TRANSLATING A MOVING TARGET

Transcription

1 1 TRANSLATING A MOVING TARGET 17 Transformative Trends to Watch New Revenue Opportunities from Intelligent Innovation A New Business Model for the Era of Convergence

2 CONTENTS Changing times, changing content 3 17 top trends to watch 4 New opportunities for revenue 6 The era of convergence 9 Best practices and strategies 10 The days when translation was a cottage industry run by people who basically worked in isolation are over. Technology is propelling translation services and the language industry itself to the forefront of global communication. Hans Fenstermacher CEO of the Globalization and Localization Association

3 3 CHANGING TIMES, CHANGING CONTENT The most difficult part of tracking the trends that are transforming the translation industry is that they are constantly evolving. Close your eyes and something has changed. Take the content explosion: There are 3.87 billion indexed pages on the Internet. (as of August 6, 2013) Last night while you were sleeping, almost a million blogs were published. Meanwhile, 100 hours of video was uploaded to YouTube every minute. Of course, none of this content stands still it is posted, updated and commented on with growing frequency. This is driving a need for faster translation at the same time a confluence of global economic trends creates new markets for multilingual communications. How can the translation and localization sector deal with this need for speed and high volume without compromising high standards for accuracy? This report examines the emergence of Intelligent Innovation in translation technology and examines how the industry can use these innovations to turn tough challenges into new streams of revenue. I hope the information is helpful as you create a strategic plan for the era of convergence. Scott Gaskill President, Sovee

4 4 17 TOP TRENDS TO WATCH TOP TRENDS These global developments are transforming the translation services sector. Which ones are having the greatest impact on your business? Asian, African & Arabic markets Rise in Machine Translation usage New developments in Intelligent Innovation Huge growth in Internet, income + mobile in AAA markets Downward pricing pressures Increased need for real-time, translation Crowd Sourcing (limited use) Multidirectional MT reduces reliance on language pairs TREND KEY: MACRO EMERGING RAPID GROWTH SLOW GROWTH

5 17 TOP TRENDS TO WATCH 5 Customer demands for speed Global Content Explosion Cisco predicts 3-fold rise in Internet traffic by ,200,000 new books published in 2013 Online customers prefer chat text Mobile data traffic up 70% in million new websites created per year Global translation market up 18% by 2016 Economic growth in MIKT countries Market growth in BRICS economies Mexico, Indonesia, (South) Korea & Turkey Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa & newly affluent China

6 6 NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR REVENUE THE POWER OF INTELLIGENT INNOVATION Many of the same trends that challenge the translation industry today can open doors to new revenue and present opportunities for expanding your client base. While Machine Translation is at the heart of these solutions, that s not a reason for despair. The Intelligent Innovation offered by today s leading-edge technology has come light years in development, especially when administered by industry professionals. Machine translation (MT) is a topic that arouses a variety of passions, not only technical but also political and personal. Laurel Wagers, Multilingual Computing This innovation equips today s translation business to: Work with unprecedented speed and accuracy Translate moving targets of web-based text Maintain a competitive pricing edge in a cost-driven market Leverage the flexibility of the cloud to accommodate large projects Translate multi directionally, not tied to traditional language pairs Quickly access new language engines as global economies evolve When translation professionals align with the right provider of intelligent innovation, the synergetic results create a new business model of convergence that will be the key to success in a rapidly changing industry.

7 NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR REVENUE 7 NEW OPPORTUNITIES WEB AND ONLINE VIDEO TOOLS TRANSLATION CAPABILITIES INNOVATION ADVANTAGES Website Dynamic translation of rapidly changing content Choice of real-time updates or ongoing updates with pre-verification and localization Video Automated translation Verification options Podcast / Audio Automated translation Verification options Software and apps Automated translation Verification options Newest technology easily replicates the design, formatting and branding of the original language site Platform allows upload of client corpus, dictionary and prior translations for better accuracy Post-editing interface makes verification fast and simple for translation professionals Ongoing content management system Cutting edge voice recognition generates transcripts. The most advanced systems can deliver audio translation in very human-like synthetic voice Can use video subtitles and/or Closed Caption files Cutting-edge voice recognition generates transcripts Advanced systems can deliver audio translation in very human-like synthetic voice Best providers can sync audio closely to spoken video segment, accounting for language length differences Cutting edge technology to replicate applications in multiple languages Ability to simultaneously release these applications to a global market

