Translation Technology Landscape<<in an evolutionary perspective>>

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Translation Technology Landscape Report #2

Table of Contents• Evolution of the translation technology sector • Description of sector and categories• Eighty company profiles and use cases• Trends

New edition of the 2013 report

• Authored by Isabella Massardo, Maxim Khalilov and Jaap van der Meer, and the TAUS editorial team

• 140 pages

Evolution of the Translation Technology Landscape

Value proposition• Native speaker translators• Quality translations• Local agencies (yellow pages)

Technology

LSP Profile• Yellow Pages agencies• Solitary job• Single language

• Word processors

The Age of Personal Computing

Translation: Profile of the 80s

HLT• Spell checkers• Grammar checkers

What happened in the 80s

• From typex to spell checkers• Grammar checkers (Grammatik – 1981)• Machine translation

We were all so excited about Language technology

What happened in the 80s

… however primitive everything still is when we look back • From IBM typewriters to Displaywriter system (1980)• From telex to fax machines• Systran on Minitel in Paris

Value proposition• Project management• Computer literacy

LSP profile• Team work• Multiple languages• First consolidation wave

Technology• Personal Computers• Software for everything

Software is King

HLT• DTP, artwork• Translation memory

Localization: Profile of the 90s

What happened in the 90s

The hype around Language Technology continuesLernout & Hauspie & The Flanders Language Valley

… an MT revival that failedLogos – Tovna – Metal – DLT – Weidner – ALPS – Rosetta –Systran

… Translation Memory broke throughALPS Autoterm – INK Text Tools – Trados (1984)

We got special tools for software ‘translation’?Alchemy Catalyst – Passolo

… and a better way to manage glossariesTermTracer (1987) – Termbase – Multiterm (1990)

What happened in the 90s

Inflated expectations from language technologyLernout and Hauspie (1987 – 2001)

The wearable translator15 years later in Japan

Gaston Bastiaens goes to jail

Value proposition• Single source• Simship

Profiling• Global span• Full service

Globalization: Profile of 2000

Technology• Client-server

Connectivity rules!

HLT• Server-based TM• GMS & TMS

Globalization: Technology Landscape of 2000

Competition in TM for the desktop

.. and TM for client-server

.. and ‘Advanced Leveraging’ in other domains

Globalization: Technology Landscape of 2000

• ALPNET Xchange • Uniscape

The emergence of GMS and TMS

Globalization:

“42 steps to process a simple translation job”The reason Idiom, GlobalSight, Uniscape were able to raise $250 million…..

• )

And why did they lose it?

Why Companies Come and Go

The Gartner Hype Cycle

What else happened in 2000

TAUS Summit, Taos, New Mexico, March 15- 17, 2007: A Historical Moment

Let a thousand MT systems bloom

MT is back!

Value proposition• Technology integration

• Web-based TM• TM and MT as hybrid solution• MT as an enabler for other business

LSP Profile• Diversification of services• Testing• Digital marketing• Consulting

Technology• APIs

The age of web services

HLT

Integration: Technology Profile of 2010

Integration: Technology Landscape of 2010

Large MLV focus on CMS integration• Lionbridge acquires Clay Tablet• SDL goes on a spree to acquire CMS companies

Web-based TM systems

Localization Project Management Systems

GMS companies (‘old technologies’) absorbed by LSPs• SDL buys Idiom WorldServer• Welocalize gets GlobalSight• Translations.com acquires GlobalLink

What else happened around 2010

Enterprise Language Strategy

“For the first time enterprises become strategic about translation.”Eight things to change!

More words translated by machines than by humans

Enterprise SWOT Analysis (2010 – 2011)

S W

O T

• High leverage from Translation Memories• Well established process and

management

• Quality inconsistent (local flavor missing)• Lack of flexibility in landscape, reactive rather

than creative• Quality review is slow – bottleneck

• Opening new markets with MT• Engaging with users & communities• Convergence with video and speech• Search engine optimization• Translation of user generated content• Use of mobile• Content personalization

• Locked in to vendor base• Not scalable to expand quickly• Urgent requirement to support new markets• Inability to ensure quality• Opportunity loss due to lack of personalization

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20

Clients

MLV’s

In-countryoffices/partners

Distributedtranslators/authors

4 to 30 vendors

10 to 40 languages

100’ to 1000’stranslators/authors

Vendor Management Project Management

Quality Assurance Translation Memory

Account Management

Resources Management

Quality Assurance

Project Management Translation Memory

Resources Management

Quality Assurance

Project Management

Translation Memory

Quality Assurance Translation Memory

Static Cascaded Supply Chain

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Content Disruption

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Innovation Dilemma

S W

O T

• High leverage from Translation Memories

• Well established process and management

• Quality inconsistent (local flavor missing)

