SlatorPod

Tom Elias Hanna, COO of Hanna Interpreting Services (Hanna), joins SlatorPod to talk about how a family-run interpreting initiative grew into a national language solutions integrator (LSI).Tom explained that the company was born out of necessity during an influx of Arabic-speaking refugees in San Diego, with his mother providing interpretation and him leveraging his legal background to establish a compliant, scalable business that now serves healthcare, government, education, and social service sectors across California.Tom described how their inclusion-focused work led to partnerships like one with San Diego FC, where they provide ASL at every home game. He emphasized that while AI holds potential in sign language interpretation, it must evolve with and for the deaf community to be truly effective, due to cultural, emotional, and experiential nuances that current technologies cannot replicate.On-site language interpretation remains the core service, especially across healthcare, education, and social services. Though remote interpreting and AI are on the rise, Tom emphasizes the irreplaceable value of human interpreters, particularly in high-stakes, emotionally nuanced settings like hospitals.Tom explained that their recent rebrand emphasizes both human connection — central to their on-site interpreting services — and technological growth.Initially, without a sales team, Hanna grew through referrals, client satisfaction, and high service quality. Only after COVID did Tom begin to formalize a sales strategy and identify account management as a natural extension of their client-first approach.Tom expressed that despite considerable internal and industry-wide discussions, the Trump Executive Order designating English as the only official language of the US had no tangible effect on Hanna, so far. He noted that no clients inquired about it or changed their behavior.Looking ahead, Tom aims to scale geographically, explore strategic acquisitions, and develop proprietary technologies to improve experiences for clients, staff, and linguists alike.

Florian and Esther welcome Slator's Anna Wyndham and Alex Edwards to SlatorPod to explain the rationale behind the new industry framework introduced in the Slator 2025 Language Industry Market Report.Drawing from the flagship report and echoing the buzz of SlatorCon London, the team explains why the traditional labels, Language Service Providers (LSPs) and Translation Management Systems (TMSs), no longer capture the scope and complexity of the evolving market. Instead, Slator has introduced two new terms: Language Solutions Integrators (LSIs) and Language Technology Platforms (LTPs).Anna defines LTPs as pure-play technology providers that develop language tools, applications, orchestration platforms, and AI models. LSIs, she explains, are organizations whose core offering is to deliver fit-for-purpose multilingual content solutions by integrating language technology and AI with human experts as part of a fully managed solution.Esther confirms early advisory adoption of the terms, noting investor interest in clearer tech-service distinctions. Alex adds that automatic dubbing startups tend to fit LTPs better than LSPs, as they often operate self-serve AI platforms.Anna clarifies that big tech players like OpenAI and Google are excluded from the market sizing as they are foundational enablers, not language-focused businesses. The team also discusses why the term “AI” was excluded from the new categories as it may become as ubiquitous as “Cloud”.To close, Anna points out that LSIs currently capture the bigger portion of the total addressable market (TAM). The team sees a strong demand for expert-in-the-loop services and growing LTP–LSI partnerships.

In a SlatorPod first, four guests — Scott Cooper, CEO of Language Services Associates (LSA), Pablo Tercero, COO of LSA, Jerry Song, CEO of Lingolet, and Edward Varela, VP of Business Development at Lingolet — shared their insights into a newly forged partnership.Scott explained that the decision to partner instead of building an in-house AI solution allowed LSA to stay focused on its core strengths while leveraging Lingolet's technical edge. The alliance goes beyond a vendor agreement, with LSA taking an equity stake in Lingolet, anchoring the relationship in shared strategy and long-term commitment. For Jerry and Edward, the partnership is a natural progression, rooted in their deep knowledge of both software development and the language services market.In a standout use case, the two companies helped a Major League Soccer team enable multilingual, AI-assisted communication in coaching sessions — bridging language gaps in real time for international players.On the tech front, Jerry and Edward explained that Lingolet doesn't build large language models from scratch but instead acts as an orchestrator, offering clients the ability to customize and deploy AI tools within secure, dedicated environments. Pablo underscored LSA's HIPAA and PCI compliance, as security, compliance, and privacy are essential pillars, especially in regulated sectors like healthcare.Looking ahead, LSA and Lingolet are preparing to offer hybrid solutions where AI can bridge the gap during interpreter unavailability, even for brief moments, potentially transforming session wait times. Their roadmap includes broader language coverage, deeper integration with healthcare platforms, and innovative pricing models that will reshape how interpretation services are sold and scaled.

Rong Yan, CTO of HeyGen, joins SlatorPod to recount the company's transformation from a Metaverse-focused startup to leading the emerging field of AI video generation.Rong recounts HeyGen's beginnings and the pivot to its current avatar model, which saw ARR go from zero to USD 1m within six months.Rong attributes HeyGen's success to its emphasis on three key elements: quality, consistency, and controllability. The company's newest model, Avatar IV, enables full-body video generation with natural gestures, synchronized audio, and emotion to speech.While some of the platform's growth has been viral, Rong believes sustained success comes from building something users truly value, with a focus on pushing video quality from 70% to 95%.The platform extends beyond avatars, offering translation, voice cloning, and real-time interactivity. Its dynamic duration feature adjusts translated speech to fit original video timing, preserving realism. Rather than build everything from scratch, HeyGen integrates external models with its own orchestration and user data, optimizing output across languages and contexts.Rong emphasized that HeyGen's long-term vision is not entertainment or Hollywood, but helping everyday professionals, especially marketers and educators, who lack traditional video production skills.Looking ahead, Rong sees video agents, tools that generate complete videos from simple prompts, as the next frontier, driving accessibility and transforming storytelling through AI.

