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INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISE HAS A `VOICE' IN MANCHESTER
The business has a new website, now, (www.ititranslates.com), an e- mail address (iti@ititranslates.com) and a toll-free number (800-648- 0686).
When Pagano does meet with clients, interviews new interpreters or prepares an interpreter for an assignment, she does so at her "satellite office," a lounge in a suite of law offices at 344 Center St., where her husband practices.
Most of her translators are native speakers. Speaking a language, however, doesn't automatically qualify a person as an interpreter. For those who are new at it, she will use taped depositions to test their aptitude at following a question and answer session.
Sometimes she is approached by translators who want to "cross over" to interpreting. "But they tend to be very different kinds of people," she said.
Translators often are introverted, "and they prefer working in front of a computer with their dictionary," she said. "Interpreters tend to be more gregarious. They like the challenge and they like getting out there and meeting new people everyday."
The people she hires also have to be trustworthy, and so she conducts background checks on new employees. "They're often working on highly confidential matters, like contracts," Pagano said.
Command central is Pagano's home office -- a plushy carpeted, window-lined room with accent walls painted a deep plum purple. It's here she and her assistant Ann Farr, whom Pagano calls her right arm, juggle the match-making of clients and interpreters.
Pagano also tries to take on as many assignements as she can, to keep her translator skills sharp. "But I'm bigger now than I want to be," she said, with a worried look on her face. "I started with the idea of how nice it would be to work from home. In the last few years, I've had to learn to say `no.'" she said.
"The idea is to keep it manageable -- and fun," she said.