SlatorPod

Bryan Forrester , Co-founder and CEO of Boostlingo , returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about the company’s growth, the US interpreting market, and the evolving role of AI . Bryan shares how the company has tripled in size since he last appeared on the pod , driven by strategic acquisitions, including VoiceBoxer and Interpreter Intelligence , and a rebranding effort to unify its product port...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, focusing on Slator’s latest M&A and Funding Report , which highlights over 50 mergers, acquisitions, and financial investments, and nearly 20 funding rounds in 2024. Florian discusses OpenAI’s ChatGPT o1 model , praising its translation accuracy for complex texts like German legal documents, though he notes slower processing sp...

In the 2024 year-end episode of SlatorPod, hosts Florian Faes and Esther Bond, along with guest Anna Wyndham, explore pivotal language industry trends from the past year and predictions for 2025. First, the language industry news of the week, with LXT’s acquisition of clickworker , which aims to expand its AI data capabilities and potentially double revenues by 2025. Meanwhile, Esther shares how E...

Katharine Allen, Director of Language Industry Learning at Boostlingo , and Dr. Bill Rivers, Principal at WP Rivers & Associates, join SlatorPod to discuss the challenges and opportunities AI brings to interpreting . Both are founding members of the Interpreting SAFE AI Task Force , which aims to guide the responsible use of AI in language services. Allen describes AI as a double-edged sword —...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they explore how AI is influencing content creation and translation, noting its progress and limitations.  A recent study on GPT-4 revealed its ability to match junior translators but lag behind experienced professionals, particularly in nuanced contexts. Florian highlights the public’s heightened perception of the risks of A...

Charles Campbell , President of tbo. , returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about his efforts to unite and professionalize the language services industry in Latin America and the Caribbean through the association Juntos . Founded just before the pandemic, Juntos aims to raise standards in translation, interpreting, and localization by fostering collaboration, mentoring, and quality benchmarkin...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Slator’s latest Translation as a Feature (TaaF) Report , which explores how AI translation is becoming an integral feature in enterprise technology. Florian talks about Reddit’s success with machine translation (MT). By localizing content into French, the social media platform quadrupled daily active users in France, demonstra...

Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital (ZOO), joins SlatorPod to discuss the role of AI in media localization and the essential role human linguists will continue to play in producing high-authenticity content in multiple languages. A technologist by training, Stuart recounts his entry into the media localization industry and how ZOO transitioned from DVD production to leading-edge solutions in multilin...

Christian Elongue, Managing Director of Ghana-based consulting firm and language service provider (LSP) Kabod Group , joins SlatorPod to share his insights into the African language services landscape, recounting his journey into language advocacy. Christian describes Kabod Group as a dual-purpose organization, offering translation services primarily to nonprofit clients, while advancing social im...

Sijie Wei, Co-CEO of language services, technology, and game localization specialist EC Innovations ( ECI ), joins SlatorPod to talk about his new role as co-CEO and leading one of Asia’s largest LSPs with revenues exceeding USD 50m in 2023 . Sijie shares how ECI, initially focused on helping Western blue-chip firms enter China, expanded to assisting Chinese tech giants like Tencent and ByteDance...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Slator’s latest Pro Guide on Audiovisual Translation , which outlines opportunities for language service providers (LSPs) and how AI is impacting the field. In a language AI corner, Florian covers Alibaba’s recent launch of a proprietary large language model (LLM) for translation, which will help expand the e-commerce giant’s...

Gregor and Olivera Rosulnik, Co-founders of Slovenia-based language service provider GORR , join SlatorPod to discuss their journey into the language industry, the challenges they faced, and the strategies they've employed to grow their business. Gregor and Olivera share how they initially targeted Slovenian companies, especially startups and scaleups, and after adjusting their focus, expande...

