SlatorPod

Slator

SlatorPod is the weekly language industry podcast where we discuss the most important news and trends in translation, localization, interpreting, and language AI. Brought to you by Slator.com.

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Episodes

#238 Why Interpreting Remains a Growth Market with Boostlingo CEO Bryan Forrester
Jan 29 2025
#238 Why Interpreting Remains a Growth Market with Boostlingo CEO Bryan Forrester
Bryan Forrester, Co-founder and CEO of Boostlingo, returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about the company’s growth, the US interpreting market, and the evolving role of AI.Bryan shares how the company has tripled in size since he last appeared on the pod, driven by strategic acquisitions, including VoiceBoxer and Interpreter Intelligence, and a rebranding effort to unify its product portfolio.Bryan explains how Boostlingo balances innovation with practicality, ensuring that new features align with customer needs. He highlights the company’s three-pronged strategy: retaining existing customers, enabling growth, and making long-term bets on emerging trends.While tools like real-time captions and transcription enhance efficiency, Bryan stresses that AI alone cannot replace human interpreters in complex industries like healthcare. He highlights privacy, compliance, and the nuanced expertise of human interpreters as critical factors, positioning AI as a supportive tool rather than a replacement.Bryan discusses market dynamics and regulatory changes, including how those under the new US administration could influence language access demand, particularly in areas like healthcare and public services. He describes Boostlingo’s strategy of leveraging third-party AI models, optimizing them with proprietary data, and rigorously testing to ensure quality and reliability. Looking ahead, Boostlingo plans to expand internationally and integrate AI ethically and effectively into its offerings, guided by its newly formed AI Advisory Board.
#236 The Year in Review and 2025 Predictions!
Dec 20 2024
#236 The Year in Review and 2025 Predictions!
In the 2024 year-end episode of SlatorPod, hosts Florian Faes and Esther Bond, along with guest Anna Wyndham, explore pivotal language industry trends from the past year and predictions for 2025.First, the language industry news of the week, with LXT’s acquisition of clickworker, which aims to expand its AI data capabilities and potentially double revenues by 2025. Meanwhile, Esther shares how EzDubs, a speech translation startup, secured USD 4.2m in seed funding.Florian notes that RWS reported stable revenues for 2024, with GBP 180m coming from AI-driven products and services. He also highlights YouTube’s AI dubbing rollout, unlocking new possibilities for multilingual content, though noting current limitations, like robotic voice quality.The trio discusses the UK House of Lords inquiry into court interpreting and translation, which raised concerns about interpreter pay, quality issues, and AI’s role in quality assurance. Reflecting on 2024, Anna outlines three major trends: speech-to-speech translation, “translation as a feature,” where translation capabilities are integrated into everyday software like project management tools, and the evolution of localization roles toward AI-driven skills. Looking ahead, Anna predicts rapid AI adoption in the public sector due to cost constraints and scalability needs, while Florian anticipates further breakthroughs in machine translation quality estimation and potential IPOs in the language tech sector. Esther forecasts increased M&A activity as niche providers seek stability and scalability in a competitive environment.
#235 The Interpreting SAFE AI Task Force with Katharine Allen and Dr. Bill Rivers
Dec 13 2024
#235 The Interpreting SAFE AI Task Force with Katharine Allen and Dr. Bill Rivers
Katharine Allen, Director of Language Industry Learning at Boostlingo, and Dr. Bill Rivers, Principal at WP Rivers & Associates, join SlatorPod to discuss the challenges and opportunities AI brings to interpreting. Both are founding members of the Interpreting SAFE AI Task Force, which aims to guide the responsible use of AI in language services.Allen describes AI as a double-edged sword — capable of expanding multilingual access but limited in its ability to handle the nuanced human dialogue essential in fields like healthcare. She emphasizes the ongoing shift toward a hybrid model, where human interpreters collaborate with AI tools. Rivers underscores the importance of ensuring AI solutions are “fit for purpose.” Drawing from his background in computational linguistics, he explains how insufficient data, particularly for lesser-diffused languages, limits AI’s reliability. The duo express concern over the unregulated use of AI, citing examples where inaccuracies in AI translation led to significant consequences. The SAFE AI Task Force seeks to mitigate such risks by establishing guidelines and fostering collaboration across sectors.Despite these challenges, Allen is optimistic about AI’s potential to help interpreters’ preparation and productivity, such as generating context-specific glossaries or simulating practice scenarios, saving time, and improving skill development. However, she cautions against over-reliance on AI, particularly in situations requiring deep human judgment.Through the SAFE AI Task Force, Allen and Rivers advocate for collaboration and education to use AI responsibly, ensuring it serves as a tool to help interpreters rather than diminish the profession.
