SlatorPod

In SlatorPod’s final episode for 2021, Florian and Esther are joined by Slator’s very own Andrew Smart to share the top industry highlights over the past year.Florian looks back on 2021, which saw approximately 60 M&A transactions and 25 funding rounds announced this year, with big moves such as TransPerfect acquiring Semantix. For 2022, Florian predicts additional competition as the likes of DeepL engage in a direct battle for enterprise account ownership, with tech continuing to develop in the core localization and TMS area.With it being a great year of recovery for the industry, Andrew reflects on the commercial highlights, with Slator hosting three SlatorCon Remote events. Andrew points out that technology opened up new types of markets and new ways of connecting with one's audience, with Slator hosting free online digital marketing events.Esther talks about an increase in hiring announcements and senior appointments, as Slator’s Language Job Index climbed more than 72 points in 2021. Esther also discusses the broad range of research, from Transcreation and Video Localization to Language Operations and Pricing and Procurement.In language industry news this week, Lokalise announced that it had raised USD 50m in a series B round led by VC firm CRV. A year on from their series A round, the translation and localization management provider has more than tripled their USD 4m ARR.

John Fennelly, CEO of Lionbridge, joins SlatorPod to talk about the Super Agency’s journey  over the past 25 years since its founding by Rory Cowan.Fennelly recalls his path to joining Lionbridge in mid-2017 after leadership roles at Thomson Reuters and Hireright — and why he stressed the theme of simplification and relentless customer focus in his first years as Lionbridge CEO. He discusses how the 6,000-person company adapted quickly to a remote-first world.The CEO shares his views on the dynamics of competing with rival Super Agencies, as well as emerging tech-enabled, VC-funded players. He also shares Lionbridge’s motivation for selling its data annotation business, Lionbridge AI, to (again) become a core language and tech-services player.Fennelly talks about the various considerations when it comes to building, buying, licensing, and owning localization and translation management workflows and machine translation engines. He concludes with Lionbridge’s plans for 2022 in regards to M&A and strengthening growth verticals. First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, which saw AI video-generation provider Synthesia raise USD 50m in series B funding.Esther talks about Manchester-based DA Languages switching ownership from previous investor, Foresight Group, to IK Partners. In M&A news, UK-based Take1 acquired transcription and captioning company Verb8tm to strengthen its position in the US.

Luis Miguel, CEO of Avantpage Translations, joins SlatorPod to talk about the LSP’s mission over the past 25 years of helping immigrants and other limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations.Luis walks us through his journey in the language industry, from immigrating from Mexico to founding and leading a California-based LSP. He introduces Avantpage’s leadership team and highlights the importance of developing talent within the company as it grows.The CEO discusses the key differences between servicing government clients versus the private sector. He reflects on the dynamics of Language Access regulation as Biden’s new administration and the pandemic affected the regulated industry in the past year.Luis shares his approach behind building a proprietary technology stack, explains his attitude toward prioritizing organic growth over M&A, and shares his outlook for the future.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week — and the launch of the Slator Transcreation and Multilingual Content Origination Report. Florian shares key takeaways from SlatorCon Remote, which featured 13 guest speakers, drew in over 300 attendees, and facilitated around 300 individual networking sessions. Esther covers the latest funding news as language services and technology provider Smartling raised USD 160m in growth investment from Battery Ventures.

Rik Grant, Transcreation Partner at London-based Tag Collective Arts, joins SlatorPod to talk about all things transcreation as well as multi-language content creation.Rik discusses his route into the language industry; from working as a Lead Account Manager to entering the creative industry. He outlines the careful process behind recruiting transcreation talent and their varied copywriting, agency, or client-side background.Rik shares the challenges involved in localizing for different markets, especially when technical, linguistic, and cultural barriers are prevalent in certain locales. He also advises on how to help clients appreciate the value of transcreation.Rik touches on the role of language technology in Tag’s workflow and pricing models for transcreation versus translation. He rounds things off with his industry outlook as digital content continues to grow and customers seek personalized experiences.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a funding round that shocked the language industry as multilingual transcription company Verbit.ai raised USD 250m in a series E.Florian talks about the recent acquisition of Ireland-based LSP LocalEyes, a localization provider to Apple, by Star Group company STAR7. Esther then touches on 10 different language jobs Big Tech companies like Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, and Tencent are hiring for.