Shamus Sayed, COO of Interpreters Unlimited , and Anna Wyndham, Slator’s Head of Research, join SlatorPod to discuss key findings from the 2024 ALC Industry Survey Report , covering industry growth, profitability, service diversification, and the impact of AI. Shamus kicks off the podcast by explaining the origins and purpose of the Association of Language Companies ( ALC ) and its annual survey,...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they give their impressions from SlatorCon Silicon Valley and touch upon the findings from the 2024 ALC Industry Survey. In a significant funding update, Esther reports that Smartcat raised USD 43m in a Series C round, bringing their total funding to USD 70m. This funding will support product innovation in AI translation and...

George Bara, Founder and Chief Strategist of tech company Zetta Cloud , joins SlatorPod to talk about the nuances of AI technology and its applications in text analytics and multilingual data processing. George shares insights from his career journey, including his tenure at SDL and RWS before co-founding Zetta Cloud, which focuses on building small, specialized language models rather than large,...

Dr. Christopher Kurz , Head of Translation Management at wind turbine manufacturer ENERCON , joins SlatorPod to talk about the development of ISO 5060 , a new standard focused on the evaluation of translation output. Christopher discusses how his involvement with ISO standards since 2011, coupled with his experience in translation quality management, led him to spearhead the creation of ISO 5060 i...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with key highlights from the latest Slator Pro Guide: The Future of Language Industry Jobs . The guide focuses on the future of jobs and freelance opportunities in the language industry, noting the impact of AI on employment trends. The duo analyze the 2024 Inc. 5,000 list , which includes 14 LSPs this year, with companies like PGL...

Spence Green , CEO and Co-founder of LILT , the AI solution provider for enterprise translation, joins SlatorPod. On the podcast, Spence discusses the evolution of LILT 's end-to-end platform, which integrates AI models with human verification to ensure quality standards. The CEO notes a significant shift in enterprise approaches towards localization, now being more software-driven rather tha...

Paul Ghio, Co-founder of AI video localization startup Supernative , joins SlatorPod to talk about how language AI is reshaping how we create and consume content globally. Paul shares how his passion for helping creators and his experience with internationalization at Shutterstock and Yelp led him to start Supernative, with a mission to democratize video localization using AI. The Co-founder outli...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a nearly USD 4m settlement involving Language Line Services and ongoing disputes in Canada , where freelance interpreters are protesting against unpaid breaks during debates. Florian highlights a YouTube video about UN simultaneous interpreting and the rigorous standards and working conditions for UN interpreters. Esther share...

João Graça, Co-founder and CTO of language operations platform Unbabel , joins SlatorPod to talk about the present and future of large language models ( LLMs ) and their broad impact across all things translation and localization. First, the CTO explains how Unbabel was founded to address language barriers for people using services like Airbnb, combining MT with human validation to improve transla...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a legal battle in the UK involving public sector interpreting and the classification of interpreters as freelancers or workers, which could significantly impact the business models of language service providers (LSPs). The duo explores Google Translate's recent expansion to support over 200 languages, adding 110 new ones...

Josh Goldsmith, Geek-In-Chief of techforword , joins SlatorPod to talk about his multiple roles as a linguist, conference interpreter, and educator. Josh shares his multifaceted background in linguistics and language teaching, highlighting his passion for language and education, which led him to co-found techforword. Josh explains the current landscape of conference interpreting , noting a shift b...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, giving a recap of SlatorCon London and exploring some use cases from the Slator Pro Guide: Language AI for Consumers . Florian talks about Andrew Ng's recent project on agentic machine translation , which involves using large language models ( LLMs ) to create a virtual language service provider (LSP). The duo touch on Apple&a...

Marina Ilari, CEO of Terra Translations and Terra Localizations , joins SlatorPod to talk about her professional journey and the world of game localization . The CEO shares the strategic decision to create Terra Localizations in 2008 to cater specifically to the gaming industry's requirements. She attributes the company's growth to the ability to offer boutique-level services while scali...