Véronique Özkaya, Co-CEO of DATAmundi, returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about the company's strategic rebrand and how it is positioning itself as a key player in the data-for-AI space.Véronique details her journey to leading DATAmundi, formerly known as Summa Linguae, where she now drives a strategic shift from traditional language services to AI-focused data enablement.The Co-CEO explains that their LSP background makes them well-suited to offer fine-tuning services for AI, especially in multilingual and domain-specific contexts. However, she cautions that language expertise alone isn't enough; deep tech infrastructure, data science capabilities, and the ability to quickly build custom workflows are also essential.While many companies still rely on crowd-sourced, basic annotation, DATAmundi targets higher-complexity projects requiring domain experts and linguists. Véronique notes the market for data-for-AI is growing significantly faster than traditional LSP work and sees a second wave of demand from enterprises needing to adapt pre-trained models.Véronique highlights data scarcity, hallucination, and bias as core AI challenges that DATAmundi tackles through technical solutions and expert guidance, helping enterprises as they face pressure to implement AI despite legacy systems and unclear strategies.Looking ahead, DATAmundi plans to expand its consultative services through further acquisitions, focusing not on tech per se, but on organizations that deepen its expertise in data application and AI deployment.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with DeepL becoming the first third-party translation app users can set as default on the iPhone, a position gained by navigating Apple's developer requirements that others like Google Translate have yet to meet.Florian and Esther examine RWS's mid-year trading update, which triggered a steep 40% share price drop despite stable revenue, healthy profits, and manageable debt.On the partnerships front, the duo covers multiple collaborations: Acclaro and Phrase co-funded a new Solutions Architect role, Unbabel entered a strategic partnership with Acclaro, and Phrase partnered with Clearly Local in Shanghai. Also, KUDO expanded its network with new partners, while Deepdub was featured in an AWS case study for its work with Paramount. Wistia partnered with HeyGen to launch translation and AI-dubbing features and Synthesia joined forces with DeepL, further cementing the trend of avatar-based multilingual video content.In Esther's M&A corner, MotionPoint acquired GetGloby to enhance multilingual marketing capabilities, while OXO and Powerling merged to form a transatlantic LSP leader. TransPerfect deepened its media footprint with two studio acquisitions from Technicolor, and Magna Legal Services continued its acquisition spree with Basye Santiago Reporting.Meanwhile, in funding, Linguana, an AI dubbing startup targeted at YouTube creators, raised USD 8.5m, and pyannoteAI secured EUR 8m to enhance multilingual voice tech using speaker diarization. The episode concluded with speculation about DeepL's rumored IPO, which could have broader implications for capital markets.

John Worne, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), joins SlatorPod to discuss CIOL's mission to support and promote language professionals and the value of languages for the public good through professional standards, advocacy, and intercultural understanding.John highlights the challenges of applying AI in high-stakes contexts like court interpreting. He references the UK House of Lords inquiry into language services in the legal system, which emphasized the risks of AI, particularly for low-resource languages and nuanced human communication. He warns that casual, unsupervised AI use in public services risks serious harm without proper oversight.The CEO describes the industry's current AI experience as mixed. While late 2024 saw falling workloads and experimentation by clients with generative AI, early 2025 brought a more stable picture, with some freelancers regaining lost business. Still, the community remains divided: about half of CIOL's members embrace AI tools, while the rest resist them, concerned about quality and trust.John raises questions about AI's influence on how we use and shape language. He notes how generative AI introduces patterns into the linguistic mainstream, creating an "AI-mediated average" that may dilute cultural identity. He argues that language is a “human meta skill”, encoding not only communication but identity, culture, and belonging. Looking ahead, John is cautiously optimistic for the next generation of linguists, as digital natives may be more adept at using AI creatively and multitasking across tools. CIOL plans to expand free resources and community engagement in 2025, ensuring that the future of language work remains inclusive, ethical, and informed by real human insight.

Luke Innes, CEO of Creative Translation, joins SlatorPod to discuss how the global transcreation agency puts “human at the heart of the process” of multilingual branding by combining creativity, cultural insight, and strategic use of AI.Luke recounts his unconventional entry into the language services industry, charting a path from his roots in design to leading Creative Translation. Despite early skepticism around the term “creative translation,” he built a business model that puts creativity at its core, serving global brands with distinctive voices seeking international reach.The CEO explains that the company's talent pool includes not just translators, but copywriters, cultural consultants, subject-matter experts, and art directors, tailored to the unique needs of each project.While large enterprises were once the primary clients for transcreation, Luke notes that AI is lowering barriers and enabling smaller companies to invest in higher-quality multilingual branding.Luke emphasizes that AI is a productivity tool — not a creative replacement. It supports tasks like workflow automation and translation memory management but cannot replicate the insight and originality of a human linguist.To prepare professionals for this evolving landscape, Luke founded the Creative Academy. It supports both new graduates and experienced linguists in mastering creative briefs and adopting AI responsibly.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, breaking down Slator's 2025 Language Service Provider Index (LSPI), which features nearly 300 LSPs and reports 6.6% combined growth in 2024 revenues, totaling USD 8.4bn.Florian touches on a surprise USD 10m donation from private equity executive Mario Giannini to launch a new MA translation and interpreting program at California State University, Long Beach. The duo talks about McKinsey's State of AI report, which continues to classify translators as AI-related roles and shows that hiring them has become slightly easier.In Esther's M&A corner, TransPerfect announced two acquisitions, Technicolor Games and Blue Digital Group, further expanding its presence in gaming and media localization. In Israel, BlueLion and GATS merged to form TransNarrative, and Brazilian providers Korn Translations and Zaum Langs joined forces under the Idlewild Burg group.Meanwhile, in funding, Teleperformance invested USD 13m in Sanas, a startup offering real-time accent translation for call centers to improve global communication. Lingo.dev raised USD 4.2m, while Dubformer secured USD 3.6m to develop the ‘Photoshop of AI dubbing'.Florian shares insights from Slator's 2025 Localization Buyer Survey, which found that over half of buyers want strategic AI support from vendors and many cite inefficient automation as a key challenge.

Joe Corkery, MD, CEO and Co-Founder of Jaide Health, joins SlatorPod to discuss how Jaide Health is driving medical interpreting and translation with AI, bridging communication gaps for limited English proficiency (LEP) patients and improving healthcare accessibility.With a background in computer science, medicine, and AI product leadership at Google, Joe co-founded Jaide Health with Julie Wilner, RN, in 2023 to address a long-standing need for real-time, interactive communication for the LEP patient population.Unlike older machine translation models, which worked sentence by sentence without context, Joe shares how generative AI can maintain coherence, track gender references, and infer meaning from prior context — crucial in medical settings.The CEO remains pragmatic about Trump's executive order designating English as the US's official language and revoking previous language access mandates. He argues that such policies will not change the healthcare industry's commitment to multilingual patient care but may push hospitals to seek more cost-effective solutions — potentially accelerating AI adoption.Looking ahead, Jaide Health is focusing on expanding into document translation, particularly for discharge instructions and patient portal messaging, areas where current solutions are slow or impractical.