#234 RWS and BLEND Appoint New CEOs, Microsoft and Amazon Speech AI
Dec 6 2024
#234 RWS and BLEND Appoint New CEOs, Microsoft and Amazon Speech AI
Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they explore how AI is influencing content creation and translation, noting its progress and limitations. A recent study on GPT-4 revealed its ability to match junior translators but lag behind experienced professionals, particularly in nuanced contexts. Florian highlights the public’s heightened perception of the risks of AI, such as OpenAI’s Whisper, in critical sectors such as healthcare, where transcription errors and hallucinations can have severe implications.Esther delves into leadership transitions in the language industry, with notable appointments including Benjamin Faes, a tech veteran with experience at Google and AOL, as RWS’ new CEO.Sorenson appointed Pajet Alves as CEO, while BLEND welcomed Yoav Ziv to lead after significant growth and acquisitions. Anna Albinsson took the helm at Gridly, with plans to expand beyond its gaming localization focus into MedTech and EdTech.In M&A and funding, Esther covers Teleperformance’s acquisition of ZP Better Together for USD 490m, with plans to fold it into LanguageLine Solutions. Meanwhile, Writer.com raised USD 200m in Series C funding, to expand its generative AI capabilities.Florian discusses big tech developments, such as Microsoft’s Translator Pro app for speech and document translation, while Amazon teased its "any-to-any" AI capabilities during the AWS re:Invent conference, hinting at future innovations in multilingual processing.Florian unpacks Straker Translations’ financial results, which reflected industry trends of increased volumes but declining revenue, highlighting pricing pressures. Their new Verify.ai tool, designed to validate AI-generated translations, underscores the pivot toward technology.
#233 Charles Campbell on Juntos and the Future of Localization in Latin America
Nov 29 2024
#233 Charles Campbell on Juntos and the Future of Localization in Latin America
Charles Campbell, President of tbo., returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about his efforts to unite and professionalize the language services industry in Latin America and the Caribbean through the association Juntos.Founded just before the pandemic, Juntos aims to raise standards in translation, interpreting, and localization by fostering collaboration, mentoring, and quality benchmarking. Despite challenges posed by the vast geography and diverse cultural landscape, the organization has seen significant growth, hosting conferences in Rio de Janeiro and Lima, with the next planned for Mexico City in 2025.Campbell sees immense potential in Latin America, noting its rich linguistic diversity and a growing pool of passionate professionals entering the field. While many countries in the region lack the established quality norms and associations found in Europe or North America, Juntos is actively working to close this gap. He also highlights the affordability of hosting events in the region, coupled with its cultural richness, as factors drawing increased international participation.Campbell addresses the role of AI in the industry, recognizing its strengths in high-resource languages like Spanish and Portuguese. He stresses that while AI is a valuable tool, human expertise remains essential, particularly in nuanced and culturally specific translations.As Latin America and the Caribbean continue to gain visibility in the language industry, Campbell remains optimistic. Through Juntos, he encourages stakeholders to collaborate, innovate, and embrace the region’s unique opportunities.
