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Top Trends of the Translation Industry for 2020

The world of today has shrunk to a global village, dominated by technology and driven by innovation. In the midst of all these changes, some natural disasters such as the recent COVID-19 has highly disturbed the overall balance of the world system, resulting in thousands of casualties worldwide. Along with the loss of human lives, this virus has affected businesses equally, impacting the way their operations are carried out. Professional translation services have also been impacted by the virus, leading to changes in the way these agencies deliver their services. Nevertheless, apart from coronavirus, some trends are likely to impact the translation industry in 2020, which will probably result in impressive progress for this industry. According to CSA, this market of language service providers is likely to witness a boost of USD 56.18 billion in 2021. We have sorted out some of the trends that are likely to affect the translation industry in 2020.

1.    Machine Translation (MT)

Machine translation
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Human Translation may be an accurate one, but it is rapidly being replaced by machine translation. Post-editing Machine Translation (PEMT) technology has become a top trend in 2020, as it is moving towards a new quality level, which is faster, easier, and super profitable for businesses. To keep business in shape during the spread of Covid-19, one must keep an eye on these top machine translation trends in 2020. 

a)    Context-aware MT

As the name suggests, context-aware MT takes stock of the last sentence to translate the next one. This makes it easier for both machine translation process and human comprehension, hence the name “sentence by sentence” translation is given to this type of translation. 

b)    Quality Estimation (QE)

QE technology provides quality learning to machine technology by avoiding references and risk assessments. It is expected that MT users may correct or discard their sentences badly translated by using this technology (MT-QE) in 2020. 

c)     Evaluation by Quality Estimation

BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy) has been used in the past to translate, evaluate, and estimate not only high school results but also various academic functions and industrial applications. In the year 2020, a new model of assessment is expected to be presented by Unbabel, known as “COMET,” which will assist judges at a high level to provide quality academic results. 

d)  Smaller Models

It’s a saying, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Bigger models for translation, based on large parameters, were being used in 2019. At the start of the year 2020, smaller translating high-quality models have been introduced, which are faster, easier, and popularly preferred. 

e)    Data Analytics

Machine translation service uses a certain type of data for correcting and translating languages. Owing to some changes, MT data was not up to the mark, which resulted in many problems. Still, in the year 2020, translation data has improved and has been updated, which may provide a high quality of work and can automatically select a requested MT configuration suitable for the content. 

2.    Voice Translation

Voice translation is also becoming popular these days as it is the new means by which a voice translator directly translates the user’s words, transmitting them to the receiver in his native language. According to statistics, 50% of industrial-based research is expected to be carried out through voice search in 2020. Not only that, but voice translation has also opened up doors for voice recognition, a security measure in which information is acquired about a person from his voice. Voice translators are also being used to establish understanding by people who can read but are unable to write. This voice recognition can be termed as one of the top trends to be followed in 2020 as many of the businesses belonging to different states need it for understanding and communication with other businesses of other states.     

3.    Transcreation

Transcreation has been ranked as one of the top trends to look out for in 2020.  Companies have understood the need to employ multiple ways of communication with their global clients. Transcreation transforms content in a way to be understandable for a user, combining both creativity and translation to convey the message across. An example of transcreation is the subtitles being used in movies and dramas globally, which use expressions and words suitable for the audience to which these are shown. Transcreation also got its popularity boost due to the number of people sitting at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, transcreation is used in marketing campaigns for companies seeking to achieve overseas growth and expansion targets. Professional translation services use the transcreation process for companies in a bid to attract audiences from across the world and to open new avenues of growth. 

4.    Video Translation

Video translation
Image by swissmith from Pixabay

Video translation has become the norm in recent times and occupies the top position in the list of trends to look out for in 2020. While it is true that print media is still in use, people now prefer to watch videos as a means of gaining both information and entertainment. According to global statistics, 80% of the content is being shown through videos globally, as it is more appealing and enjoyable. Not only that, but video advertisements also provide much better customer conversion than other types of ads. This rise in the popularity of video content has reached to such an extent that it is predicted that in the year 2021, 1 million minutes video will be downloaded or streamed every second, which means that 3 trillion minutes video will be watched per month by the world. An example in recent times is Netflix and online movies that deliver both entertainment and information through subtitles.

5.    Mandarin Translation

The Mandarin language, commonly spoken throughout China and a language of communication in many countries, has its own place in the list of trends to follow in 2020. It may be hard to believe, but China was able to reach the top of the world due to the Mandarin language, which has been assisting China in foreign trade and investments since 1979. In fact. China became the world’s fastest-growing financial state owing to the Mandarin language—and it still occupies the top position as the world’s biggest exchange holder, manufacturer, and merchandise trader. Not only that, but the popularity of Mandarin as a language of communication has also been taken up by a large number of states and countries for both business and routine communication.

6. CMS Integration

CMS integration is the latest trend to look out for in the year 2020. Simply integrating a Content Management System with the existing website or a web app allows a business to expand beyond its current markets. The more markets a business is aiming to target, the greater is the need for website translation. Companies went through the ordeal of cut-copy-paste of translated content before CMS began to integrate into the translation process. Thanks to advanced CMS integration through plug-ins and APIs, the process of translation and localization has become hassle-free and easy. This trend of CMS integration to provide professional translation services is likely to continue in the future as well, owing to greater competition and opportunities for diverse markets.     

7.    Other Trends to look out for in 2020

There are some significant translation trends which are not at the top but are playing a vital role in industrial translation based on technologies: 

a)    Artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is used to assist in the translation of text and data by many companies worldwide and in machine translation to translate complex sentences from one language to another. According to Gartner, AI augmentation is likely to create $2.9 trillion of business value and 6.2 billion hours of work productivity by the end of 2021. Considering the rise in the use of AI to automate workflows, there is little doubt that AI will continue to improve business performance and automate processes in enterprises in the future as well. 

b)    Automated Translation and Language Accessibility

Automated translation involves automated means by which translation can be done along with auto-correcting with the help of translation memory. Those companies aiming to capture the markets in countries other than their native ones need to have a strong command over language accessibility. Simply put, they should make their content available in multiple languages. To assist the potential customers in understanding their content, companies need to have a multilingual support system for delivering a hassle-free marketing and brand experience to global customers. This is why this multilingual support is likely to be on the list of top trends of the translation industry in 2020. 

The Last Word

The translation industry is a large and potentially growing industry that is becoming one of the top industries to look out for in the coming years. As artificial intelligence, technology, and machine translation make it easier to translate data in multiple languages, companies should aim to build communication channels with their customers globally. Other than that, the support of a reliable and expert agency that delivers Chinese translation services will make the journey to global growth easy for many companies in their native and global markets. 

Featured Photo by Nicola Nuttall on Unsplash