Anna Albinsson, CEO of Gridly, joins SlatorPod to talk about the company's evolution into a content operations platform, its expansion beyond gaming, and the increasing role of AI in localization.Anna discusses Gridly's transition from a niche CMS for gaming companies into a comprehensive content operations platform. Initially built by game developers for game developers, the company is now expanding into fintech and edtech, as demand for streamlined multilingual content management grows.The CEO also announces the launch of integrated translation management system (TMS) and translation productivity (CAT) functionalities within its platform. This consolidation helps companies streamline workflows, reduce costs, and improve collaboration, particularly for enterprises with complex content pipelines.Anna sees AI as an opportunity rather than a disruption, emphasizing that accountability remains key. While AI can accelerate translation and localization processes, companies still need governance, workflow management, and quality control to ensure accuracy.Anna shares her views on sales and marketing, pointing out that Gridly's lead gen is nearly 100% inbound-driven, with strong brand recognition in gaming. While SEO and digital marketing remain crucial, Anna emphasized the importance of human relationships.Looking ahead, Gridly plans to further develop AI capabilities to improve contextual accuracy, consistency, and automation in multilingual content.

In response to President Trump's executive order designating English as the official language of the US, SlatorPod gathered Dipak Patel, CEO of GLOBO, and Peter Argondizzo, CEO of Argo Translation, to discuss its implications for the US language industry.The discussion highlighted that language access has long been a key part of US policy, particularly in healthcare, education, and legal services. Dipak pointed out that eliminating language services would create inefficiencies, making it harder for medical professionals to provide accurate care.Peter emphasized the broader uncertainty the order creates as many organizations rely on federal funding for language services, and a lack of clear guidance could lead to reduced support in schools, courts, and public services.Both CEOs acknowledged that while this order presents challenges, the language services industry has historically adapted to change. Dipak suggested that financial pressures may push the industry to innovate, potentially accelerating AI adoption in interpreting. While the long-term impact remains unclear, the consensus is that language access will persist — driven by business needs and market demand.

Peter Reynolds, CEO of memoQ, joins SlatoPod to talk about the impact of AI on translation technology and how memoQ is enhancing its tools to meet the changing needs of enterprises, LSPs, and translators.Discussing AI, Peter recounts memoQ's response to the rise of generative AI, leading to the launch of memoQ AGT (Adaptive Generative Translation). By providing contextual data to LLMs, they replicated the advantages of custom machine translation without extensive training.The CEO acknowledges industry concerns about AI replacing human translators but argues that expert linguists remain essential. He compares this shift to software development, where AI tools enhance, rather than replace, skilled professionals.Peter discusses memoQ's acquisition of Globalese, explaining how its on-premise AI translation capabilities strengthen memoQ's offerings for high-security industries like banking and life sciences.On the product side, Peter teases upcoming developments, including a fully revamped web interface and research into handling larger translation segments beyond the traditional sentence-level approach. 

Florian and Esther, along with Slator Head of Research, Anna Wyndham, discuss the language industry and AI news of the week, with findings from Anthropic's recent research on Claude's usage. The analysis of over 4 million conversations revealed a surprising fact about how people use AI for translation.Turning to YouTube, Florian discussed CEO Neal Mohan's statement that AI dubbing is among the platform's "big bets" for 2025.In a spree of AI announcements, Deepgram unveiled its Nova-3 speech-to-text model for enterprise use and Panjaya launched Pod Pro, an AI-powered multilingual sync tool. Meanwhile, Adobe expanded Firefly to include language capabilities, and Centific launched FLOW, an enterprise-grade AI solution.In Esther's M&A and funding corner, Lingopal secured USD 14m in funding to enhance real-time multilingual broadcasting, focusing on sports and live events, and TransPerfect acquired Apostroph Group to solidify its position in the DACH region.Anna discussed Meta's Language Technology Partner Program, which aims to improve AI for low-resource languages and preserve linguistic diversity. The episode wrapped with Florian noting Supertext's rebranding and comparison with DeepL, where it claimed superior results in document-level translation quality.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they reviewed ElevenLabs' AI dubbing, on the back of a USD 3bn+ valuation. While they found the translation quality was strong, minor timing issues and lack of lip-syncing meant the output felt slightly unnatural.Esther then provided an update on M&A activity, where UK-based XTM International acquired US-based Transifex and DEMAN Übersetzungen expanded its presence in Germany by acquiring life sciences translation specialist German Language Services.Meanwhile, Sorensen Communications acquired Hand Talk, which uses AI-powered avatars for automated sign language translation, and OmniBridge, which employs computer vision to convert sign language into speech or text.Florian shared how experts received DeepSeek's AI translation capabilities, noting its strong Chinese-English performance and cost efficiency but highlighting skepticism over data security, domain-specific accuracy, and potential political bias​.The duo noted that ZOO Digital has joined Amazon Prime Video's Preferred Fulfillment Vendor Program, a positive development amid its recent market fluctuations and historically low share prices. Florian gave his thoughts on Meta's Ray-Ban glasses with live translation, noting their inconsistent performance with fast or quiet speech and questioning their usefulness for media consumption compared to traditional subtitles​.

Bryan Forrester, Co-founder and CEO of Boostlingo, returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about the company's growth, the US interpreting market, and the evolving role of AI.Bryan shares how the company has tripled in size since he last appeared on the pod, driven by strategic acquisitions, including VoiceBoxer and Interpreter Intelligence, and a rebranding effort to unify its product portfolio.Bryan explains how Boostlingo balances innovation with practicality, ensuring that new features align with customer needs. He highlights the company's three-pronged strategy: retaining existing customers, enabling growth, and making long-term bets on emerging trends.While tools like real-time captions and transcription enhance efficiency, Bryan stresses that AI alone cannot replace human interpreters in complex industries like healthcare. He highlights privacy, compliance, and the nuanced expertise of human interpreters as critical factors, positioning AI as a supportive tool rather than a replacement.Bryan discusses market dynamics and regulatory changes, including how those under the new US administration could influence language access demand, particularly in areas like healthcare and public services. He describes Boostlingo's strategy of leveraging third-party AI models, optimizing them with proprietary data, and rigorously testing to ensure quality and reliability. Looking ahead, Boostlingo plans to expand internationally and integrate AI ethically and effectively into its offerings, guided by its newly formed AI Advisory Board.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, focusing on Slator's latest M&A and Funding Report, which highlights over 50 mergers, acquisitions, and financial investments, and nearly 20 funding rounds in 2024.Florian discusses OpenAI's ChatGPT o1 model, praising its translation accuracy for complex texts like German legal documents, though he notes slower processing speeds and challenges with low-resource languages.In Esther's first M&A and funding corner for 2025, MotionPoint has acquired KeyContent, Synthesia has raised a USD 180m Series D, bringing its valuation to over USD 2bn, and Pocketalk raised USD 15.8m in funding, despite talks of a potential IPO last year.Florian talks about Acrolinx's leadership change, with Matt Blumberg becoming CEO and aiming to expand the AI-powered content governance platform's presence in the US market. DeepL launched its AI-powered speech-to-speech translation product, DeepL Voice, with NEC as its first enterprise client.Esther notes LinkedIn's ranking of “Interpreter” as the 22nd fastest-growing job in the UK, driven by demand across industries like localization, museums, and even zoos. Florian wraps up with AWS's latest guide on integrating translation memories with large language models to improve AI-driven translation workflows.

