Category Archives: Translation News

2012 Top Translation Companies: Who Will They Be?

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Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on January 11, 2012 – 3:57 pm
Filed under Corporate Translation, Resume Translation, Translation Companies, Translation News, Translation Services

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A Review of the Top Translation Companies, 2005-2011

In the middle of last year, I published a blog topic about the top translation companies of 2011. This information was based upon research by the Common Sense Advisory - which, if you work in the translation industry, you probably know that they release an annual report of the top translation companies. It started out as the top 20, then grew to 25, then 30, then 35 and most recently, they published a list of the top 50 translation companies.

 

They make a fair bit of money from releasing such reports, because it’s a pretty penny to purchase the entire 50+ page report, which contains these annual top translation company lists, as well as a breakdown of regional findings, methodologies, analytical comparisons, and so forth.

 

Well, this year I thought I would beat them to the punch, so to speak. No, I am not going to provide a list for the 2012 top translation companies. Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the resources, but more importantly, my job isn’t to do extensive industry research - I just blog about it.

 

However, I thought it would be an interesting task to compare the top 10 translation companies to the top overall growing industries for 2012. We may be able to make a few projections based upon these other facts.

 

Just to provide a starting point for comparison, the charts below give us an idea of how the top translation companies have shifted, dropped, risen and switched ranks throughout the past several years, with each annual top translation company   list. Figures are below for the past 6 years of ranked top translation companies, 1 - 10. 

sources: CommonSense Advisory

2005 - published in 2006 2006 - published in 2007
1. Lionbridge Technologies 1. L-3 Communications
2. Titan (L-3)Communications 2. Lionbridge Technologies
3. SDL International 3. SDL International
4. Transperfect/Translations 4. Language Line Holdings
5. RWS Group 5. Transperfect/Translations
6. SDI Media Group 6. SDI Media Group
7. Xerox Global Services 7. RWS Holdings Group
8. euroscript s.e.r.l. 8. Xerox Global Services
9. STAR AG 9. euroscript International S.A.
10. CLS Communications 10. Moravia Worldwide

 

 

2007 - published in 2008 2008 - published in 2009
1 L-3 Communications 1. Global Linguist Solutions LLC*
2 Lionbridge Technologies 2. Lionbridge
3. SDL International 3. L-3 Communications
4. Language Line Holdings 4. SDL International
5. STAR Group 5. Language Line Holdings
6. Transperfect/Translations 6. Transperfect/Translations.com
7. euroscript International 7. STAR Group
8. SDI Media Group 8. SDI Media Group
9. Xerox Global Services 9. Purple Communications, Inc.
10. RWS Group 10. euroscript International S.A.

 

 

2009 - published in 2010 2010 - published in 2011
1. HP ACG 1. Mission Essential Personnel
2. McNeil Technologies 2. HP ACG
3. Lionbridge Technologies 3. Global Linguist Solutions
4. Language Line Holdings 4. Lionbridge Technologies
5. SDL International 5. Transperfect/Translations.com
6. Transperfect Translations 6. SDL International
7. L-3 Linguist Operations & Technical Support 7. L-3 Linguist Operations & Tech Support
8. Manpower 8. STAR Group
9. SOS International Ltd 9 euroscript International S.A.
10. euroscript International S.A. 10. ManpowerGroup

 

 

2011 data to be released later this year …

 

 

Now, if we take a look at the industries that have the most growth, this is what we have:

 Top Growth Industries for 2012

source: IBISWorld.com

1. Environmental Consulting  
2. Real Estate Appraisal  
3. Ecommerce & Online Auctions  
4. Debt Collection Agencies  
5. Advertising Agencies  
6. Job training & career counseling  

 

Projection of Growth Industries in Relation to Translation and Localization

It would be fair to assume that translation companies and agencies that receive a lot of work from these types of industries, will also climb up the charts as far as the top translation companies of 2012 are concerned.  While one may not affect the other visibly for even most of the translation companies, if we take a look at what Google rankings suggest, some of the top ranking translation companies seem to already be on top of steering toward the top growth industries.

What Google Results Suggest About Translation Companies and the Top Growth Industries

A search for “ecommerce translation” (because ecommerce & online auctions are #3 above) produces results that rank the STAR Group as one of the top companies. This same thing is true for at least one translation query of the above industries, and at least one to several of the top 20 translation companies - which rank in top search results for those queries.  In addition to the STAR Group, CSOFT International, which holds spot 32 on the most recent top LSP list, also ranks on the first page of search results for “ecommerce localization.”  These companies obviously do their homework early, and consequently take immediate steps to ensure they rank well for top industry translation queries.

