Ruth Newby, Owner

I provide high-quality language solutions tailored to your industry needs in training, written and web content, interpreting, translation, and localization.

I was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina in a monolingual family, and when I began learning Spanish in high school, I found I had an excellent aptitude for linguistics. As a teenager, I participated in two mission trips to a children's home in Guatemala, where I first put my language skills to use, and I knew I had found my life passion—helping others communicate effectively between the Spanish and English languages and encouraging English speakers in the acquisition of a second language.

I attended Union University in Jackson, TN, where I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language and Culture and English Creative Writing in 2011. While there, I participated in a study abroad immersion homestay program in Málaga, Spain through the University of Malaga. Upon graduating from Union University, I attended Middlebury College Language Schools in Madrid, earning a Master of Arts in Spanish. Later, I lived in Santiago de Chile, where I taught English as a Foreign Language at a community college. Later I worked in Tennessee and North Carolina before making Columbia, South Carolina my home in 2018.

I have experience teaching middle school Spanish, working with foreign exchange students, providing individual tutoring in speaking and writing English and Spanish to various ages and proficiency levels, and bilingual small business management.. Additionally, I have extensive experience as a translator and interpreter in various fields. I provide the language expertise you need, from interpreting for medical appointments to Board of Directors meetings to parent-teacher conferences and beyond. I have worked with localization for video games, translating code law regulations and other licensing and educational documents for child care centers, organizational bylaws, business policies and procedures, manuals and handbooks, social media, medical intake forms, and more. I have experience researching and writing grant proposals and reports, drafting policies and procedures, creating online content, developing handbooks, writing newsletters, and managing social media for communications and marketing needs, etc.

In 2023, I decided to take the step to start my own business to meet the growing need for qualified language experts in a variety of industries in South Carolina. I am a member of the American Translators Associaton, and currently, I ampreparing to take the exam to be certified. I also partner with the University of South Carolina and SC Childcare Research and Referral to provide bilingual documents and trainings to childcare centers and families throughout the state of South Carolina.

Professional Memberships and Partnerships

Facts about Spanish

How many people speak Spanish?

Estimated 400-450 million people speak Spanish, making it the 2nd most spoken language in the world after Chinese and before English. It is spoken on all 5 continents and is the official language in 21 countries. Spanish is the most studied language and is expected to become the largest spoken language in the world by 2050. Spanish is the 3rd most common language used on the internet.

Is Spanish easy to learn?

Spanish is said to be one of the easiest languages for an English-speaker to learn. It is a phonetic language, which means that you pronounce all of the syllables in a word. If you know how to spell the word, you know how to pronounce it.

It is also a Romance language with Latin roots but also has influences from Arabic.

Do people speak Spanish in South Carolina?

Spanish is the top language spoken other than English in South Carolina.

5.6% of South Carolina’s population is Hispanic.

9.5 % of students K-12 in South Carolina are Hispanic and Hispanics have the lowest high school drop-out rate of any group.

11.8% of active duty soldiers and 2.2% of the veteran population in South Carolina are Hispanic.

Hispanic-owned small businesses are the fastest-growing among minority groups in the state of South Carolina.

What problems do Hispanics face in South Carolina?

Access to healthcare and mental health services due to language barriers and the inaccessibility of health insurance..

Discrimination for being undocumented, even though the Hispanic population and entrepreneurs contribute millions in revenue annually through taxes to the state of South Carolina.