The future of translation technology is more relevant today than ever. Adapting to innovations and integrating them into the day-to-day work of translation companies is key to responding to the challenges and opportunities offered by increased digitalization and globalization. This reality affects professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses around the world.
The Impact of Ecommerce on Translation
Never before have small- and medium-sized companies achieved a similar global reach. The rise of ecommerce has made products and services accessible to users in places that were previously unreachable. As a result, new geographic markets are emerging for all sectors, driving demand for effective translation services.
All the world’s a stage open to vendors and companies, and expert translation agencies serve as the communication channels needed to capitalize on these opportunities.
How is the Translation Industry Addressing New Challenges?
Mankind progressed more during the 20th century than at any other time in history, but the 21st century is not far behind. Changes are occurring at breakneck speed, and translation technology is revolutionizing the way we work and communicate.
Embracing Technological Advancements
The future of the translation and interpreting sector is closely linked to these technological changes. It needs to adapt to meet new demands, integrating the latest solutions in translation technology alongside the best-trained human capital. This hybrid approach is essential for maintaining quality and efficiency in translation processes.
Trends Shaping the Future of Translation Technology
Translation plays an increasingly important role in the economy as an instrument of understanding in business relationships and transactions, both in B2B and B2C contexts. Specialized translation, post-editing, project coordination, and linguistic engineering are terms commonly used in the industry. Here are the main trends that are shaping the future of translation technology and interpreting:
A Surge in Interpreting Services
The use of new collaborative tools and platforms has transformed the way we communicate. Online meetings, webinars, and video calls are now standard for companies and employees at different locations, as well as for partners and customers in other countries. Remote language interpreting has emerged as an ideal solution in this context, facilitated by advancements in translation technology.
Increasingly Specialized Translation
The evolving mindset of many companies towards the internationalization of their products and services requires diverse translations into the languages of new markets. Legal, technical, academic, advertising, and marketing translations must be provided jointly and dynamically, adapting to various formats (web, audiovisual, legal documents, e-learning, etc.). Translation technology plays a crucial role in managing these complexities efficiently.
New Languages and Market Opportunities
As new markets emerge, there is an increasing demand for translations into languages that were not as common before, such as Urdu, Hindi, and Korean. Additionally, languages like Portuguese and Arabic are gaining prominence, reflecting their growing number of speakers. Translation technology enables agencies to keep up with this demand by offering scalable solutions for various languages.
The geographical variants of languages, such as Spanish in the United States or French spoken in sub-Saharan Africa, also need consideration. Native translators who can provide excellent localizations or transcreations are the human capital we need to address these challenges effectively.
The Role of Post-Editing in Translation Technology
The future of machine translation is not to replace human translators but to enhance their productivity. While machine translation can quickly generate text, it often lacks the nuance and context that human language requires. Post-editing becomes essential to refine these translations, ensuring they convey the appropriate meaning, tone, and style.
A study conducted by the European Union in 2022 on the trends, expectations, and concerns of the language industry in Europe ranks post-editing as the second most in-demand service after human translation, with transcreation coming in third. This highlights the importance of integrating translation technology with skilled human oversight.