• Lack of flexibility in landscape, reactive rather

than creative

• Quality review is slow – bottleneck

• Execution on innovation fails

• Opening new markets with MT

• Engaging with users & communities

• Convergence with video and speech

• Search engine optimization

• Translation of user generated content

• Use of mobile

• Content personalization

• Locked in to vendor base

• Not scalable to expand quickly

• Urgent requirement to support new

markets

• Inability to ensure quality

• Lack of corporate awareness of new locales

• Opportunity loss due to lack of

personalization

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20th Century Translation

Top-down globalization

Export mentality – pushing out

One big world

1. One translation quality fits all

2. Selecting locales – limited languages

3. Counting words – owned content

4. TM is core

5. Project-based translation

6. Cascaded supply chain

7. Publisher-driven

8. Unidirectional

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21st Century Translation

Bottom-up and top-down globalization

Information is omnipresent – people are connecting

Many big worlds in one small planet

1. Quality differentiation

2. Long-tail of languages

3. Zettabytes of content–

owned, shared, earned

4. Data is core

5. Continuous translation

6. Collaborative translation

7. User-driven

8. Multidirectional

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Convergence: Technology Profile of 2020

Value proposition

• Real-time MT• Speech-to-speech

LSP Profile• Start-ups competition• Location not so relevant

anymore• Platforms instead of

supply chains

Technology• Mobile• Free & open source

The cloud is irresistible

HLT

• Subscriptions• Innovative offerings: social• Quality levels: transcreation• Dashboards

Convergence of Markets: Translation Shifts Gears

21st Century Convergence

Luxury

Publisher-driventranslation industry

Mobile

Real-time

Personalized

Datafied Embedded

New payment models

Good enough

Continuous

+ 1,000 languages

Innovation Invaders

From 10,000 customers who buy translation as a ‘luxury’ product to 6 billion users who consider translation ‘free’.

What is happening now

Drag and drop …• Real-time customization of MT

Plug and play …• Mobile apps for speech-to-speech

Translation as utility• On every screen, in every app

Convergence of:

• Technologies: MT & S2S

• Markets: Consumer & Business

• Business: Free and Premium

Many new start-ups

Insider and invader innovators

MT as an API: pay as you go or free for data

Convergence: Technology Landscape of 2020Platforms

Proxy-based localization platforms

Community translation platforms

Competitors or technology platforms to use

Convergence: Technology Landscape of 2020Terminology

Web-based terminology management

Terminology search

Convergence: Technology Landscape of 2020Translator productivity

Free & open source

Translator productivity tools

Convergence: Technology Landscape of 2020Quality Management and Assurance

Source language control

Quality checking

Streetwise

Translation apps

Convergence: Technology Landscape of 2020Translation as a utility

Convergence: Technology Landscape of 2020Audio/video and speech

Audio-video captioning

Speech-to-speech

Singularity: Technology Profile of 2030

Value proposition

• Deep learning• FAUT

LSP Profile• Cultural consultants

Technology• Robots & AI• Law of Moore reaches a

climax

Explosion of intelligence

HLT

• Data services and cleaning• Transcreation

Singularity: Trends of 2030

“Would I recommend to my young children to choose human

translator as a profession? The answer is clearly "no". I would

try to redirect them to be a language- and culture consultant.

Transcreation and adaptation between cultures will remain

necessary for one more generation, until the differences

between earth's cultures have been reduced to minor deltas

that machines can bridge. It is not only the technology that

changes. Human behavior, thought and creativity also change

in an increasingly connected world.”

Chris Wendt, Microsoft:

The Future Does Not Need Translators*

Read the blog and comment

Dynamic Quality Expectations

What Have we Learned?

Mission driven

Data driven

A To-Do-List for the Translation Industry

People

Technology

Data

Quality

The Customer

Machine Translation

Speech-to-Speech

Innovation

How do we train the next

Generation language workers?

To Cloud or not to Cloud?

Make or Buy?

What data would you like to track?

Machines that learn.

How do we measure?

It’s not about ‘You’. The international

customer experience.

What’s next? The N-factor.

People are lazy.

Made elsewhere…

See agenda TAUS Annual Conference

Think Tank →→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→

Platform for Industry-shared services →→→→→→→→

Them

es

Translation

Automation

Language

Business

Innovation

Enterprise

Language

Strategy

Together We

Know More

Human

Language

Project

Game-Changers

in Localization

Mile

stones

Drive MT

adoption

Introduced

crowdsourcing

in translation

TM Data

Sharing

Best practices in

post-editing

Dynamic Quality

FrameworkDQF Public API

TAUS is a resource center for the global language and translation industries.Our mission is to enable better translation through innovation and automation.

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

MT is here to Stay

But who owns it and makes money with it?• Google, Microsoft, Baidu, Alibaba, Google, eBay,

Facebook, Microsoft, Yandex, Amazon will be the strongest MT operators without straight revenue goals

• IBM, NTT DoCoMo?

No more empty segments• TM and MT ‘re-converge’

Commercial MT providers• Systran, KantanMT, Iconic, Asia Online, tauyou,

Mirai, Cross Language, ProMT, Lucy Software, CCID, PangeaMT, Globalese

MT as an enabler• For other business benefits and revenue generation

FAUT• Focus on MT has changed from FAHQT to a tool to

support global communications

Keynotes 2015 eBook

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https://www.taus.net/think-

tank/reports/event-

reports/keynotes-2015

TAUS Translation Data Landscape Report

TAUS Translation Data Landscape ReportDecember 2015

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