SlatorPod

In this week’s SlatorPod, we’re joined by Anja Peschel, Managing Director of Peschel Communications, a Germany-based boutique languages service provider (LSP) that offers translation and interpreting.From the perspective of a practicing interpreter, Anja discusses her initial experience of providing consecutive interpreting via Zoom when the pandemic first prevented in-person meetings and conferences from taking place. She also talks about the learning curve with remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI), its pros and cons, and shares her views on automated tools for interpreters.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, carbon emitting machine translation, how DeepL integrates with startups, Keywords' new CEO goes on record, and TransPerfect's new M&A point man, and Google Meet adding live translated captions.

Simon Constable, Global Language Services SVP of Visual Data Media Services (VDMS), joins SlatorPod to talk about dubbing, subtitling, and the pandemic-induced transformation of media localization.Simon starts with his route into the media & entertainment and languages space, where his international experience spans 25 years. He delves into VDMS’ localization services and the dynamics between owning a studio versus working with the best fit for a specific project.The SVP discusses the combination of language technologies and automation workflows used for subtitling and dubbing. He reflects back on VDMS’s learnings in the last year and how the pandemic affected demand and production for content owners.Simon explores the different types of content, from recording voice-overs for cartoons to dealing with unscripted reality TV shows. He briefly touches on the challenges of remote dubbing and the level of demand for English as a target language. The Pod rounds off with VDMS’ growth plans over the next couple of years, after securing investment from Endeavour Capital in 2020, and Simon’s industry outlook.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with translation management system provider XTRF receiving an investment from K1, only nine months after K1 acquired a majority stake in XTM.Still in the investment space, Florian talks about LSP Seprotec, which sold a majority stake to Nazca Capital, a Spanish private equity firm. Meanwhile, Esther shares some highlights from ZOO Digital’s AGM and trading update.In media localization, Keywords Studios has appointed Bertrand Bodson, has a 23-year career in international business, as its new CEO. Florian also briefly touches on the 2021 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, which will be held in the Dominican Republic.

Olga Beregovaya, AI Innovation VP of Welocalize, joins SlatorPod to talk about all things AI, natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML), and machine translation (MT) related.Olga begins with her journey into the language services and technology industry, where she currently leads AI innovation for Welocalize. She unpacks some of the broader applications of AI, ML, and NLP outside the language industry.The AI Innovation VP recounts the early days of implementing NLP algorithms and the evolution of the computer-assisted translation environment. She shares the role of humans in MT workflows and injecting AI into the global content transformation ecosystem.Olga shares her thoughts on text-generative models, such as GPT-3 and BERT, and the importance of synthetic data. She identifies the under-utilized NLP applications in the language industry.She outlines key AI language trends in light of increasing translator productivity, advancing neural machine translation, and integrating dynamically trained MT.First up, Florian and Esther take a deep dive into DeepL, as they discuss the leading MT company’s approach to neural networks, quality performance, enterprise solutions, new features, users, and growth.Esther shares highlights from AI Media’s ASX Small and Mid-Cap Conference Presentation about multilingual access services. Esther then covers Keywords Studios’ H1 results, which saw their Audio, Localization, and Localization Testing units contribute 27% to total group revenues.Florian talks about Zoom’s plans for live, multi-language transcription and translation features, which comes as no surprise after they acquired German simultaneous speech translation provider Kites this year.

First up, Florian and Esther share key takeaways from SlatorCon Remote, which hosted 13 guest speakers and drew in over 300 attendees.Esther talks about the Video Localization panel, where Chris Reynolds, Tom Livne, and Fardad Zabetian explored the similarities and differences between speech and text outputs. Next, Florian follows up on the Content in the Age of AI panel, where Konstantin Savenkov, Jochen Hummel, and Michel Lopez covered the landscape of AI-generated content.Speaking about this week in language industry news, Florian recounts his experience with LinkedIn spam; the likes of weekly fake profile requests from Chinese LSP CCJK. Florian then discusses Apostroph Group’s new CEO Philipp Meier, who previously held the position of CEO of Apostrophe Switzerland.The duo also talk about Cohere, an AI startup co-founded by University of Toronto alumni and which raised USD 40m to develop natural language software.In UK news, Esther shares how a woman was made to complete a rehabilitation course by UK Police after she presented a fake document in an attempt to be registered as an interpreter. Meanwhile, Southampton-based LSP Parallel Translations will be closing its doors at the end of September after nearly 25 years of trading.

Rebecca Petras, Spokesperson for non-profit Red T, joins SlatorPod to bring awareness to their advocacy for the protection of translators and interpreters in high-risk settings.Rebecca shares details of her professional background in journalism and discusses how she began her journey in the language industry through the humanitarian sector. She talks about the current situation of interpreters in Afghanistan and explains how the rising danger for linguists over the past few months led to her becoming involved with Red T and its Founder Maya Hess.Rebecca explores the role of linguists in conflict zones and explains who they typically work with. She discusses the lack of official status for interpreters (unlike, say, journalists) and highlights Red T’s efforts to ensure protection for these linguists by speaking at the UN, working to change policy, and issuing a conflict-zone field guide for linguists.The Pod rounds off with Rebecca outlining Red T’s current initiatives and what the language industry can do to support this cause. In particular, she draws attention to Red T’s Open Letter Project, which involves sending letters of appeal to governments or intergovernmental agencies to implement change for these embattled linguists.First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, starting off with the sudden growth of ‘scanlation,’ where fans post their own translations of webcomics without the consent of the copyright holder.Florian then shares the news of TransPerfect’s debt refinancing with a new lower-interest term loan and revolving credit line amounting to USD 500m.Meanwhile, Esther goes extraterrestrial as she talks about NASA awarding a translation contract worth up to USD 59m to TechTrans International. She also reviews Slator’s latest Language Industry Job Index, which continued to climb for the seventh month in a row.