#231 AI Impact on Media Localization with ZOO Digital CEO Stuart Green
Nov 8 2024
#231 AI Impact on Media Localization with ZOO Digital CEO Stuart Green
Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital (ZOO), joins SlatorPod to discuss the role of AI in media localization and the essential role human linguists will continue to play in producing high-authenticity content in multiple languages.A technologist by training, Stuart recounts his entry into the media localization industry and how ZOO transitioned from DVD production to leading-edge solutions in multilingual entertainment content.The CEO shares key highlights from ZOO’s AI white paper, “Will Robots Take Over The World of Localisation?”, where he views AI as a valuable “artificial assistant” rather than a replacement for human talent. As such, AI can streamline repetitive tasks and support creatives by handling administrative duties, thus allowing them to focus on higher-value work.On AI lip-syncing Green suggests that it could mitigate the common mismatch between speech and mouth movements in dubbed media. However, he emphasizes that maintaining the “suspension of disbelief” in high-value content requires nuanced, culturally relevant adaptation — a task that still demands human interpretation of context, mood, and subtle humor.While AI tools are improving, particularly in speech-to-text accuracy, Green foresees human expertise remaining integral in areas demanding cultural nuance and emotional resonance. He highlights ZOO’s commitment to quality-driven localization for major entertainment clients and the unique demands of its publicly listed status, balancing transparency with the need for a competitive edge.
#230 Christian Elongue on Advancing the Language Industry in Africa
Nov 1 2024
#230 Christian Elongue on Advancing the Language Industry in Africa
Christian Elongue, Managing Director of Ghana-based consulting firm and language service provider (LSP) Kabod Group, joins SlatorPod to share his insights into the African language services landscape, recounting his journey into language advocacy.Christian describes Kabod Group as a dual-purpose organization, offering translation services primarily to nonprofit clients, while advancing social impact projects for African language professionals with initiatives such as the Network of African Language Translators and Teachers (ALATT) and the Association of Language Companies in Africa (ALCA).Christian discusses the unique challenges of Africa’s language landscape, which spans over 2,000 languages and requires localized solutions. He notes that demand varies widely across regions, with West Africa focused on French-English translation, East Africa on Swahili, and North Africa on Arabic. However, limited data and lack of standardization pose challenges for developing language technologies and machine translation for African languages.To address these gaps, Christian advocates for increased local investment in African language technology. He highlights projects like Masakhane, which develops datasets for low-resource languages but stresses the need for more African-led funding. Christian also urges international LSPs to support Africa’s language industry by sharing resources and facilitating professional exchanges.Christian concludes the podcast with a call to action: empowering African languages is key to preserving cultural heritage and fostering economic growth.
#229 Leading Localization from Asia with EC Innovations’ Sijie Wei
Oct 28 2024
#229 Leading Localization from Asia with EC Innovations’ Sijie Wei
Sijie Wei, Co-CEO of language services, technology, and game localization specialist EC Innovations (ECI), joins SlatorPod to talk about his new role as co-CEO and leading one of Asia’s largest LSPs with revenues exceeding USD 50m in 2023.Sijie shares how ECI, initially focused on helping Western blue-chip firms enter China, expanded to assisting Chinese tech giants like Tencent and ByteDance in globalizing their products.Sijie highlighted the challenges of the Asia-Pacific market, where localization maturity still lags that of the US and Europe in certain verticals. However, he sees significant growth potential as industries like e-commerce, AI, and electric vehicles mature. Regarding language AI, Sijie pointed out that Chinese companies prefer to develop their own solutions, making the market highly competitive. ECI benefits from this research, applying cutting-edge advancements in AI to client projects. In game localization, Sijie continues to see substantial growth potential. He recognizes that localizing games from China to global markets and vice versa is equally challenging due to differences in player preferences, monetization methods, and cultural contexts.Sijie gave his insights on the investment landscape, noting that current market valuations are lower due to uncertainty around AI adoption across industries like localization.Sijie concluded by addressing the balance between AI and human expertise in localization, emphasizing that while AI can drive efficiency, human quality remains superior in many contexts.
