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Translation Demand-Supply Mismatch
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Posted by
Donald A. DePalma
on
May 17, 2012
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Given the US$31.4 billion in language service revenue booked in 2011, it may seem counterintuitive to state that high-quality human translation may soon become a scarce, if not more expensive, offering. However, in our recent report on translation providers, we saw a coming shortage caused by burgeoning demand for translation, a chronic shortfall of
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Why Economists Should Pay Attention to Translation in Africa
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Posted by
Benjamin B. Sargent
on
May 9, 2012
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According to a recent UN economic report, 10 of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies were based in Africa. Foreign direct investment in Africa reached US$62 billion in 2009, up almost 700% from a decade earlier. The report also found that the number of middle-class households will increase by half from 2010 to 2020. And, by 2030, the top 18
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STP Nordic Strengthens Its Niche with New Acquisition
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Posted by
Nataly Kelly
on
May 4, 2012
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UK-based translation company STP Nordic announced today that it completed the acquisition of fellow Scandinavian language specialist Tranflex. Earlier this week, we spoke with Jesper Sandberg, the CEO and founder of STP Nordic to learn more about the acquisition and how it will affect the company’s future.
Here are some points to observe regarding
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India Contemplates a Billion Web Users
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Posted by
Benjamin B. Sargent
on
April 5, 2012
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As the dream of universal access moved in the past two years from laptops to tablets, the Indian government awarded an ambitious contract to UK-based Datawind Ltd. in the hope of bringing web-enabled tablets to students for under US$50 per child. We wonder what languages these devices will support. With over 700 languages spoken among the target population
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HiSoft Acquires Spanish LSP Logoscript
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Posted by
Donald A. DePalma
on
March 20, 2012
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Earlier this month HiSoft briefed us on its acquisition of Logoscript. HiSoft, a technology services provider headquartered in Dalian, China, last year was number 20 on Common Sense Advisory’s list of 50 largest language service providers (LSPs) with language service revenue of US$38.5 million. Logoscript, a smaller privately held LSP based in
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Silicon Valley Conference Focuses on Yin and Yang of I18n and L10n
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Posted by
Rebecca Ray
on
March 19, 2012
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More than 150 engineers, product managers, and content creators gathered in Silicon Valley this week for the Internationalization and Localization Conference to hear lessons learned from companies like Adobe, Autodesk, Cisco, Intel, LinkedIn, Rearden Commerce, Twitter, Yahoo, and Zynga. Several companies relatively new to the internationalization (i18n)
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Microsoft’s Machine Translation Finds its Voice – and its Face
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Posted by
Nataly Kelly
on
March 13, 2012
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Microsoft is in the headlines for translation again. This time, it’s developed the Monolingual TTS, a new prototype for spoken language translation that actually personalizes the voice of the user. Are we entering the Star Trek era? The short answer is no. While these developments may seem mystical and magical to the average person, they’re
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Spanish vs. English: An Unnecessary Choice
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Posted by
Vijayalaxmi Hegde
on
February 9, 2012
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Alejandrina Cabrera was disqualified from running for city council last month in the small, southwestern Arizona city of San Luis. The reason? She was found to have only “basic survival level” English that fell short of what was needed to conduct city business. Meanwhile, in Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, a man named Majid
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Welocalize Says “We Translate” with New Merger
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Posted by
Nataly Kelly
on
February 6, 2012
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Welocalize has completed a merger with Park IP Translations, a specialist in legal and patent translation. A well-known industry consolidator, Welocalize is a veteran of mergers and acquisitions. In fact, it hasn’t even been a full year since the company merged with Boston-based translation provider Avantix Global. We spoke with CEO Smith Yewell
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Viral Videos, Kolaveri Di, and Lessons for Localization
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Posted by
Vijayalaxmi Hegde
on
January 19, 2012
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How did a song in Tamil become a viral video success? Within 10 hours of its release this past November, Why This Kolaveri Di? (which means, "Why this murderous rage, girl?"), became the most-searched YouTube video in India’s history. It was also the first Tamil film song to be premiered on MTV. As of January 11, 2012, this song from
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New Year’s Resolutions for Global Businesses
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Posted by
Benjamin B. Sargent
on
December 30, 2011
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Rather than list our predictions for 2012, we’ve prepared a set of resolutions that any director, manager, or vice president responsible for translation and localization can adopt without further ado.
“Get onto our CEO’s radar with globalization.” In fact, how about meeting directly with your CEO? Begin by reading
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New Year’s Resolutions for Language Service Providers
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Posted by
Nataly Kelly
on
December 29, 2011
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2012 is right around the corner. The economic picture remains fuzzy, but in an industry that grows consistently even in times of economic downturn, there is plenty to be optimistic about as we head into the new year. The problems of language service providers have typically not been a shortage of business – the challenges have related
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GlobalSight Gains Open-Source Traction
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Posted by
Donald A. DePalma
on
December 28, 2011
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GlobalSight was one of the first translation management systems (TMSes), debuting in 1998 (see "The Attack of the TMS Patents," Dec11). It was acquired by an Irish language service provider (LSP), Transware, in 2005, following a byzantine refinancing scheme by the two companies' backers. Shortly after Welocalize purchased Transware
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Applied Language Solutions Sells to Capita Group
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Posted by
Donald A. DePalma
on
December 23, 2011
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Applied Language Solutions announced that it had been purchased by the Capita Group for £7.5 million (about US$11.7 million at today’s exchange rate), with a further consideration of up to £60 million (US$94 million) based on performance over the next four years. According to the announcement, the Capita Group is the United Kingdom’s
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What Adding an "S" to "BRIC" Means for Language Service Managers
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Posted by
Rebecca Ray
on
December 22, 2011
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The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) officially added the "S" (South Africa) to their acronym in April this year during the third BRIC(S) Leaders Meeting in Sanya, Hainan (China). Not only were the 11 official languages of that nation added to the list of possible languages to be considered by translation managers, but so
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Search, and You Shall Find. In Your Own Tongue
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Posted by
Vijayalaxmi Hegde
on
November 28, 2011
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The internet is becoming a more inclusive place as far as languages are concerned: Browsers with multilingual functionality are not a big deal at a time when domain names are being registered in many Indian languages. The minimum number of languages a website needs to have in order to be competitive is 16. So, why not search in your own language?
Users
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How Translation Brought a Language Back to Life
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Posted by
Nataly Kelly
on
November 24, 2011
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Why should we be grateful for translation? We often write about translation in the context of its business value – as a global revenue enabler, as a way to reach untapped markets, and as a way to improve relationships with existing customers. We also write about the market for language services – how big it is, how diverse it is, and
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Sochi – How Language-Ready Is it?
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Posted by
Vijayalaxmi Hegde
on
October 25, 2011
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For six weeks, from February 7 to March 16, 2014, Sochi, Russia, will play host to the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games. During this time, an unprecedented number of languages will be heard in the city of Sochi. How prepared is it to listen and speak in these languages?
"Sochi 2014: Translation issues", a language
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Acquisition Activity Heats Up in Spain and Elsewhere
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Posted by
Nataly Kelly
on
October 12, 2011
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In a highly fragmented industry like the language services space, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are common, and consolidation is a longstanding trend. However, many of these transactions go unnoticed, especially when they involve companies outside of the list of the Top 50 global suppliers. Two Spanish language service providers (LSPs), Mondragón
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