Slator’s very own Senior Research Analyst Anna Wyndham joins the Pod to give a sneak peek into the latest Slator Pro Guide: Language Operations. The 40-page guide is packed with data from public and proprietary sources, including 11 interviews with language service providers (LSPs) at different stages of growth across Europe, Asia, and North America.Anna unpacks the five key areas of the report that cover how LSPs structure operations, linguist supply chain models, an analysis of the global footprint of LSPs, program management, and payment risks. She concludes with a one-page operational milestone roadmap that lays out the key milestones LSPs hit as they grow from Boutique to Super Agency.First up, Esther and Florian catch up on three weeks’ worth of the language industry news, beginning with TransPerfect’s largest M&A deal to date as they bought Semantix, Sweden’s largest LSP.Esther shares news of clinical research specialist WCG’s acquisition of e-clinical software and translation provider VeraSci for USD 330m back in July. thebigword Group announced that investment firm Susquehanna Private Capital had acquired a majority stake in the UK-based LSP.Florian talks about CataCap selling its majority stake in LanguageWire to Bridgepoint Development Capital. Meanwhile, interpreting SaaS startup Boostlingo secured investment from growth equity firm Mainsail Partners after experiencing over 130% growth in 2020.

In a guest-centered episode, Ivan Smolnikov, CEO and Founder of Smartcat, joins SlatorPod to talk about the company’s journey as a tech-powered SaaS platform.Ivan discusses his not-so-typical professional background and how he got into the language services and tech industry. Since 2016, he has been focused on building Smartcat into an accessible SaaS platform with a marketplace of suppliers.The CEO talks about the complex ecosystem that comes with servicing three different client segments — enterprises, LSPs and freelancers — and how Smartcat aligns its interests with them.Ivan also discusses how they use multi-layered technology to find qualified suppliers and match them with buyers by analyzing terminology and collecting customer feedback. Although buyers increasingly directly edit MT output in Smartcat, he still sees a bright future for specialist and tech-enabled LSPs.The Pod rounds off with Ivan’s views on raising funds in the language industry, especially throughout the pandemic, as they closed a Series B round worth USD 14.6m.

Elizabeth Compton, CEO of LanguageLoop, and Claire Mullins, National Translations Manager at the Australian language service provider (LSP), join SlatorPod to talk about the company’s digital and organizational transformation.Elizabeth recalls the LSP’s early days from 1978, and the decision to rebrand to LanguageLoop. She touches on the role of the Victorian State Government as shareholder.She shares the impact of the pandemic as they saw an immediate shift from on-site to remote interpreting, as well as accelerating the digital delivery of language services. Claire talks about how Covid drove the conversation around multilingual engagement.Claire also weighs in on the impact of immigration and the resulting increase in demand for rare and emerging languages, as well as multilingual consumer behaviors in Australia. The pod ends with their collective outlook, as the LSP plans to leverage tech and build deeper customer engagement with the launch of multilingual SMS campaigns.Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with TikTok being issued a USD 0.88m fine by the Dutch Data Protection Authority. Florian shares results from the European SME survey, which gathered the opinions of over 1,000 SMEs on website localization and machine translation use. Esther talks about the recent launch of an estimated USD 47m interpreting framework agreement by Norway’s Labor and Welfare Authority (NAV).The duo share news from outside Europe as social distancing requirements in Los Angeles County end and court interpreters are recalled to on-site work. 

In this week’s solo episode, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, kicking off with a sneak peek into the brand new Slator 2021 Video Localization Report. Months in the making, the report provides an innovative look at the high-growth medium of video.Florian shares news of TransPerfect’s best quarter ever (Q2 FY21), which saw the US-based Super Agency reel in an extra USD 70m in revenues compared to the same period in 2020.The duo also unpack the acquisition by language service provider Welocalize of Germany- and Greece-based life sciences specialist NLG (or Next Level Globalization). NLG focuses primarily on the medical devices sub-sector. The deal saw Welocalize double the size of its life sciences division — Welocalize Life Sciences — to around USD 50m in annual revenues.

Marko Hozjan, CEO and Co-founder of translation startup TAIA, joins SlatorPod to talk about his company’s journey from launch to their recent series A.Marko discusses what brought him into the world of translation from a background that spans everything from economics and leadership, to language teaching and…sailing.  He talks about automation and machine translation and the need to remain focused and disciplined when developing translation products.   First up, Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week — which saw three M&A and Funding announcements. The two talk about Rome-based Translated’s USD 25m investment, Argos Multilingual’s acquisition of Chillistore, and Big Language Solutions’ acquisition of UK-based Dora Wirth Languages (DWL).Esther talks about media localization provider ZOO Digital’s 2021 annual report, which detailed a shift in their service mix toward Media Services (media packaging, content preparation, etc.).Florian also muses about the minefield of intellectual property rights and licensing when it comes to voices, after Vice covered the case of a voice actor suing social media giant TikTok, which allegedly acquired and replicated via AI the actor’s voice without her knowledge.