 

The Manpower Group is a huge corporation that consists of many different daughter companies, not only within translation and localization, but within, guess what? Job placement and employment. Coincidence? Perhaps, but the fact that a top 2012 industry is directly tied to a top translation company, certainly can’t harm its ROI figures.

 

It is probably also not coincidental that the amount of resume translation services has also risen for many translation companies, due to the rise of the job and career training industry. Recently, the Huffington Post published an article on this very trend in the translation industry, reporting that for some translation companies, resume translation projects have more than tripled. With job training and career counseling being one of the top 2012 industries, it is not surprising. Translation companies that currently rank high in Google search results for “resume translation,” may see a boost in sales in this area, if they haven’t already. Top search results for the query “career documents translation,” produce both Pacific Interpreters and Transperfect: two companies consistently ranking within the top 30 of annual top translation company lists. 

 

Real estate translation and real estate appraisal translation has certainly been high here at Tomedes. We recently published a recent translation article about providing real estate translation service for the city of Astana. Because of the current real estate market, foreign real estate sale and investment may be attracting investors and sellers who are not having luck on their home turf. However, for the city of Astana, real estate has done well recently, despite the economic status for most of the world. Either way, real estate translations are on the rise, and will probably continue to boost sales for 2012 top translation companies.

 

Debt collection is most likely going to be covered by legal translators, so this may be the one top 2012 industry that does not have as much impact - companies who specialize in legal translation service will perhaps see a slight increase in debt collection document translation. However, it is quite possible that telephone interpreting agencies receive a boost in revenue due to an increase in debt collection phone call translation services.

 

 What 2012 Holds for Translation Companies

While this is all pure speculation, and I am no translation industry research specialist, initial findings do support the idea that the top 2012 translation companies - or at least some of the them - have already begun to step up their visibility within the aforementioned industries. While it is unreasonable to make any specific predictions based upon fairly general information, it will not be surprising if one or two companies close on the heels of the previous year’s top translation companies, which also specialize in one or more of the above industries, finds its way into the top 50 translation companies of 2012 this time. That remains to be seen.

 

As an aside F.Y.I - Tomedes Translation Company ranks 3rd on Google for “environmental translation.”.. let’s see if our ranking for that query produces a rise in environmental document translations for the upcoming next year.

The Future of Translation Industry: Machine Translation?

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Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on November 13, 2010 – 5:22 am
Filed under Machine Translation, Translation Facts, Translation Musings, Translation News

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As one who works within the translation industry, but is not a translator myself, the thought of machine translation (MT) being the future of translation industry growth seems… . well, contradictory. Weird, at the very least. Isn’t machine translation the enemy? Aren’t developing MT programs and software the thing that could put translators out of business?

I’ve recently discovered otherwise – so for you translators who are way ahead of me, please excuse me while I take a paragraph or two to catch up.
According to the innovative and very massive open source platform for translation memory exchange, aka TAUS (Translation Automation User Society) and sister company TAUS TDA (translation data association), global open source MT data sharing can make translators and LSPs 50% more productive. LSPs can also potentially offer 50% more services within specific industries and fields, simply by tapping into a vast network of shared translation data storage. Instead of fragmented translation markets and inconsistent translation terminology, you’ve got data sharing, memory exchanging, collaborating translation markets. Figuring out how to fund major upgrades in translation efficiency and productivity can be a problem for smaller translation company budgets. TAUS TDA offers an advanced solution, via MT memories and other translation software.

To actualize it a little - imagine having access to stored translation data and TM memories of Microsoft, Intel, SDL, Dell, Adobe, CLS Communications, ATA (Association of Translation Agencies), Xerox, Symantec, LionBridge, Applied Languages, a ton of university language programs - and about 60 more giant beast monster companies. I am thinking this is a pretty freakin’ awesome translation tool.

Here’s a few links to check them out, including TAUS home page and the TAUS TDA blog.
http://www.translationautomation.com/
http://www.tausdata.org/blog/

Of course, the giant beast monster companies are all “special members,” who sort of determine TDA sources on a much bigger scale. There are membership levels for individuals, small companies, academic institutions, etc etc. but there is no discrimination against how big a company, or how much revenue a member has to make in order to join. It does, however, determine various levels of access to the language data. Another upside? No free-loaders admitted. If you don’t put in, you don’t get jack. Share with them, they share with you. Simple, smart and very effective.