Natalia Levitina and Karen Combe, Members of the GILT Leaders’ Forum,  talk about GILT’s Globalization Strategy Playbook, arguably the industry’s most comprehensive, open-source guide to globalization, internalization, and localization yet.The co-authors recall the various stages of their career in the localization industry and their journey to becoming part of the GILT Leaders Forum. They reflect on their experience writing the 30,000+-word, six-chapter playbook with 10 co-authors from the localization buy-side, and how they drew on key learnings from their professional backgrounds.The duo discuss the role of primary and secondary stakeholders, from end-users and management chains to procurement and vendors. They advise what language tech tools buyers should choose and prioritize when it comes to the translation management system (TMS), translation productivity (CAT), and machine translation stack.Natalia and Karen round off with the playbook’s potential for people in the language industry to learn from and build on top of, given that it is open source and on GitHub.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Meta’s (formerly Facebook) CTO Mike Schroepfer tweeting about machine translation as their team won in 10 out of 14 language pairs at the WMT 2021.Esther talks about French investment firm Amethis acquiring a minority stake in UAE-headquartered Tarjama. Meanwhile, Airbnb announced it had launched Translation Engine, which allows users to automatically read translations of reviews and descriptions.Florian then touches on the implications of a formal opinion issued by the American Bar Association, entitled Language Access in the Client-Lawyer Relationship.

Diego Cresceri, CEO of Creative Words, joins SlatorPod to talk about his journey in the language industry, from founding the language service provider (LSP) to becoming President of Elia.Diego recounts his beginnings as a Translator, Project Manager, and eventually branching off on his own to create Creative Words. He also shares the motivation behind the founding of Creative AI for multilingual data services and how it functions alongside Creative Words.The CEO discusses the evolution of post-editing machine translation (PEMT) and the LSP’s approach to pricing PEMT by the word. He also shares their marketing strategy through social media, Google SEO, and partnerships with associations such as GALA, ATC, and Elia.Diego talks about his new role at Elia and their aim for members to actively grow through visibility and engagement. He reflects on the uncertain future of the language industry but says he expects it to remain fertile with innovation.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with popular American YouTuber MrBeast tweeting about the success of his dubbed videos and foreign language channels.Esther talks about EGA’s latest research project on the impact of media and entertainment localization on consumers in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Meanwhile, KUDO announces an integration with Microsoft Teams, where users will be able to access on-demand multilingual interpretation from their current platform.Florian gives an update on AMN Healthcare’s Q3 2021 results, which saw revenues surpassing expectations at USD 878m, 59% more than Q3 2020.

Véronique Özkaya, CEO of Argos Multilingual, joins SlatorPod to talk about the recent acquisition and integration of language service provider (LSP) Venga Global.Véronique Özkaya walks us through her extensive career in the language industry and taking up her new role as CEO at Argos amid the pandemic. She also shares insights into the acquisition of Venga merely three months after announcing the acquisition of linguistic quality assurance provider Chillistore.The CEO discusses meeting Venga CEO Kåre Lindahl at SlatorCon Francisco in 2019 and plans for integrating the core team and sectors. As a result of growth post-acquisition, Véronique gives her thoughts on build versus buy in language tech, integrating a sales force, and the future direction of the company.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a bizarre case in Sweden where a British parent was trying to apply for child care leave when several mistranslations were discovered on the government’s website.Florian talks about the US House Committee passing a bill called the TRANSLATE Act that would require multilingual signage in major American airports. Esther then gives an update on the Language Industry Job Index, which climbed 3.4 points in November.Esther also gives a quick financial update from Down Under, where Ai-Media generated revenues of USD 11.2m for Q1 FY22. A quarter ahead, Straker Translations reported unaudited Q2 FY22 revenues of USD 8.6m.