In the 2024 year-end episode of SlatorPod, hosts Florian Faes and Esther Bond, along with guest Anna Wyndham, explore pivotal language industry trends from the past year and predictions for 2025.First, the language industry news of the week, with LXT's acquisition of clickworker, which aims to expand its AI data capabilities and potentially double revenues by 2025. Meanwhile, Esther shares how EzDubs, a speech translation startup, secured USD 4.2m in seed funding.Florian notes that RWS reported stable revenues for 2024, with GBP 180m coming from AI-driven products and services. He also highlights YouTube's AI dubbing rollout, unlocking new possibilities for multilingual content, though noting current limitations, like robotic voice quality.The trio discusses the UK House of Lords inquiry into court interpreting and translation, which raised concerns about interpreter pay, quality issues, and AI's role in quality assurance. Reflecting on 2024, Anna outlines three major trends: speech-to-speech translation, “translation as a feature,” where translation capabilities are integrated into everyday software like project management tools, and the evolution of localization roles toward AI-driven skills. Looking ahead, Anna predicts rapid AI adoption in the public sector due to cost constraints and scalability needs, while Florian anticipates further breakthroughs in machine translation quality estimation and potential IPOs in the language tech sector. Esther forecasts increased M&A activity as niche providers seek stability and scalability in a competitive environment. 

Katharine Allen, Director of Language Industry Learning at Boostlingo, and Dr. Bill Rivers, Principal at WP Rivers & Associates, join SlatorPod to discuss the challenges and opportunities AI brings to interpreting. Both are founding members of the Interpreting SAFE AI Task Force, which aims to guide the responsible use of AI in language services.Allen describes AI as a double-edged sword — capable of expanding multilingual access but limited in its ability to handle the nuanced human dialogue essential in fields like healthcare. She emphasizes the ongoing shift toward a hybrid model, where human interpreters collaborate with AI tools. Rivers underscores the importance of ensuring AI solutions are “fit for purpose.” Drawing from his background in computational linguistics, he explains how insufficient data, particularly for lesser-diffused languages, limits AI's reliability. The duo express concern over the unregulated use of AI, citing examples where inaccuracies in AI translation led to significant consequences. The SAFE AI Task Force seeks to mitigate such risks by establishing guidelines and fostering collaboration across sectors.Despite these challenges, Allen is optimistic about AI's potential to help interpreters' preparation and productivity, such as generating context-specific glossaries or simulating practice scenarios, saving time, and improving skill development. However, she cautions against over-reliance on AI, particularly in situations requiring deep human judgment.Through the SAFE AI Task Force, Allen and Rivers advocate for collaboration and education to use AI responsibly, ensuring it serves as a tool to help interpreters rather than diminish the profession.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they explore how AI is influencing content creation and translation, noting its progress and limitations. A recent study on GPT-4 revealed its ability to match junior translators but lag behind experienced professionals, particularly in nuanced contexts. Florian highlights the public's heightened perception of the risks of AI, such as OpenAI's Whisper, in critical sectors such as healthcare, where transcription errors and hallucinations can have severe implications.Esther delves into leadership transitions in the language industry, with notable appointments including Benjamin Faes, a tech veteran with experience at Google and AOL, as RWS' new CEO.Sorenson appointed Pajet Alves as CEO, while BLEND welcomed Yoav Ziv to lead after significant growth and acquisitions. Anna Albinsson took the helm at Gridly, with plans to expand beyond its gaming localization focus into MedTech and EdTech.In M&A and funding, Esther covers Teleperformance's acquisition of ZP Better Together for USD 490m, with plans to fold it into LanguageLine Solutions. Meanwhile, Writer.com raised USD 200m in Series C funding, to expand its generative AI capabilities.Florian discusses big tech developments, such as Microsoft's Translator Pro app for speech and document translation, while Amazon teased its "any-to-any" AI capabilities during the AWS re:Invent conference, hinting at future innovations in multilingual processing.Florian unpacks Straker Translations' financial results, which reflected industry trends of increased volumes but declining revenue, highlighting pricing pressures. Their new Verify.ai tool, designed to validate AI-generated translations, underscores the pivot toward technology.

Charles Campbell, President of tbo., returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about his efforts to unite and professionalize the language services industry in Latin America and the Caribbean through the association Juntos.Founded just before the pandemic, Juntos aims to raise standards in translation, interpreting, and localization by fostering collaboration, mentoring, and quality benchmarking. Despite challenges posed by the vast geography and diverse cultural landscape, the organization has seen significant growth, hosting conferences in Rio de Janeiro and Lima, with the next planned for Mexico City in 2025.Campbell sees immense potential in Latin America, noting its rich linguistic diversity and a growing pool of passionate professionals entering the field. While many countries in the region lack the established quality norms and associations found in Europe or North America, Juntos is actively working to close this gap. He also highlights the affordability of hosting events in the region, coupled with its cultural richness, as factors drawing increased international participation.Campbell addresses the role of AI in the industry, recognizing its strengths in high-resource languages like Spanish and Portuguese. He stresses that while AI is a valuable tool, human expertise remains essential, particularly in nuanced and culturally specific translations.As Latin America and the Caribbean continue to gain visibility in the language industry, Campbell remains optimistic. Through Juntos, he encourages stakeholders to collaborate, innovate, and embrace the region's unique opportunities.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Slator's latest Translation as a Feature (TaaF) Report, which explores how AI translation is becoming an integral feature in enterprise technology.Florian talks about Reddit's success with machine translation (MT). By localizing content into French, the social media platform quadrupled daily active users in France, demonstrating the high ROI of investing millions in AI-driven localization each quarter.In an M&A corner, Esther discusses Wolfestone's acquisition of TauRho Transcribes, beefing up Wolfestone's offerings in transcription and life sciences. She also covers TransPerfect's fourth acquisition of 2024 with Plint selling its Netherlands-based media localization studio to the Super Agency.Esther highlights Panjaya.ai's USD 9.5m funding for BodyTalk, which perfects multilingual AI translation by synchronizing lip movements and gestures. Meanwhile, Neuphonic, a UK-based voice AI startup focused on ultra-low latency speech technology, has raised GBP 3m in pre-seed funding.Florian reviews major AI launches: Translated's Lara, a customizable large-scale AI-powered translation model, DeepL's "DeepL Voice", offering real-time speech-to-text capabilities, and Unbabel's Widn.AI, a platform offering advanced MT customization.

Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital (ZOO), joins SlatorPod to discuss the role of AI in media localization and the essential role human linguists will continue to play in producing high-authenticity content in multiple languages.A technologist by training, Stuart recounts his entry into the media localization industry and how ZOO transitioned from DVD production to leading-edge solutions in multilingual entertainment content.The CEO shares key highlights from ZOO's AI white paper, “Will Robots Take Over The World of Localisation?”, where he views AI as a valuable “artificial assistant” rather than a replacement for human talent. As such, AI can streamline repetitive tasks and support creatives by handling administrative duties, thus allowing them to focus on higher-value work.On AI lip-syncing Green suggests that it could mitigate the common mismatch between speech and mouth movements in dubbed media. However, he emphasizes that maintaining the “suspension of disbelief” in high-value content requires nuanced, culturally relevant adaptation — a task that still demands human interpretation of context, mood, and subtle humor.While AI tools are improving, particularly in speech-to-text accuracy, Green foresees human expertise remaining integral in areas demanding cultural nuance and emotional resonance. He highlights ZOO's commitment to quality-driven localization for major entertainment clients and the unique demands of its publicly listed status, balancing transparency with the need for a competitive edge.

Christian Elongue, Managing Director of Ghana-based consulting firm and language service provider (LSP) Kabod Group, joins SlatorPod to share his insights into the African language services landscape, recounting his journey into language advocacy.Christian describes Kabod Group as a dual-purpose organization, offering translation services primarily to nonprofit clients, while advancing social impact projects for African language professionals with initiatives such as the Network of African Language Translators and Teachers (ALATT) and the Association of Language Companies in Africa (ALCA).Christian discusses the unique challenges of Africa's language landscape, which spans over 2,000 languages and requires localized solutions. He notes that demand varies widely across regions, with West Africa focused on French-English translation, East Africa on Swahili, and North Africa on Arabic. However, limited data and lack of standardization pose challenges for developing language technologies and machine translation for African languages.To address these gaps, Christian advocates for increased local investment in African language technology. He highlights projects like Masakhane, which develops datasets for low-resource languages but stresses the need for more African-led funding. Christian also urges international LSPs to support Africa's language industry by sharing resources and facilitating professional exchanges.Christian concludes the podcast with a call to action: empowering African languages is key to preserving cultural heritage and fostering economic growth.

Sijie Wei, Co-CEO of language services, technology, and game localization specialist EC Innovations (ECI), joins SlatorPod to talk about his new role as co-CEO and leading one of Asia's largest LSPs with revenues exceeding USD 50m in 2023.Sijie shares how ECI, initially focused on helping Western blue-chip firms enter China, expanded to assisting Chinese tech giants like Tencent and ByteDance in globalizing their products.Sijie highlighted the challenges of the Asia-Pacific market, where localization maturity still lags that of the US and Europe in certain verticals. However, he sees significant growth potential as industries like e-commerce, AI, and electric vehicles mature. Regarding language AI, Sijie pointed out that Chinese companies prefer to develop their own solutions, making the market highly competitive. ECI benefits from this research, applying cutting-edge advancements in AI to client projects. In game localization, Sijie continues to see substantial growth potential. He recognizes that localizing games from China to global markets and vice versa is equally challenging due to differences in player preferences, monetization methods, and cultural contexts.Sijie gave his insights on the investment landscape, noting that current market valuations are lower due to uncertainty around AI adoption across industries like localization.Sijie concluded by addressing the balance between AI and human expertise in localization, emphasizing that while AI can drive efficiency, human quality remains superior in many contexts.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Slator's latest Pro Guide on Audiovisual Translation, which outlines opportunities for language service providers (LSPs) and how AI is impacting the field.In a language AI corner, Florian covers Alibaba's recent launch of a proprietary large language model (LLM) for translation, which will help expand the e-commerce giant's global reach. He also adds that Reddit has piloted machine translation (MT) for French content, a success that will see it roll out to more than 35 countries.Florian highlights NVIDIA's move into MT and transcription services, adding to the growing competition in AI-driven language solutions. He talks about Meta's AI-powered lip-sync dubbing for content creators, bringing AI into the social media space. The duo dive into OpenAI's advanced voice mode, which allows for real-time communication in multiple languages through ChatGPT. Esther notes its potential for consecutive interpreting, though simultaneous interpreting remains a challenge.Esther shares key takeaways from the recent AMTA conference in Chicago, noting that a key focus was how LLMs are influencing MT. She also discusses Propio's rapid expansion through its acquisitions of ULG, Akorbi, and ASL, making it one of the largest LSPs globally.Wrapping up, Esther discusses Gladia, an AI start-up specializing in real-time speech-to-text solutions, that recently raised USD 16m in Series A funding. 

Gregor and Olivera Rosulnik, Co-founders of Slovenia-based language service provider GORR, join SlatorPod to discuss their journey into the language industry, the challenges they faced, and the strategies they've employed to grow their business.Gregor and Olivera share how they initially targeted Slovenian companies, especially startups and scaleups, and after adjusting their focus, expanded internationally to also work with government entities and large corporations.The duo highlights their use of AI tools to enhance their language services, noting the improvements in machine translation quality over the years. However, they acknowledge the perception challenges posed by AI, where clients might erroneously assume that translation is a completely automated process.Gregor emphasizes the importance of resilience and adaptation, noting that ‘crises' like ChatGPT are a natural part of business and that success often depends on how well a company can navigate through them.Discussing their approach to vendor management, Olivera emphasizes the importance of recommendations and personal interactions in building a reliable network of qualified linguists.Looking forward, Gregor and Olivera aim to grow sustainably by focusing on quality service, nurturing client relationships, and integrating new technologies, all while maintaining their core values and commitment to communication.