More than anything, though, the major point here is that technology advancements in machine translation, and the ever-progressing sophistication of their capabilities, is nothing to fear. Machine translation is taking technological hold that cannot be ignored or avoided. It’s a much better idea to make it work for you, than try to work against it. Using TAUS as an example illustrates that more and more translators seem to be banding together to make MT and translation technology work for them and the industry at large. This has been my lesson of the day, anyway.

For a more in-depth, and more informed blog about the future of MT, data sharing and open source platforms, have a look here:
http://www.translationautomation.com/perspectives/what-options-do-translators-really-have.html

Oscar winner 2010 - Best Foreign Language Film

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Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on February 4, 2010 – 10:43 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Translation News, Translation Stories, Translation Tea Break

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It is not another Oscar prediction. It is pure science. As I work for the leading translation service, I just love foreign languages and watch new foreign language movies regularly.
However, in order to know which foreign language film will win the Oscar in 2010 or in any other given year; you don’t have to actually watch the films.

Well, this year the nominees are “Ajami” from Israel, “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” from Argentina , “The Milk of Sorrow” from Peru, “Un Prophète” from France and “The White Ribbon” from Germany.
Without knowing anything about the films, I can say that the winner will be “Un Prophète” from France.

Here are the reasons:

1. 83% (46 out of 55) of the winners in this category in the history of the Academy awards were films from the European continent. Since last year a Japanese film won, it is not likely that there will be again a non European winner this year.
2. French films took 9 awards while Germany ones took only 3 since the first 1947 award.
3. French films have a higher winning /nomination rate - 26% compared to 20% of Germany ones
4. Germany had won the Oscar in 2006 while France had not won it since 1992.

Will my science work? We will see soon. Meanwhile, back to working on http://www.tomedes.com .

P.S. My personal favorite is “Ajami” – An outstanding film.

2010 Valentine’s Day Gift

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Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on February 3, 2010 – 1:45 am
Filed under Translation News, Translation Services, Translation Tea Break

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


We have decided to show our love and affection towards our beloved new and returning customers by hading them a special gift for Valentines day.
This time we will not provide a discount of 5% or 10% for our professional translation services . This time it’s a crazy discount of 15% from now till February 15th.
All you have to do to get the special valentines day gift is to use the coupon code “cupid”. Just go to http://www.tomedes.com choose a language pair and text to be translated and submit the coupon code.
All of us in Tomedes send you our hugs and kisses and wish you all the best with our love coupon

Preserving Hebrew - one of the oldest and most revered languages of the world

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on February 1, 2010 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News

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A very interesting and admirable effort is taking place within the boundaries of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for there lies the Academy of the Hebrew Language which is dedicated towards preserving Hebrew and promoting its use among the masses by updating it with the changing times. The academy develops nearly 2,000 new Hebrew words annually for modern terms and concepts like blog, sustainable development, hacker and jetlag. The academy tries to find original Hebrew words that would convey the meaning of modern terms rather than just translating a new English word into Hebrew. For example, it came up with the term “ayefat” for jetlag. This Hebrew word was created using the root word for “tired”, similarly the academy recommends “misron” for SMS.

Hebrew, which is among the oldest languages of the world had not been used as a spoken language for more than 1,700 years. During this period it was solely used in biblical and religious texts. It was only 150 years ago that efforts were made to revive it as a spoken language and the man who played an instrumental role in reintroducing Hebrew as a spoken language is Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. This year Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet marked Ben-Yehuda’s 152nd birthday on January 7th with a special session in which it was decided that the day would be henceforth celebrated as National Hebrew Day.

Kuwait pushes Arabic for official status in WTO

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on January 29, 2010 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News

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Diplomats and officials revealed early this week that the Arab members of World Trade Organization are making efforts to get Arabic recognized as the organization’s fourth official language. Keith Rockwell, the spokesman for WTO said that Kuwait had made a formal request and members of the body were discussing the matter. The WTO has 153 members at present among which there are around a dozen Arab countries, six more including Iraq, Libya and Algeria are in the process of joining. But all said and done there are significant hurdles that might thwart this effort.

WTO’s existing official languages include English, French and Spanish. Adding a new official language means that there will be requirement for interpretation, translation and printing. This would involve heavy expenditure. But that is not all, adding Arabic as an official language would lead other nations like China and Russia to step up efforts for including their languages among the official languages of WTO. Moscow has already been making on-and-off efforts in that direction for some years now and the addition of Arabic may just renew its zeal and increase pressure on WTO. According to official sources, the addition of 3 languages would lead to an annual cost of around $43 million or 45 million Swiss Francs. Consider this amount by comparing it with the total budget of WTO for 2009 – 189 million Swiss Francs.

