Localization Today

By  Serge Gladkoff Scientists recently documented the breakdown of a chimpanzee community into warring factions following the decline of internal interaction. The discovery is a dark reminder that when agents of connection — like translators and interpreters — disappear, humans are all too capable of the same social disintegration.

By  Christine Clay Human input is vital for the quality of AI-driven localization, shifting its role from post-editing to system design. The author details ways to improve consistency and accuracy, refine performance, and help a system scale by using structured feedback loops, translation memory, and style guides.

By  Gabriela Kouahla   Not all language tasks are created equal. Depending on the intended outcome, each project requires a different rationale to achieve the best result at the right cost.

By  Ana Catarina Lopes ,  Ana Sofia Correia ,  Mariana Teixeira , and  Patrícia Paes de Sousa There’s strength in numbers, and that applies to freelancers, too. Despite its individualistic and independent nature, freelancing can still benefit from a collaborative partnership to find work, share skills, boost revenue, and foster community.

By  Ema Dantas   With the emergence of AI platforms, data sovereignty has become a new buzzword. But for language service providers to emerge stronger from this transitional era, they have to understand their technology and preserve the fundamentals of quality work.

Interview by  Cameron Rasmusson RWS, one of the world’s biggest language companies, stands at a crossroads like much of the industry. With technological change rewriting marketplace rules, how does recently appointed CEO Benjamin Faes plan to guide the business through a pivotal era?

By  Cameron Rasmusson The Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), a historic leader in language education, faces closure due to financial difficulties. Currently, MIIS and Soka University of America are in talks regarding a potential acquisition that could preserve the institution’s future programs.

By  Tim Brookes Hiragana (Japan), Amkeul (Korea), Vaybertaytsh (Eastern Europe), and Dedabruli (Georgia) — predominantly used by women, emerged from gender inequality and cultural suppression, enabling women to communicate privately and record their experiences and concealed emotions.

The language industry is built around communication, culture, and human connection. Yet many of the conversations shaping the industry today focus on technology, automation, workflows, and growth, while leaving less room to examine the human experience of the people working within it. This panel explores what it means to build an industry where professionals do not simply work together, but genuin...

As part of Haitian Heritage Month, MultiLingual Media continues its exploration of Haitian language, identity, and cultural resilience through a conversation centered on diaspora, storytelling, and nation-building. This second panel brings together journalist and writer Fritznel Octave and migration, CEO Marleen Julien, and diaspora consultant Guilaine Brutus for a discussion on how Haitian identi...

By  Yana Kolesnikova  and  Anastasia Yurashko Localization is too often assumed to offer little useful data for market strategy. But is that really the case? With the right approach, the insights derived from localization data can be transformative.

By  Cameron Rasmusson As the games industry continues to grasp for stability after the post-COVID downturn, localization specialists find themselves adjusting with the market dynamics. What does it take to be resilient in this new terrain?

By  Marina Ilari With the advent of AI video game localization quality must shift beyond linguistic accuracy to player experience and business impact. The author offers a framework for thinking about quality, focusing on content performance (engagement, retention) and connecting operational metrics to business outcomes.

By  MultiLingual  Staff Five leading studios specializing in global and regional video game localization, audio, and dubbing services — Lionbridge Games, Molok, Perfect Sound, Quoted, and RoundTable Studio — share their histories, services, and standout products.

Keywords Studios and the mechanics of modern game localization Interview by  Cameron Rasmusson Leaders at Keywords Studios — a creative and technical solutions provider for the gaming and entertainment industries — discusses the company’s journey and future. Bertrand Bodson and Romina Franceschina highlight their integrated approach, growth via strategic M&As, and commitment to game localizati...

By  Alex Sirac  (they/them) and  Caitlin Quiat  (she/they) Localizing inclusive language for the LGBTQ+ community is complicated, as it must account for such variations as grammatical gender, natural gender, and genderless languages as well as issues like political resistance and the risk of outing users. The authors shed light on these issues and the evolving state of inclusive localization.

By  Claudio Fantinuoli Generalist AI models are absorbing specialized technologies, reducing products like language tech to mere features. To survive, specialized companies must pursue a combination of meaningful quality advantages, deep niche applications, and careful diversification.

The 2026 NIMDZI 100 report offers one of the clearest snapshots of where the language industry stands today — and where it may be heading next. In this episode of MultiLingual Media’s Localization Today, we speak with Marjolein Groot Nibbelink, lead researcher behind the report, about the major shifts shaping the market. The conversation explores the sharp rise in productivity driven by AI, the gr...

Welocalize has been a powerhouse in the language industry for decades, but what happens when the word "localization" no longer describes everything you do? In this episode, Eddie Arrieta sits down with Paul Carr, CEO of Welo Global, to discuss leading a massive organization through a once-in-a-generation technological shift. Paul discusses the reality of agentic systems like Opal replacing traditi...

Interview by  Cameron Rasmusson Translated co-founder Isabelle Andrieu discusses the company’s origins, its preparations for the AI era, and the future it envisions for its many clients and translators. She also offers advice to language service professionals — build your ability to adapt — and leads by example.

By  Rishi Anand The booming language services market benefits from operational automation to assist with complex manual workflows. Translation business management systems (TBMSs) provide the intelligent infrastructure to automate client, vendor, and finance management, enabling efficient scaling and meeting enterprise compliance needs.

By  Pham Hoa Hiep AI is supposed to be a productivity accelerator, enabling linguists to do more work more quickly. But what happens when AI-driven workflows cost more time and frustration than human-driven translation?

By  Christine Clay The author discusses the “pilot-to-production gap” in adopting AI to support multilingual content. Scaling AI requires integrating it into existing translation infrastructure, maintaining human oversight, and consistently applying terminology and translation memory to ensure quality and trust.

By  Josevi Abad As a company focused on improving wellbeing in the business world, we asked the question: Could AI do the same for us? Thanks to intelligent automation, we were able to do just that.

By  Maurizia Gregorio The language industry’s future depends on recognizing that AI requires a human architecture of trained professionals. Linguists and governance experts provide essential accountability, nuance, and oversight that AI cannot replace, and eliminating these roles would destabilize the system.