Localization Today

Reviewed by Erik Shonstrom Tim Brookes’ book, Writing Beyond Writing, is at once an historical overview of scripts, a memoir about carving endangered scripts, a manifesto that takes aim at the dominance of the Latin script, and — perhaps most vitally — a clarion call to save the scripts used by marginalized peoples around the world.

Laszlo Varga discusses trends in language technology, including the shift from Nimdzi's Language Technology Atlas to the more dynamic Language Technology Radar and its launch.   The senior research consultant at Nimdzi Insights explains how AI and large language models (LLMs) are reducing human effort while creating new job opportunities and driving industry growth. He also goes on the integration...

A conversation with Alexandra Jarvis, Chief Strategy Officer of Toppan Digital Language, and Christophe Djaouani, President, about TDL's recent acquisition and its impact on the global language services industry. They discuss the challenges of navigating a multinational organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution of the language services market, and the critical role of resilience an...

By  Ewandro Magalhães When it comes to adopting AI, Ewandro Magalhães advises a balanced approach: taking it slow to avoid overpromising, but also keeping an open mind to possibilities. He argues that, ultimately, speaking openly about our fears and hopes will help us determine ethical ways to move forward with AI.

By John Yunker Lessons from 20 years of website dos and don’ts By  John Yunker For 20 years, John Yunker has benchmarked the websites of the leading global brands in the annual  Web Globalization Report Card . In this article, he highlights the best practices that resonate as strongly today as they did two decades ago.

By Domenico Lombardini How can a language service provider (LSP) create real value for customers, beyond just tailoring workflow tools or utilizing AI? Domenico Lombardini argues that offering synergistic services in specialized sectors can position an LSP as a go-to resource in the eyes of the customer.

The Globe-Trotting Journey of Translated 9 Interview by  Cameron Rasmusson For eight months, an 18-member crew from Italian language service provider Translated competed in a sailing race around the world using only a sextant and stargazing as guides. Co-skipper Marco Trombetti describes the ups and downs of the voyage, the invaluable lessons learned, and the magnificent experiences the crew had a...

Language Services at the Olympics By  Nathalie Greff-Santamaria Translation and interpreting are central to the Olympic and Paralympic Games to facilitate communication among athletes, coaches, spectators, and journalists from around the world. Nathalie Greff-Santamaria, head of Paris 2024 Language Services, delves into the tools and techniques her team employs to provide these much-needed service...

By  Shirley Yeng In the months after  ChatGPT ’s release in late 2022, Shirley Yeng often woke up at night worrying about the relevance of her localization business. Here, she tells the story of how she overcame her fear of a changing industry and learned to embrace the promises of AI.

We talk about his career path and RWS linguistic AI solution Evolve, which recently won the Machine Translation Innovation Award at the 2024 AI Breakthrough Awards.

We chatted with Veronica Hylák, co-founder and co-CEO of Metalinguist, curator of the popular AI vlog, The AI Almanac. Veronica shares her secrets for staying informed in the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence, and her thoughts on the recent Apple Intelligence launch. You'll also learn about her favorite AI tools and how the future of the translation industry is being shaped by AI advance...

In this interview, João discusses his career path and the guiding principles behind Unbabel's innovative technology, including their recent launch of Tower LLM.   We talked about the future of AI-powered language solutions, the unique collaboration between humans and AI at Unbabel, and the secret sauce that makes Tower LLM a multilingual translation powerhouse.

By  Kate Edwards “Allegorical distance” is the amount of effort required for a player to perceive the real-world inspiration behind an allegory in a game. Kate Edwards gives examples of short, medium, and large allegorical distances and urges game developers to intentionally determine the distance that best serves their narrative and players.

By  Diego Perez Video game translators were never meant to be ghostwriters. Diego Perez argues that the significant amount of uncredited work not only hinders translators’ bargaining power, but also undermines their moral rights as creators of derivative work. This article analyzes the current state of translator credits in gaming and suggests ways to achieve better crediting practices.

By  Cameron Rasmusson Three decades ago, the work of translating popular Japanese video games for Western audiences often fell to just a few people using rudimentary technology. In this article, Rasmusson explores the ups and downs of game localization in the ‘90s and how this chaotic period influenced the industry moving forward.

By  Mimi Moore The integration of AI into video and computer game localization is transforming how developers approach their work and how players experience gaming. Mimi Moore explains AI’s impact on inclusivity, indie developers, real-time localization, and game quality across languages and cultures.

Michelle Rabie considers the concept of “African time” and delves into the real reasons behind missed deadlines — from the challenges of working with low-resource languages to the lack of support from language service providers.

Tim Brookes poses the question, “How can a script that serves a language spoken by millions be endangered?” At issue is the traditional Kulitan script, employed by the Kapampangan people of the Philippines. Brookes discusses its decline, efforts at revival, and what’s at stake.

Compiled by  Eddie Arrieta  and  Cathy Martin With GenAI in its nascent stage, language companies that use this emerging technology are in uncharted territory. In this article, ten of the most influential companies in the industry explain how they are leveraging GenAI to improve outcomes for their teams and customers.

Amy Grace O'Brien, Sr. Linguistic Quality Manager at Adobe, and Roberto Silva, Terminology Program Manager at Amazon Web Services talk about the crucial role of terminology in the language industry.

We talked about their approach to innovation at Bureau Works and participation in the product innovation challenge at LocWorld51.

A conversation about innovation in the language industry and how specialized translators will play a pivotal role in the future of the industry.

André Köhler, CEO of Lingo Systems, talked about how software development has transformed the industry in the past few years and their approach to innovation and constant software development in the language industry.

With Luis Lopes, we got to discuss Trados, Trados Studio, and the history that's taken the company to where they are right now.

At LocWorld51 we got to talk to Richard Sikes, Senior consultant, we talked about business services, the business services team, and many other stories from memoQ.