In this week’s SlatorPod, we’re joined by Kenneth Heafield, Reader in Machine Translation (MT) at the University of Edinburgh. We originally connected with Kenneth on Twitter in a discussion about Slator’s coverage of a research paper on Carbon Emissions in MT.Kenneth talks about his experience going back and forth between academia and industry, reflecting on the pros and cons of working for Big Tech. He discusses his recent research with efficient translation and language modelling as well as other MT topics that are undervalued by the industry.Kenneth shares his thoughts on the popular preprint platform arXiv and how news outlets should cover research that hasn’t been peer-reviewed. He gives tips for those interested in attending natural language processing (NLP) conferences, particularly on how to navigate the complex system.Kenneth concludes the podcast with an exciting demo of Translate Locally, an MT app that runs locally on a desktop or laptop CPU, allowing cloud-like translation speed without sacrificing privacy and browsing habits.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Argos Multilingual acquiring rival Venga Global and roughly doubling its size to become one of the top 25 LSPs in the world. One LSP that missed the top spot by a hair is RWS, whose full-year revenue is exceeding expectations, with consensus placing the figure around USD 965m. Meanwhile, Slator’s very own Anna Wyndham joins the Pod to talk about our highly popular article, “10 Areas Where Translators Are (and Will Remain) Essential Experts in the Loop,” published last week. She highlights a selection of mission-critical scenarios in which translators are the true experts in the loop, despite the advancement of tech.

In this week’s episode, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with continued disruption to subtitling, caption and audio description on UK’s Channel 4, after water damage at Red Bee Media’s broadcast center ruined a large number of hard disks.In media localization news, Esther talks about Spain’s plans to invest EUR 1.6bn into the audiovisual sector from now through 2025, with the aim of expanding the industry by 30%. Meanwhile, Florian shares key findings from Memsource and Charles University’s latest research, which delved into the impact of machine translation quality on post-editing speed.Florian discusses TransPerfect’s financial results, as they close in on their billion-dollar target after Q3 revenues grew 31% to USD 279m from the previous year. He also touches on a ruling in the US, where a judge called Google Translate a useful tool, but inadequate for soliciting consent. To round off the episode, Esther highlights key takeaways from the new Slator Pro Guide: Becoming an Effective Localization Buyer. The report dives deep into the localization buyers’ mindset and features key milestones in localization operations.

Andrzej Nedoma, Co-founder and CEO of XTRF, joins SlatorPod to discuss the journey of the translation management system (TMS).Andrzej begins with XTRF’s early days as a spin-off of family-owned LSP Lidolang and building the company with Co-founder, Dominik Radziszowski. He talks about the rationale behind pivoting from licenses to SaaS in 2014 and the funding decisions with Experior Venture Fund.The XTRF CEO unpacks the process behind investment firm K1 acquiring a majority stake in the company and their relationship with sister company XTM going forward. He talks about the similarities and differences between LSP and enterprise clients.Andrej shares the key shifts in the TMS landscape over the past decade and XTRF’s most important innovations in the last five years, including building their Business Barometer. He rounds off with XTRF’s roadmap over the midterm.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with two UK-based life sciences companies teaming up, as LSP Conversis acquires local rival Zebra Translations. Esther reviews Slator’s latest Language Industry Job Index, which climbed by 3.8 points in October. Florian touches on Slator’s Language Industry Buyer Tracker, which includes a new Localization Producer for Games at Netflix.Netflix also got called out for botched Korean into English subtitle translations for the TV drama Squid Game, which is on track to become the streaming giant’s most-watched show of all time — indicating the rising demand for English-dubbed content.