Shamus Sayed, COO of Interpreters Unlimited, and Anna Wyndham, Slator's Head of Research, join SlatorPod to discuss key findings from the 2024 ALC Industry Survey Report, covering industry growth, profitability, service diversification, and the impact of AI.Shamus kicks off the podcast by explaining the origins and purpose of the Association of Language Companies (ALC) and its annual survey, which aims to establish industry standards and measure the value added by language service companies.Anna shares details about the survey, which saw a 50% increase in participation from last year, with 127 companies taking part. Participants mainly consisted of small to mid-sized companies, with a significant portion coming from the US. Shamus provides insights specific to interpreting services, noting strong revenue growth and the rise of remote interpreting. He discusses the impact of AI, challenges in sourcing skilled interpreters, and pricing trends.Anna highlights that companies are focused on growing revenue, developing new service offerings, and cutting operational costs. She also discusses the heightened interest in M&A activity, with smaller companies more interested in selling, while larger ones remain opportunistic buyers.Shamus recaps the ALC annual summit in Montreal, highlighting the camaraderie, networking, and potential business opportunities that arose from the event.Looking ahead to 2025, Shamus shares that the ALC aims to focus on AI integration, workforce development, service diversification, and M&A support.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they give their impressions from SlatorCon Silicon Valley and touch upon the findings from the 2024 ALC Industry Survey.In a significant funding update, Esther reports that Smartcat raised USD 43m in a Series C round, bringing their total funding to USD 70m. This funding will support product innovation in AI translation and multilingual content generation.Florian talks about YouTube's potential launch of AI dubbing, a feature in testing that aims to generate translated audio tracks for videos, significantly enhancing content accessibility and engagement.In Esther's M&A corner, Cloudbreak, now rebranded as Equiti, acquired its competitor Voyce and brought on a new private equity partner, Heritage Group. Meanwhile, EasyTranslate acquired World Translation, expanding its reach in the Nordic and DACH regions.The duo bid farewell to publicly traded Keywords Studios, which is delisting after being acquired by private equity firm EQT. They also note the shutdown of Viva Translate, a speech-to-speech translation company that will open-source its tools as it winds down.

George Bara, Founder and Chief Strategist of tech company Zetta Cloud, joins SlatorPod to talk about the nuances of AI technology and its applications in text analytics and multilingual data processing.George shares insights from his career journey, including his tenure at SDL and RWS before co-founding Zetta Cloud, which focuses on building small, specialized language models rather than large, generalized ones.The founder discusses the challenges and misconceptions clients have about AI, especially with the hype surrounding large language models (LLMs). George notes that many clients mistakenly believe LLMs can solve all their data processing needs instantly. However, Zetta Cloud's approach allows their models to be more efficient, flexible, and deployable in customers' infrastructures, which is particularly valuable for clients in the public sector who prioritize data privacy.George highlights the differences in AI adoption and expectations across various industries and regions. He observes that public sector clients often have a more advanced understanding of AI's capabilities compared to commercial clients. The founder also discusses the importance of staying updated with the latest AI developments and how Zetta Cloud selectively integrates new technologies that align with their clients' needs.George concludes by sharing his involvement in Romania's national AI strategy, stressing the importance of regulatory compliance and the potential for government grants and partnerships to drive AI innovation in Europe.

Dr. Christopher Kurz, Head of Translation Management at wind turbine manufacturer ENERCON, joins SlatorPod to talk about the development of ISO 5060, a new standard focused on the evaluation of translation output.Christopher discusses how his involvement with ISO standards since 2011, coupled with his experience in translation quality management, led him to spearhead the creation of ISO 5060 in early 2020.Christopher outlines that the primary aim was to produce a reliable international standard for evaluating translations objectively, countering the subjective judgments often encountered in the field.The standard itself includes a detailed error typology, ranging from terminology and accuracy to style and audience appropriateness, and introduces four severity levels — neutral, minor, major, and critical — allowing for a nuanced evaluation of translation quality.Despite advancements in AI, Christopher asserts that human judgment remains crucial for evaluating translation quality. AI can assist in identifying errors like typos or grammar issues, but understanding the meaning and context of a translation requires human expertise.Christopher shares that ISO 5060 will undergo systematic review in five years, allowing for updates and improvements based on industry feedback. He hopes that the standard will be widely adopted by both the industry and academia, promoting a more professional approach to translation evaluation.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with key highlights from the latest Slator Pro Guide: The Future of Language Industry Jobs. The guide focuses on the future of jobs and freelance opportunities in the language industry, noting the impact of AI on employment trends.The duo analyze the 2024 Inc. 5,000 list, which includes 14 LSPs this year, with companies like PGLS, Propio Language Services, and Boostlingo among the highest-ranked, demonstrating strong growth over the past three years.In other industry news, amid a rocky Q2 2024, AMN Healthcare Services reported an 18% year-on-year increase in revenue for its language services division, driven by strong utilization of video interpretation.Florian addresses a recent content hack involving media localizer Iyuno, where unreleased Netflix shows were leaked online, underscoring the importance of security and confidentiality in the industry.Esther touches on recent labor strikes affecting the game localization and dubbing sectors, driven by the Screen Actors Guild's action. Keywords Studios also announced layoffs of linguists in Italy, sparking a linguist strike and highlighting ongoing tensions between AI and human talent in localization. The podcast concludes with Esther's M&A and funding corner, including Translate.One's acquisition of Intertext and funding rounds for Language I/O and Bering Lab, signaling continued investment and growth in the language industry.

Spence Green, CEO and Co-founder of LILT, the AI solution provider for enterprise translation, joins SlatorPod. On the podcast, Spence discusses the evolution of LILT's end-to-end platform, which integrates AI models with human verification to ensure quality standards.The CEO notes a significant shift in enterprise approaches towards localization, now being more software-driven rather than service-driven, which has been influenced by the broader adoption and focus on AI technologies post-ChatGPT.Spence emphasizes the importance of continuous training and customization of AI models to improve accuracy and efficiency in translation. He highlights how localization has emerged as an early winner to showcase the return on investment in AI.Spence addresses the impact of AI on the translation industry, including the potential for linguist shortages due to low rates driven by machine translation post-editing. He predicts that the market will eventually adjust, but in the meantime, there is a need for higher-skilled linguists to manage the gap left by AI models.The podcast concludes with insights into LILT's recent features, such as AI Analytics, which provide clients with deeper insights into the impact of AI on their localization processes. Spence also talks about the potential for multilingual content creation using AI, the challenges of segment-level interfaces, and the importance of workflow orchestration in localization.