#228 OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode and Interpreting, AI Dubs for Instagram
Oct 23 2024
#228 OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode and Interpreting, AI Dubs for Instagram
Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Slator’s latest Pro Guide on Audiovisual Translation, which outlines opportunities for language service providers (LSPs) and how AI is impacting the field.In a language AI corner, Florian covers Alibaba’s recent launch of a proprietary large language model (LLM) for translation, which will help expand the e-commerce giant’s global reach. He also adds that Reddit has piloted machine translation (MT) for French content, a success that will see it roll out to more than 35 countries.Florian highlights NVIDIA’s move into MT and transcription services, adding to the growing competition in AI-driven language solutions. He talks about Meta's AI-powered lip-sync dubbing for content creators, bringing AI into the social media space. The duo dive into OpenAI’s advanced voice mode, which allows for real-time communication in multiple languages through ChatGPT. Esther notes its potential for consecutive interpreting, though simultaneous interpreting remains a challenge.Esther shares key takeaways from the recent AMTA conference in Chicago, noting that a key focus was how LLMs are influencing MT. She also discusses Propio’s rapid expansion through its acquisitions of ULG, Akorbi, and ASL, making it one of the largest LSPs globally.Wrapping up, Esther discusses Gladia, an AI start-up specializing in real-time speech-to-text solutions, that recently raised USD 16m in Series A funding.
#226 MTPE Use, Pricing, AI Adoption, and Other Findings from the 2024 ALC Survey
Oct 4 2024
#226 MTPE Use, Pricing, AI Adoption, and Other Findings from the 2024 ALC Survey
Shamus Sayed, COO of Interpreters Unlimited, and Anna Wyndham, Slator’s Head of Research, join SlatorPod to discuss key findings from the 2024 ALC Industry Survey Report, covering industry growth, profitability, service diversification, and the impact of AI.Shamus kicks off the podcast by explaining the origins and purpose of the Association of Language Companies (ALC) and its annual survey, which aims to establish industry standards and measure the value added by language service companies.Anna shares details about the survey, which saw a 50% increase in participation from last year, with 127 companies taking part. Participants mainly consisted of small to mid-sized companies, with a significant portion coming from the US. Shamus provides insights specific to interpreting services, noting strong revenue growth and the rise of remote interpreting. He discusses the impact of AI, challenges in sourcing skilled interpreters, and pricing trends.Anna highlights that companies are focused on growing revenue, developing new service offerings, and cutting operational costs. She also discusses the heightened interest in M&A activity, with smaller companies more interested in selling, while larger ones remain opportunistic buyers.Shamus recaps the ALC annual summit in Montreal, highlighting the camaraderie, networking, and potential business opportunities that arose from the event.Looking ahead to 2025, Shamus shares that the ALC aims to focus on AI integration, workforce development, service diversification, and M&A support.
#224 On AI for Deep Content Understanding with Zetta Cloud Chief Strategist George Bara
Sep 12 2024
#224 On AI for Deep Content Understanding with Zetta Cloud Chief Strategist George Bara
George Bara, Founder and Chief Strategist of tech company Zetta Cloud, joins SlatorPod to talk about the nuances of AI technology and its applications in text analytics and multilingual data processing.George shares insights from his career journey, including his tenure at SDL and RWS before co-founding Zetta Cloud, which focuses on building small, specialized language models rather than large, generalized ones.The founder discusses the challenges and misconceptions clients have about AI, especially with the hype surrounding large language models (LLMs). George notes that many clients mistakenly believe LLMs can solve all their data processing needs instantly. However, Zetta Cloud's approach allows their models to be more efficient, flexible, and deployable in customers' infrastructures, which is particularly valuable for clients in the public sector who prioritize data privacy.George highlights the differences in AI adoption and expectations across various industries and regions. He observes that public sector clients often have a more advanced understanding of AI's capabilities compared to commercial clients. The founder also discusses the importance of staying updated with the latest AI developments and how Zetta Cloud selectively integrates new technologies that align with their clients' needs.George concludes by sharing his involvement in Romania's national AI strategy, stressing the importance of regulatory compliance and the potential for government grants and partnerships to drive AI innovation in Europe.
