Once upon a time, language service providers (LSPs) had a simple job: Render one language into another. Now, they’re part of a bigger story: digital transformation.
But digitization presents exciting opportunities for global companies that look to LSPs with content-centric (rather than translation-centric) expertise, beyond simple website localization.
- Videos, using subtitling, captioning, and dubbing to reach more people – particularly the 80% of YouTube users that live outside the US.
- E-learning courses, a 2017 trend set to grow exponentially as it becomes routine to train global networks of employees and students online.
- Mobile apps. To build authority and expand influence all over the globe, developers are making their apps available in as many languages as possible.
- Games. A growing demand for AR and VR is creating demand for new content, too.
Of course, all these new formats and platforms create new challenges to budget for. Games, for example, need to capture local cultures to be successful. Word-to-word translation might be cheaper, but localization would help convey emotion, intent, and one day, even body language
