About Our Company
About Us
Overview:
With over $1 million in annual sales, Lingua Science Corporation is one of the largest language service providers in the Midwest offering in-house Japanese-English translation, language training, and bilingual staffing services.
Established:
November 13, 1990
Employees:
25 direct employees, 15 contractors
Founder:
Susan Aitken, Michigan native and University of Michigan graduate
Management Team:
Susan Aitken, President and CEO
Mariko Mackie, Operations Manager
Shannah McQueen, Creative Director
Company History:
During the early 90s, Lingua Science focused on Japanese-English automotive and technical translation. We translated several industry newsletters and magazines, including Crain’s Automotive News Japanese Fax Edition.
From the mid 90s Lingua Science expanded into the bilingual staffing field and added language training to our menu of services. After more than a decade of continuous double-digit growth in annual sales, Lingua Science relocated our headquarters to its present site on Washington Street in Ann Arbor in 2003 to accommodate current and future business expansion.
In 2020 Lingua Science celebrated its 30th year in business. In keeping with our mission, “Quality people, quality work,” we are committed to providing our clients with superior bilingual staffing and language services.
Meet the owner
Susan Aitken, founder and president of Lingua Science Corporation, is a native of Michigan. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Asian Studies, which included five years of Japanese and Chinese language training at Michigan and one year at Stanford University’s prestigious Center for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo.
The study of Japanese captivated Sue from the very beginning. “I majored in Japanese in college because I loved languages and was looking for a real challenge. Japanese, with its kanji characters, was like a code language to crack. A puzzle to solve. It was cool, and I was hooked.”
A member of the American Translators Association for over three decades, Sue has worked as lead translator at Nissan Research and Development and at Toyota Technical Center. She has edited numerous publications, including Crain’s Automotive News Japanese Fax Edition, Auto Digest USA daily Japanese newsletter, and Japanophile, a literary journal about Japanese culture. Sue has also taught advanced Japanese at the University of Michigan.
With the establishment of Lingua Science, Sue branched out on her own. “I decided to start Lingua Science while I was working as lead translator at Nissan Research and Development. Like most entrepreneurs, I thought it would be great to control my own work hours and make a ton of money. Little did I know it’s not that easy!
“What has kept Lingua Science in business over the years is my passion for excellence, love of languages, and the joy of connecting with people. We have a casual and fun workplace, but don’t let that fool you. I’m a perfectionist at heart, so we create works of art here, not just word-for-word translations. It could be a tiny job like a business card, but it’s still critical that the job leaves this office with me saying, ‘Wow. That’s beautiful.’
“On the recruiting side, staffing isn’t about putting ‘warm bodies in seats’ or ‘meeting job requirements.’ It’s about matching a talented person with the right company, the right team, and the right job. Then this person will naturally work to his or her level of excellence. It sounds so simplistic, so common sense, but it’s caring about people and ‘fit’ as the highest priority that sets Lingua Science apart.”