Paul Ghio, Co-founder of AI video localization startup Supernative, joins SlatorPod to talk about how language AI is reshaping how we create and consume content globally.Paul shares how his passion for helping creators and his experience with internationalization at Shutterstock and Yelp led him to start Supernative, with a mission to democratize video localization using AI.The Co-founder outlines Supernative's technology stack, which includes well-known models like Whisper for speech-to-text, ChatGPT for translation, and ElevenLabs for speech generation. He highlights the importance of improving these core capabilities, such as voice cloning and lip-syncing, to deliver high-quality dubbing at a competitive cost. Paul discusses the current landscape and challenges of the AI localization market. He notes that while there is significant interest and potential in AI-driven localization, retaining users remains a challenge due to the novelty factor wearing off. He elaborates on Supernative's strategy to introduce collaborative features to better align with the workflows of content creators and businesses, which could be a more sustainable strategy for user retention and growth.Paul also touches on their long-term vision, including more comprehensive localization tools that cater to cultural and contextual nuances, and the possibility of localizing video content itself.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a nearly USD 4m settlement involving Language Line Services and ongoing disputes in Canada, where freelance interpreters are protesting against unpaid breaks during debates.Florian highlights a YouTube video about UN simultaneous interpreting and the rigorous standards and working conditions for UN interpreters.Esther shares a significant procurement opportunity from the UK's Crown Commercial Service, which plans to issue a GBP 250m tender for various language services.In tech news, the duo talk about DeepL's new LLM launch that claims to outperform competitors in translation quality. They also touch on the trend of adding translation features to various SaaS platforms, like Airtable and Happy Scribe.A tweetstorm by venture capitalist Olivia Moore from Andreessen Horowitz introduces the concept of "AI Scribes," suggesting a significant market opportunity for AI-driven transcription services.In an M&A and funding corner, AI video startup Captions raised USD 60m at a USD 500m valuation and Mantra, a Japanese manga translation startup, raised nearly USD 5m. Toppan Digital Language acquired Austria's Meinrad and Universal Music Group partnered with SoundLabs AI for voice cloning and language transposition in songs.

João Graça, Co-founder and CTO of language operations platform Unbabel, joins SlatorPod to talk about the present and future of large language models (LLMs) and their broad impact across all things translation and localization.First, the CTO explains how Unbabel was founded to address language barriers for people using services like Airbnb, combining MT with human validation to improve translation quality.João believes that LLMs are quickly replacing neural MT models as much more R&D is going into LLMs vs NMT. He highlights that LLMs can handle more complex tasks like automatic post-editing, source correction, and cultural adaptation, which were previously difficult to achieve with traditional models.He also tells the backstory of the company's decision to develop TowerLLM. João shares how Unbabel's approach involves using open-source LLMs, fine-tuning them with multilingual data, and applying techniques like retrieval-augmented generation to improve translation quality in production settings.Despite the advancements, João acknowledges that human intervention is still necessary for high-stakes translation tasks.The podcast concludes with the hiring environment for AI talent and the future directions for LLM development, with João expressing optimism about the continued progress and potential of these models.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with a legal battle in the UK involving public sector interpreting and the classification of interpreters as freelancers or workers, which could significantly impact the business models of language service providers (LSPs).The duo explores Google Translate's recent expansion to support over 200 languages, adding 110 new ones using their large language model, Palm 2.Florian talks about the insolvency of Landexx, a German LSP, following a pattern of recent bankruptcies in the language service industry in Europe.Meanwhile, Keywords Studios, a major player in game localization, is set to be acquired by the private equity firm EQT, valuing the LSP at approximately USD 2.2 billion.Esther gives an M&A corner, including Translate.One's acquisition of Enable2 in the UK, Valorem Group's purchase of Ireland-based TRANSLIT, and difuze's acquisition of the accessibility division of Blackstone Sight and Sound in Canada. Additionally, Esther covers a pre-seed funding round by Dubme.io, a Spanish startup specializing in AI-powered dubbing.The podcast concludes with a discussion on the Interpreting SAFE AI Task Force, which has released guidelines for the ethical use of AI in interpreting, emphasizing the importance of maintaining quality, accountability, and transparency in the industry.

Josh Goldsmith, Geek-In-Chief of techforword, joins SlatorPod to talk about his multiple roles as a linguist, conference interpreter, and educator.Josh shares his multifaceted background in linguistics and language teaching, highlighting his passion for language and education, which led him to co-found techforword.Josh explains the current landscape of conference interpreting, noting a shift back to on-site interpreting post-COVID, which he prefers due to better sound quality, easier access to documents, and the human connection it offers.He touches on the importance of personal branding for translators and interpreters, suggesting practical steps like professional email addresses, good headshots, and a strong LinkedIn presence.Josh delves into the practical applications of AI in interpreting, with AI tools for glossary management, terminology extraction, and preparation for interpreting assignments. He also stresses the ethical concerns of AI and the need for human interpreters to navigate cultural differences and ensure accurate communication.Josh discusses his various projects, including the AI Language Club, which offers tutorials on using AI for language learning. Looking ahead, Josh plans to focus on the AI in Translation Summit and the AI in Translation Bootcamp, which offer hands-on experiences with the latest AI tools.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, giving a recap of SlatorCon London and exploring some use cases from the Slator Pro Guide: Language AI for Consumers.Florian talks about Andrew Ng's recent project on agentic machine translation, which involves using large language models (LLMs) to create a virtual language service provider (LSP).The duo touch on Apple's recent Worldwide Developer Conference, where Apple Watch is set to get a translation widget and also recently announced a new translation API.Florian shares RWS's half-year financial results, where despite declines in revenue, the company's stock rose by 20%, likely due to investor perception of AI-enabled services and new product offerings like Evolve and HAI gaining traction.Esther talks about DeepL's USD 300m funding round, which valued the company at USD 2bn, a testament to the growing interest in AI models. She also covers Unbabel's launch of TowerLLM, which claims to outperform competitors like Google Translate and DeepL.In Esther's M&A corner, Keywords Studios eyes a GBP 2.2bn deal from Swedish private equity firm EQT, Melbourne LSP Ethnolink buys Sydney-based competitor Language Professionals, and ZOO Digital acquires Italian dubbing partner LogoSound.Esther gives a nod to the positive financial performances of companies like ZOO Digital and AMN's language services division, with more mixed results for Straker.