#223 Evaluating Translations Objectively with ISO 5060 Lead Christopher Kurz
Sep 4 2024
#223 Evaluating Translations Objectively with ISO 5060 Lead Christopher Kurz
Dr. Christopher Kurz, Head of Translation Management at wind turbine manufacturer ENERCON, joins SlatorPod to talk about the development of ISO 5060, a new standard focused on the evaluation of translation output.Christopher discusses how his involvement with ISO standards since 2011, coupled with his experience in translation quality management, led him to spearhead the creation of ISO 5060 in early 2020.Christopher outlines that the primary aim was to produce a reliable international standard for evaluating translations objectively, countering the subjective judgments often encountered in the field.The standard itself includes a detailed error typology, ranging from terminology and accuracy to style and audience appropriateness, and introduces four severity levels — neutral, minor, major, and critical — allowing for a nuanced evaluation of translation quality.Despite advancements in AI, Christopher asserts that human judgment remains crucial for evaluating translation quality. AI can assist in identifying errors like typos or grammar issues, but understanding the meaning and context of a translation requires human expertise.Christopher shares that ISO 5060 will undergo systematic review in five years, allowing for updates and improvements based on industry feedback. He hopes that the standard will be widely adopted by both the industry and academia, promoting a more professional approach to translation evaluation.
#222 Hacks, Strikes, Layoffs, Rankings, and Localization Jobs
Aug 22 2024
#222 Hacks, Strikes, Layoffs, Rankings, and Localization Jobs
Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with key highlights from the latest Slator Pro Guide: The Future of Language Industry Jobs. The guide focuses on the future of jobs and freelance opportunities in the language industry, noting the impact of AI on employment trends.The duo analyze the 2024 Inc. 5,000 list, which includes 14 LSPs this year, with companies like PGLS, Propio Language Services, and Boostlingo among the highest-ranked, demonstrating strong growth over the past three years.In other industry news, amid a rocky Q2 2024, AMN Healthcare Services reported an 18% year-on-year increase in revenue for its language services division, driven by strong utilization of video interpretation.Florian addresses a recent content hack involving media localizer Iyuno, where unreleased Netflix shows were leaked online, underscoring the importance of security and confidentiality in the industry.Esther touches on recent labor strikes affecting the game localization and dubbing sectors, driven by the Screen Actors Guild's action. Keywords Studios also announced layoffs of linguists in Italy, sparking a linguist strike and highlighting ongoing tensions between AI and human talent in localization. The podcast concludes with Esther’s M&A and funding corner, including Translate.One's acquisition of Intertext and funding rounds for Language I/O and Bering Lab, signaling continued investment and growth in the language industry.
#221 Localization Is a Top ROI Use Case for GenAI with Lilt CEO Spence Green
Aug 19 2024
#221 Localization Is a Top ROI Use Case for GenAI with Lilt CEO Spence Green
Spence Green, CEO and Co-founder of LILT, the AI solution provider for enterprise translation, joins SlatorPod. On the podcast, Spence discusses the evolution of LILT's end-to-end platform, which integrates AI models with human verification to ensure quality standards.The CEO notes a significant shift in enterprise approaches towards localization, now being more software-driven rather than service-driven, which has been influenced by the broader adoption and focus on AI technologies post-ChatGPT.Spence emphasizes the importance of continuous training and customization of AI models to improve accuracy and efficiency in translation. He highlights how localization has emerged as an early winner to showcase the return on investment in AI.Spence addresses the impact of AI on the translation industry, including the potential for linguist shortages due to low rates driven by machine translation post-editing. He predicts that the market will eventually adjust, but in the meantime, there is a need for higher-skilled linguists to manage the gap left by AI models.The podcast concludes with insights into LILT's recent features, such as AI Analytics, which provide clients with deeper insights into the impact of AI on their localization processes. Spence also talks about the potential for multilingual content creation using AI, the challenges of segment-level interfaces, and the importance of workflow orchestration in localization.