Intro by 1-StopAsia:

Further down the lines, you will read Robin’s words that he is “totally normal” but let us tell you this: “normal” for him covers - vagabonding around Asia (currently somewhere in the Philippines), living on a beach sometimes, surfing (and breaking his surfboard in the process sometimes), and playing music for people (oh yes, he is a DJ on top of it all).

Intriguing as these are, he is an excellent professional with over 7 years of experience in the translation industry. Which makes him more an asset than just an employee.

The day is a never-ending challenge and a true bonding experience for anyone who has the chance to collaborate with him. So dig a bit deeper with the short questions we’ve asked him below:

Interview:

How many languages do you speak? Please write them in a list. Which is your mother tongue?
German, English, and very broken Korean, Spanish, Balinese, and Bisaya. I also have a traumatic relationship with “school francais”. If you can picture Arnold Schwarzenneger saying “une banane s’il vous plait”, you’ll know what I mean...

What is your favorite sport or hobby in your free time? Why is it so? Any interesting stories on it?
Surfing. Lots of stories, and lots of broken bones. ;-)

Top 3 things we don’t know about you? Might be something funny, quirky or strange :)
Sometimes I am painfully straightforward to people, which depending on the person might be either offensive or quite charming. I tend to think I’m totally normal.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about Asia while working here?
That’s an easy one. I never expected the amount of alcohol they can drink! And I say that as a German...

Favorite book or a book that changed your mindset and why it did?
Currently, I’m reading too much Bukowski and study a lot of copywriters/marketers (Gene Schwartz, Ogilvy, Dan Kennedy, Dave Trott, Caldini, Ben Settle, etc.). I love Eastern Philosophy too and my favorite book is probably “Dropping Ashes on the Buddha”, a collection of teachings by the Zen master Seung Sahn. Sounds serious, but it’s funny as hell!

Your most extreme experience so far in your life/biggest challenge in your life?
Can I say “2020”?

Your top 3 goals in professional life for the next 10 years

I work in sales so I’ll have to negotiate you down to two. They are really good ones, though. Firstly, I want to open a small side business here in the north of Siargao. We have a really cool community here, people with great ideas, micro-businesses popping up everywhere and - very important! - no 🔔ends. Everyone is doing their best to give back to the local communities and live and work sustainably. My girlfriend and I are currently growing rice and if the recent typhoons don’t destroy everything, we’re gonna harvest in March. That’s step one, and we’ll see where we go from there.

The second thing I would like to do is going deeper into copywriting - which is really just sales, but in written form. I’m currently working my tail off to put a newsletter series for localization folks together and if everything goes well (a.k.a. me and my poor colleagues from marketing don’t lose their minds), I hope we can drop that either during our rice harvesting time or at Buddha’s birthday (May 19) at the latest. Stay tuned!