A Conversation with Danyal Najmi, Founder of Rosetta Languages

By Caitlin French

For Danyal Najmi, Rosetta Languages is more than a translation and interpretation company. Through a four-axiom model centered around responsiveness, accessibility, “awesomeness,” and a commitment to staying “human,” Rosetta Languages is striving to make communication language indifferent.

Danyal Najmi, Founder of Rosetta Languages
A self-proclaimed language “nerd,” Najmi has learned four languages in addition to English: Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hindi/Urdu. His interest in languages began in seventh grade, when he started taking Spanish classes at school. This interest further developed during Najmi’s high school days, in which he attended a local mosque and began learning Arabic through reading and writing. When Najmi entered college, he enrolled in Spanish, Arabic, and Urdu, but still had curiosity about other dialects. During this time, Najmi worked at a local Dunkin Donuts shop alongside several people who spoke Portuguese. Sure enough, Portuguese was added to his list of languages to learn. (He picked it up easily by listening to his coworkers and music).

Najmi recalls noticing a tangible need for multilingual skills during this time in his life. Whether it was a job application section asking about spoken languages of the applicant, or a hospital sign directing non-English speakers, Najmi couldn’t help but observe the ways that language skills benefit our society.

In 2020, with a desire to build a multilingual world in which all individuals are on “equal footing as far as understanding and sharing their ideas,” Najmi was inspired to start Rosetta Languages, a translation and interpretation company. At the time, he did not imagine that the company would ever be a full-time job. “I thought it would be just something I was doing on the side,” Najmi says. “Now, not only is it my full-time job, but it is a full-time job for one other person, and a part-time job for many, many others. I feel like I’ve already achieved a big part of my dream in creating this, and I am looking forward to taking it to the next level.”

The “next level” is in clear view for Najmi. Awarded a contract from the City of Boston in 2024, the past year has been a period of immense growth for the business. When asked about his goals for Rosetta Languages, Najmi envisions streamlining systems to provide 24/7, seamless execution of service requests for end users. Najmi hopes to expand services across the state, and eventually offer services outside of Massachusetts.

Najmi adds, “With the advent of AI, leaning into humanity is what we are all about. As we get larger, we want to make our business efficient and scalable, but not at the expense of the human touch.” As Rosetta Languages grows, prioritizing building a team of individuals that excel in a variety of different areas is at the forefront of his mind. “When you have an interpreter, you should feel that that person is not interchangeable. We are not building a machine of interchangeable parts. We want you to have a connection with the interpreter you are working with,” Najmi says.

Rosetta Languages offers simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation, and telephonic interpretation by just dialing a phone number. This way, “anybody, regardless of their language, regardless of their digital literacy, of literacy in general, age, disability, should be able to get someone very easily just by calling that number,” says Najmi.

However, language access is just talking about the “minimum,” Najmi maintains. “You have to have language access. But for me, that is more about someone checking a box. Language justice means that you are creating an environment [in which] is language neutral. With language justice, we are decentralizing English as being the default.” Someone with tremendous skill and talent shouldn’t have to experience not getting a job because their English isn’t strong enough, Najmi explains.

Najmi describes his experience as a mentor in the MassHire Metro North FY24 NewBiz Entrepreneurship Program as an example of language justice. A free 10-week small business class, NewBiz provided resources and training for students to start their own business, including financial and digital literacy. The classes ended with a small business pitch event.

“The pitch event was so gratifying to be involved with,” Najmi says, “because there wasn’t a [language] barrier. People could pitch their businesses and share their ideas and be as eloquent as they can be. Some of them might speak English fairly well, but when they come to pitch their idea, they can be that much more powerful and inspiring in their own language.”

“It is exciting for me to put this into practice with my own company,” Najmi says. “Let’s bring everyone’s thoughts and ideas to the same table.”

To learn more about Rosetta Languages and their work to dismantle language barriers and achieve language justice, visit: https://rosettalanguages.org/

To learn more about the impact of the NewBiz Entrepreneurship Program, view the FY24 Final Evaluation Report here.