8 8 NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR REVENUE POPULAR BUSINESS APPLICATIONS TRANSLATION CAPABILITIES INNOVATION ADVANTAGES Live chat text Provide real-time translation for live chat text Common applications: Customer service elearning Internal employee communications Visitor interface kiosks Product kiosks Technology works with existing chat platforms or creates a custom system Designed for upload of client corpus, dictionary and prior translations Easy to pre-load translations for commonly used responses and questions Advanced platforms allow multi directional chat among many users Works on any device, including mobile Direct design template Translation of text directly in the design template used to develop business flyers, brochures, etc. Voice to voice Suited for clients with unpredictable and need it now scheduling, making it difficult for an agency to schedule live interpreters New technology interface eliminates need to cut, paste and reassemble documents Simple online set-up and implementation Post-edit directly in design template Entire books can be translated with a single upload and no reassembly This breaking technology translates spoken content in real-time using cutting edge voice recognition and human-like synthetic voice Works best for one-on-one or one-to-group interactions when a single voice is heard at one time Technology also supports voice-to-

9 THE ERA OF CONVERGENCE 9 THE ERA OF CONVERGENCE The translation industry has undergone a paradigm shift every decade since 1980, but none is as big as the Convergence era. Jaap van der Meer, Director of TAUS The convergence of technologies mobile phones, voice recognition and voice-to for example has been progressing with rapid speed and adoption. The convergent translation business model, however, is moving at a far more cautious pace, in part due to the initial challenges and failings of early machine translation. This is slowly changing as the industry discovers the opportunities to integrate intelligent innovation into the traditional business model, offering clients the best of both worlds: speed and online adaptability, guided and corrected by the wisdom only a linguistic or localization professional can offer. Reshaping the industry One of the early adopters of this convergence model is AVB Translations in Amsterdam. Director Joël Sigling explains why a strategic partnership between his traditional agency and a provider of intelligent innovation has been beneficial: We are reshaping the industry. Buyers of translation now have one environment for all of customers materials, whether they are documents, videos or websites, in one integrated solution. It is fast, but we still deliver high quality and at a good value to our customers. This convergence model meets the dynamic challenges we are experiencing in our business every day.

10 10 BEST PRACTICES AND STRATEGIES THE POWER OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Strategic partnerships with topline providers of Intelligent Innovation are essential to compete in today s marketplace. Consider these best practices when evaluating partnership agreements: Insist on teachable technology The most important innovation in the translation sector is the advent of computers able to learn by ingesting a client s company dictionary, existing translations, industry terminology and brand preferences. Over time, this increases the accuracy and reduces post-editing time. Shop around for a cross-application partner If you are going to invest time in loading your client s corpus, it should be applicable across all media, from web to document to podcast translation and everything in between. Only pay for what you need Look for an affordable set-up fee followed by a pay as you go purchase system, to keep costs in check. Look for a cloud-based provider The cloud offers the incredible speed and flexibility that many translation clients now demand. Be sure to inquire about security: the best cloud systems now offer security up to the highest government standards. Avoid static pricing models Traditional by-the-word pricing does not work for the latest technology-based projects, such as website or video translation. Find a partner offering custom quotes for complex or unusual jobs. Find a cultural match for your clientele Clients in the legal, financial services or government sectors will likely balk at a provider that uses crowd-sourcing. Be sure the provider aligns with your customers expectations for professionalism. Look for economies of scale A cloud-based Intelligent Innovation partner can help improve productivity on even a staple business, such as document translation, by doing the heavy lifting, reducing post-editing time and eliminating document reassembly.

11 THE FINAL FRONTIER It is possible that Intelligent Innovation will eliminate the language barriers during our lifetime, creating a multidirectionally multilingual society. Although this may mean great changes in the way translation professionals work, it will by no means signal the end of their value. As the moving target grows ever larger and more complex, the world will always have a need for learned experts to preserve linguistic integrity. The world will always have a need for learned experts to preserve linguistic integrity. Scott Gaskill President, Sovee

12 12 Would you like strategic assistance to position your business for success in the new era of convergence? Call Sovee for a free consultation at , or visit us at sovee.com The "Era of Convergence" is an industry term identified by Jaap van der Meer, director of TAUS. For more information, see the TAUS Translation Technology Landscape Report, April Sources for this publication are available by request. Please request to info@sovee.com. Sovee All rights reserved.