Many industries are still working to bounce back from the impacts of the pandemic. As sectors adjust, the way they connect with customers, employees, and partners around the world shifts. This might involve long-term remote work, building new technologies, entering new markets, or more. Translation services then adapt in response to these needs, helping people communicate worldwide. So, what will this look like over the next year?
Adapting to change in 2021
Certain industries have boomed in the last year. Notably, e-learning is becoming ever more popular, and as learning materials are distributed worldwide, translators work hard to make them accessible to learners and teachers alike.
Likewise, the e-commerce industry is expected to reach 5.4 trillion USD in 2022, up from 4.89 trillion USD in 2021. Localizing websites so that they appeal to international customers, creating targeted marketing campaigns, and thinking about local languages are all vital for success in the sector.
The translation industry beyond 2021
It’s difficult to accurately predict the long-term effects of the pandemic on any industry. However, the future looks bright for language services providers (LSPs). In March 2021, CSA Research published three possible forecast scenarios for LSPs over the next few years.
Even the lowest realistic (and most unlikely) scenario sees the market recover to 2019 levels within a few years. At the other end of the scale, CSA explains another scenario that shows “a situation in which the language industry narrowly misses our forecast from 2019 and then surpasses it in 2022 and beyond.” But, which trends will we see during this time?
Translation services trends for 2022 and beyond
AI-enabled translation
AI technology is continually being developed for the translation industry. As this progresses, translation services will continue to adopt new technologies to assist with their work. This might be in the way translation tools handle segments of text, the way language pairs are analyzed, or more.
For example, as we recently reported, at the end of 2020 Facebook (Meta) announced a new AI model that doesn’t center around English. The aim is to improve the accuracy of translations between other languages, especially those with fewer resources.
Machine translation post-editing
Machine translation has come on a long way over the last few years. However, it still cannot handle the nuances of language like a human translator. This is why combining the skills of a human translator with the speed of computers through MTPE is an attractive option, particularly when it comes to bulk translations without a creative side.
Drawing on the latest translation technology tools, post-editors can work quickly to deliver results for clients.
Remote video interpreting
When the world moved online, we didn’t stop needing to communicate with each other. Online video platforms became the norm and international meetings took on a new meaning for those who had worldwide conversations from the comfort of their own homes.
Video remote interpreting compliments both in-person and remote working practices. People can access interpreting services wherever they are, as needed. It gives flexibility at a time when industries are changing rapidly.
Technology in the translation industry
Over the next few years, new technologies will continue to shape the translation services industry, from translation management to full neural machine translation.
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