Common Sense Advisory

Organizations often wonder which language service providers (LSPs) are the largest in a given region of the world. In this brief, Common Sense Advisory presents our first-ever list of the largest suppliers in Africa.

Organizations often wonder which language service providers (LSPs) are the largest in a given region of the world. In this brief, Common Sense Advisory presents our first-ever list of the largest suppliers in Asia.

In this brief, we answer the most commonly asked questions about our methodology for sizing the global market for the language services market. We also answer questions about how we identify the largest suppliers of languages services within each region.

Industry Providers | In this brief, we answer the most commonly asked questions about our methodology for sizing the global market for the language services market. We also answer questions about how we identify the largest suppliers of languages services within each region.

Global Leaders | Large organizations have begun consolidating their translation activities into internal service groups responsible for a broad range of language-related functions. This brief outlines the rationale behind and steps involved in enterprise language processing, including centralized operations, process re-engineering, automation, and content and metadata remediation.

Industry Providers | Family-run businesses are the rule, not the exception, in the language services space. In this brief, we review some of the most important principles for family-owned language service providers (LSPs).

Global Leaders | In both good economic times and bad, we find that people responsible for translation and localization struggle to prove the value of what they do. In this report, we discuss the efforts of localization managers in high-tech market sectors to demonstrate the value of localization. However, our findings on how companies do or don't track return on investment (ROI) should apply to any organization looking to establish objective value for its localization outlays.

Industry Providers | At some point in every entrepreneur’s life, the question of “what next?” inevitably comes up. Some want to move on to “the next great thing” so they seek a new challenge in another arena. Another might choose to grow his firm and gobble up competitors. Others want to transfer leadership to someone else, often a family member. Some just want to head for the golf course or the beach. And still others want to reorganize their companies for ever greater glories in the same market. This report examines these various growth and exist strategies for the language services sector.

Global Leaders | The language services industry is full of potential suppliers interested in working with your company – but it can be hard to tell them apart. At the same time, a growing number of organizations find vendors through online research. So, what items should you look for on your providers’ websites? In this brief, we provide suggestions for elements every buyer should seek on language service provider (LSP) websites.

Industry Providers | Since the advent of XML, localization companies have watched their desktop publishing (DTP) income dwindle as a part of their service revenues. Over the past decade, localization engineering and website globalization have suffered a similar fate. Is localization on its way out? Or is it showing signs of longevity? In this brief, we explore these and other questions about the past, present, and future of localization.

Industry Providers | Should a language services provider (LSP) own and manage the software in its IT stack in order to control its destiny? Or do cloud-based translation management system (TMS) solutions provide the better alternative? In this brief, we treat both viewpoints as valid strategies, note which types of service providers will benefit from each, and draw conclusions for technology selections in 2010 and beyond.

Web-based alternatives to traditional translation purchasing are appearing with greater frequency, from both mainstream language service providers (LSPs) and from entrepreneurs tailoring their start-up businesses exclusively for e-commerce. Client expectations and demands will increase the capacity and functionality of these portals. Against this backdrop, free translation in various forms – websites, plug-ins, and entire browsers – broaden the accessibility of language services for one and all, especially for the “occasional buyer” of translation.

Buyers of language services, translation and creative agencies, and freelancers all report that transcreation is on the rise. But what’s behind it all? In this brief, we cover the reasons why the demand for this specialized service is taking off.

As companies attempt to sell their products and services to more and more demographics in more and more markets around the world, they are discovering that they must adapt or recreate their messaging and content through a service called transcreation. This report covers what the process entails and how it differs from translation, along with insights into the ecosystem, workflow and quality guidelines that enable a shorter learning curve.

Anyone considering MT will look for the right combination of language and subject matter appropriateness, and then calibrate quality to the application needs. For most organizations, the driving force for most MT interest is the daunting volume of information that could be translated, balanced by budgets that prohibit human translation. In this brief, we review the obstacles to increased use of MT and the efforts of developers to remove those barriers.

Business process globalization usually lags behind an organization’s ability to adapt and deliver its products for international markets. In this Quick Take, we describe some classic symptoms of globalization immaturity and offer insights on how to diagnose and treat them.

This report presents the findings of Common Sense Advisory’s evaluation of 300 translation and interpreting company websites. It addresses issues such as color selection, use of images, website visitor engagement techniques, and online marketing best practices.

Our September 2008 report “Translation Management Systems” contained 24 scorecards (and two more were added in 2009). This publication updates the scorecard for Kilgray’s memoQ product based on its version 4 release in February 2010. Please note that our scoring matrix has changed for 2010. Readers should take care when comparing any 2010 scorecard with those from earlier years.

This research brief defines “in-the-cloud” and describes a raft of new entrants in multilingual website solutions Langoling, NativeTung, Smartling, and WordMonkey plus four TMS-in-the-cloud web-based translation management systems: SquidgeIT, TakeItInt, WebWordSystem, and Wordbee.