LocWorld48: Opening up the landscape

The LocWorld48 conference was held in San Jose, California from November 1–3, bringing together localization industry leaders and professionals from around the world. It was a veritable hive of activity, with exciting networking opportunities and thought-provoking speeches from leaders and experts in the field.

This conference was an opportunity for us to learn and grow as a company, and we’d like to share some of the key insights we picked up:

The language industry never settles

The language industry is a vibrant scene full of talented, inspiring people from all walks of life. This explains why it has grown so fast, and continues to grow in many different directions. This diverse and highly driven human capital is the key advantage that we have that leads us to success.

The language industry resists recession

Another bit of insight is the sheer activity and resilience of the language industry throughout adversity. It should come as no surprise that the language industry continues to thrive as it provides vital support to other industries on a global scale. There will always be a need for language services, so long as there is global industry. And global industry is only growing at an accelerated pace.

We are in the middle of a great transition

Technological advances are revolutionizing the translation industry. Machine translation has, in less than a decade, transformed into a significant disruptive force thanks to the power of neural networks and deep learning technology, and increasingly industry players have adopted it into their business models, creating a transition to a more AI- and machine-based approach to translation. And expertise in the language industry needs to catch up with this trend.

More AI expertise is needed

Following the above point, what the industry needs now is more experts who can help us make the most of the AI resources we have. And we have a lot—at present there are over 80 MT solutions providers out there. Each have their own strengths; there’s no one “best” solution for all cases. And it’s not just MT. More AI-based solutions for the language industry are cropping up quickly. This is why we need experts who are able to navigate this increasingly AI-filled landscape to help bring about the best outcomes.

The localization landscape is wider than we imagine

Localization is becoming ever more in demand as new markets with different languages and cultures emerge and become mature. Is the language industry in its current state able to keep up, or is there room for more players to join the game? We think there is, and we welcome the possibility of a more competitive and more innovative landscape for the language industry in the years to come.