Oregon provides language translation options in its official website

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on January 18, 2010 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News

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The state of Oregon has added automatic language translation options to its website. This news was announced by The Oregon Department of Administrative Services last week. The state’s official website is now supported by Google Translate which provides visitors with the ability to translate the content of the site into 25 languages apart from English. The languages are Italian, French, German, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Norwegian, Malay, Persian, Korean, Portuguese, Swahili, Swedish, Vietnamese, Thai and Ukrainian.

Those who visit Oregon.gov will find a “drop-down” box labeled “Select Language” at the upper right corner in all pages. A user who is unable to read the default language which is English can choose from the 25 languages provided in the drop down box. Selecting the desired language will instantly produce the translated version of the page.

Oregon’s e-government manager Wally Rogers said on the occasion of the announcement that this feature had been added taking into account the fact that the State had a substantial population of non-English speakers who could not use the online resources available on the website because of language differences. The automatic translation option would not only allow such residents to understand and take advantage of the information presented on the website but it would also allow the government to reach out to more people. Moreover, with the help of Google Translate the state government was able to translate more than 40,000 pages without spending any money.

Toshiba develops voice translation software for mobile phones

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on January 11, 2010 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News, Translation Tools

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Instant voice translation has long been the stuff of science fiction and a much desired ability in the real world. People who frequently travel to foreign countries where they do not understand the local language would be delighted by a gadget that could instantly translate what they say in their native language into the local language of the foreign country to which they are traveling.

Many individual inventors and companies have been working on developing such a software. We’ve already got a few which are available for desktop computers. Although these devices work on a simple level that is, for basic phrases, they do indicate that we are closer to developing a full-fledged instant voice translation software now than ever before. There are a few companies that have been working on developing voice translation software for mobile devices which makes sense, since such a device would provide maximum utility in its mobile form.

Toshiba for one has already developed such a software which in its present version can allow the user to translate between English, Japanese and Chinese, and has a database of 30,000 words for every one of these languages. The company will be introducing this software on their smartphone - TG01 and is aiming to sell to tourists who travel to foreign countries. The company claims that the software is extremely user-friendly and all it requires from its users is that they speak into phone in any of the aforementioned languages following which the handset would process it and translate it into the desired language. The company intends to release the software in the present year itself.

European Commission Survey of EU language translation industry

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 25, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News

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A survey conducted for the European Commission has concluded that the language translation industry has weathered the economic slowdown with much better results than other sectors. This study has been among the first of its kind analyzing the language translation industry across the European Union and extensively covering areas like language translation, localization and globalization, interpretation, language education, dubbing and subtitling, language technology tools and organization of multilingual conferences.

The survey found out that in 2008 the European Union language industry achieved a turnover worth 8.4 billion Euros. This has been projected to increase at a minimum annual rate of 10 per cent over the coming years, and reach the figure of 16.5 to 20 billion Euros by 2015, making it the highest projected growth rates across EU industries.

The language industry has undergone drastic transformation in recent times. Rapid worldwide globalization has created huge requirements for translation and other language related services which has led to the addition of services like localization, subtitling and editing. Professionals working in the industry have responded favorably by acquiring new competencies. According to the commissioner for multilingualism Leonard Orban, the language industry is important in both the economic, as well as strategic sense. Apart from its size which makes it economically significant, it’s strategic importance comes from the role it plays in helping preserve people’s identities and culture, and in coping with globalization.

The top language translation players of Europe

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 24, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News

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A research conducted by the market research firm Common Sense Advisory investigating European countries that offered the biggest opportunities for multilingual services came to the conclusion that United Kingdom, Germany and France were among the top players in the area.

According to Common Sense Advisory’s CEO Tahar Bouhafs, business organizations in Europe were increasingly relying  upon language translation services to ensure the success of their services and products across the world. He added that expanding into new markets was vital for the growth of any business, and services like language translation, localization and interpretation made such expansion possible.

According to Nataly Kelly the lead researcher of the aforementioned report, Europe was characterized by a commendably progressive attitude as far as multilingualism was concerned. The European Union has been at the forefront encouraging the development of technologies used for machine translation and translation memory. It is now standing at the brink of the next phase of this development which would involve community-based translation and the production of language translations in a variety of output formats all of which would be playing important roles in a Web 3.0 world.