SlatorPod is the weekly language industry podcast where we discuss the most important news and trends in translation, localization, and language technology. Bro...
#234 RWS and BLEND Appoint New CEOs, Microsoft and Amazon Speech AI
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 AI, such as OpenAI’s Whisper, in critical sectors such as healthcare, where transcription errors and hallucinations can have severe implications.Esther delves into leadership transitions in the language industry, with notable appointments including Benjamin Faes, a tech veteran with experience at Google and AOL, as RWS’ new CEO.Sorenson appointed Pajet Alves as CEO, while BLEND welcomed Yoav Ziv to lead after significant growth and acquisitions. Anna Albinsson took the helm at Gridly, with plans to expand beyond its gaming localization focus into MedTech and EdTech.In M&A and funding, Esther covers Teleperformance’s acquisition of ZP Better Together for USD 490m, with plans to fold it into LanguageLine Solutions. Meanwhile, Writer.com raised USD 200m in Series C funding, to expand its generative AI capabilities.Florian discusses big tech developments, such as Microsoft’s Translator Pro app for speech and document translation, while Amazon teased its "any-to-any" AI capabilities during the AWS re:Invent conference, hinting at future innovations in multilingual processing.Florian unpacks Straker Translations’ financial results, which reflected industry trends of increased volumes but declining revenue, highlighting pricing pressures. Their new Verify.ai tool, designed to validate AI-generated translations, underscores the pivot toward technology.
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#233 Charles Campbell on Juntos and the Future of Localization in Latin America
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 benchmarking. Despite challenges posed by the vast geography and diverse cultural landscape, the organization has seen significant growth, hosting conferences in Rio de Janeiro and Lima, with the next planned for Mexico City in 2025.Campbell sees immense potential in Latin America, noting its rich linguistic diversity and a growing pool of passionate professionals entering the field. While many countries in the region lack the established quality norms and associations found in Europe or North America, Juntos is actively working to close this gap. He also highlights the affordability of hosting events in the region, coupled with its cultural richness, as factors drawing increased international participation.Campbell addresses the role of AI in the industry, recognizing its strengths in high-resource languages like Spanish and Portuguese. He stresses that while AI is a valuable tool, human expertise remains essential, particularly in nuanced and culturally specific translations.As Latin America and the Caribbean continue to gain visibility in the language industry, Campbell remains optimistic. Through Juntos, he encourages stakeholders to collaborate, innovate, and embrace the region’s unique opportunities.
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#232 Reddit Rises on AI Translation, TransPerfect Buys Studio
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, demonstrating the high ROI of investing millions in AI-driven localization each quarter.In an M&A corner, Esther discusses Wolfestone’s acquisition of TauRho Transcribes, beefing up Wolfestone’s offerings in transcription and life sciences. She also covers TransPerfect’s fourth acquisition of 2024 with Plint selling its Netherlands-based media localization studio to the Super Agency.Esther highlights Panjaya.ai’s USD 9.5m funding for BodyTalk, which perfects multilingual AI translation by synchronizing lip movements and gestures. Meanwhile, Neuphonic, a UK-based voice AI startup focused on ultra-low latency speech technology, has raised GBP 3m in pre-seed funding.Florian reviews major AI launches: Translated’s Lara, a customizable large-scale AI-powered translation model, DeepL’s "DeepL Voice", offering real-time speech-to-text capabilities, and Unbabel’s Widn.AI, a platform offering advanced MT customization.
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#231 AI Impact on Media Localization with ZOO Digital CEO Stuart Green
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 multilingual entertainment content.The CEO shares key highlights from ZOO’s AI white paper, “Will Robots Take Over The World of Localisation?”, where he views AI as a valuable “artificial assistant” rather than a replacement for human talent. As such, AI can streamline repetitive tasks and support creatives by handling administrative duties, thus allowing them to focus on higher-value work.On AI lip-syncing Green suggests that it could mitigate the common mismatch between speech and mouth movements in dubbed media. However, he emphasizes that maintaining the “suspension of disbelief” in high-value content requires nuanced, culturally relevant adaptation — a task that still demands human interpretation of context, mood, and subtle humor.While AI tools are improving, particularly in speech-to-text accuracy, Green foresees human expertise remaining integral in areas demanding cultural nuance and emotional resonance. He highlights ZOO’s commitment to quality-driven localization for major entertainment clients and the unique demands of its publicly listed status, balancing transparency with the need for a competitive edge.
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#230 Christian Elongue on Advancing the Language Industry in Africa
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 impact projects for African language professionals with initiatives such as the Network of African Language Translators and Teachers (ALATT) and the Association of Language Companies in Africa (ALCA).Christian discusses the unique challenges of Africa’s language landscape, which spans over 2,000 languages and requires localized solutions. He notes that demand varies widely across regions, with West Africa focused on French-English translation, East Africa on Swahili, and North Africa on Arabic. However, limited data and lack of standardization pose challenges for developing language technologies and machine translation for African languages.To address these gaps, Christian advocates for increased local investment in African language technology. He highlights projects like Masakhane, which develops datasets for low-resource languages but stresses the need for more African-led funding. Christian also urges international LSPs to support Africa’s language industry by sharing resources and facilitating professional exchanges.Christian concludes the podcast with a call to action: empowering African languages is key to preserving cultural heritage and fostering economic growth.
SlatorPod is the weekly language industry podcast where we discuss the most important news and trends in translation, localization, and language technology. Brought to you by Slator.com.
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