clients who use us and tell how good we are.”

TranslationPerfect’s web site is a key marketing tool, especially for its international clients.

“They find us online and contact us,” Ayzin said. “They want an independent interpreter and we can provide that for them….Google is our prime source of advertising.”

Q: How do you find qualified interpreters?

Early on, Mdivani recruited friends or acquaintances as interpreters; now they come through referrals or LinkedIn.

TranslationPerfect uses an independent company to screen applicants for language fluency.

“Then we have a background screening with 35 different points including criminal background checks,” Ayzin said. “Based on that, applicants are assigned a specific ranking within our system from 1 to 5 and assigned out based on their level of proficiency and the client’s needs.”

TranslationPerfect also has its own training program with special preparation for those who work in health care.

“It is a slightly different training….They have homework including terminology and how to handle conversations in the medical health area,” he said.

Most of TranslationPerfect’s interpreters are independent contractors, with most jobs charged by the hour.

Q: What’s in TranslationPerfect’s future?

This spring, Ayzin and TranslationPerfect’s two other employees will move into a new College Boulevard office.

“We are adding a couple of more people to help maintain daily operations,” Ayzin said. “Our interpreter base is growing and we are growing into other states….there is a huge potential to grow.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 10:15 AM with the headline "TranslationPerfect interpreters break the language barrier."