Marina Ilari, CEO of Terra Translations and Terra Localizations, joins SlatorPod to talk about her professional journey and the world of game localization. The CEO shares the strategic decision to create Terra Localizations in 2008 to cater specifically to the gaming industry's requirements. She attributes the company's growth to the ability to offer boutique-level services while scaling efficiently to handle larger projects.Marina discusses the complexities of game localization, which requires specialized project managers, linguists, and QA teams. She explains that clients range from indie game developers, who might have budget constraints but are deeply invested in quality, to large publishers who finance and market games globally.The podcast also touches on the challenges of marketing and competing in the game localization industry against both small and large players.Addressing the impact of AI and other technologies, Marina acknowledges their role in creating efficiencies and advancing tasks within the localization process. However, she underscores the importance of ethical and responsible use of AI, particularly in a creative and culturally sensitive field like game localization.Marina also talks about Terra's new HR service offering, Terra Team Up, which emerged from a client demand for recruiting and consulting services, primarily targeting the Latin American talent.Marina concludes by reflecting on the importance of staying true to the company's values and culture, which she believes has been key to their sustained growth and success.

Georg Ell, CEO of Phrase, returns to SlatorPod for round 2 to talk about the accelerating adoption of generative technologies and AI.Discussing the broader implications of AI, Georg notes that business leaders are increasingly focused on language technology for its cost, return on investment, and time-to-value benefits.Georg points out that these technologies are not just about improving translation quality but also about enabling hyperautomation, hyperpersonalization, and ultimately, hyperscale. The CEO shares that enterprise-grade technology for generating multilingual content at scale is still in demand, underscoring the need for robust, enterprise-quality solutions.The podcast explores new product launches from Phrase, including the introduction of Next GenMT, which combines GPT 4o with Phrase's own MT engine to enhance translation quality and efficiency.Georg also discusses Auto LQA (Language Quality Assessment), an AI-driven solution designed to assist linguists, not replace them, and significantly reduce costs and time spent on quality assessment.The CEO highlights Phrase's strategic shift towards being a platform rather than a product-centric company with an updated pricing model that allows customers to access a comprehensive suite of capabilities.Georg concludes by discussing Phrase's strategic partnerships with major LSPs and the company's ecosystem-first approach.

Mary Kazamias, CEO of TRSB, joins SlatorPod to talk about her journey starting as a translator and transitioning through various roles to leading Canada's largest language service provider (LSP).The podcast explores the balance between government and private sector clients in Canada, with Mary noting that while the government produces more content, TRSB serves more customers in the private sector.Mary highlights the importance of understanding cultural nuances in translation, particularly in bilingual regions like Quebec. She also touches on the impact of regulatory requirements on language services demand in Canada, such as the Official Languages Act, Bill 96, and provincial laws.The podcast shifts to talent challenges in the language industry, with Mary highlighting the launch of TRSB Academy which offers a structured mentoring program to equip new translators with the practical skills needed to excel alongside technological advancements.Mary acknowledges the hype surrounding AI, but sees the role of LSPs as system integrators, adapting to incorporate AI technologies while maintaining a human-centric approach to providing language services.When it comes to M&A strategy, Mary stresses the significance of cultural fit and careful post-merger integration for successful acquisitions. Looking ahead, Mary underscores the need for the industry to recognize and promote its diverse capabilities beyond traditional translation, embracing innovation and evolving business processes. 

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics sharing their projections for growth in translation and interpreting jobs between 2022-2032.The duo delves into Reddit's earnings call, where machine translation is emphasized as a key driver for international growth and content accessibility.Florian touches on recent AI dubbing developments, such as Adobe's upcoming generative audio and video tools, and Microsoft Edge's feature to overlay AI-generated dubbing on videos.Esther gives an M&A corner, including Argo Translations' acquisition of Global Accent Translation Services, LanguageWire's acquisition of WhP International, TransPerfect's acquisition of Content Lab, and Supertext USA's spinoff from its Swiss parent company.Esther also discusses RWS' trading update, where the Super Agency announced plans to sell its interest in PatBase, a patent search database, for GBP 30m.

Charles Campbell joins SlatorPod to talk about the evolution of tbo. from a translation company to a diversified business, exploring challenges, strategies, and the impact of industry changes.The President and Founder discusses the talent landscape, mentioning challenges such as layoffs, hiring fluctuations, and the impact of political changes in Argentina. He shares insights on the local economy, the government's actions, and the business outlook amidst these changes.Charles emphasizes the importance of adaptability and flexibility in today's job market, particularly as AI integration reshapes traditional roles. He mentions the need for workers to be open to evolving job descriptions and not overly resistant to incorporating AI into their roles.In discussing the changing role of project managers, Charles highlights the shift towards automation and the need for language service providers to embrace technology while maintaining a human touch.While tbo. embraces technological advancements, Charles acknowledges he passed on opportunities such as data annotation, highlighting the challenges of aligning business strategies with emerging trends.The podcast touches on the rebranding process undertaken by tbo. and establishing business units like tbotalent, tbodev, and tbolab. Charles highlights the importance of a meaningful, simplified brand name that aligns with the company's diverse service offerings.

Daniel Wilson, Founder and CEO of XRI Global, joins SlatorPod to talk about the company's focus on low-resource languages and its efforts to bring digital equality to communities lacking online language support.With a background in linguistics and research on endangered languages in the Caucasus Mountains, Wilson's journey led him to establish XRI Global to address the challenge of building AI tools for languages with limited data availability.The CEO highlights the importance of domain-specific data collection and the need to tailor solutions based on the specific needs of each community, ranging from humanitarian organizations to governments and religious groups.The company's approach includes leveraging large language models and machine translation to provide conversational AI capabilities even for offline communities or areas where internet access is limited. Wilson also touches on the legal and ethical considerations involved in data collection, emphasizing the importance of complying with data laws and obtaining proper consent.Looking ahead, XRI Global plans to expand its language support to over 50 languages in 2024 and continues to explore advancements in on-device AI capabilities for broader accessibility.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with SlatorCon London, scheduled for May 23rd, announcing the speaker lineup, including a Keynote presentation from Iris Orriss of Meta.They then discuss how enterprises are becoming increasingly comfortable launching fully automated language AI features, labeling it the “normalization of language AI”.The duo talk about the unprecedented merger of Swiss-based SuperText and Textshuttle, signaling a shift towards more integrated, technology-driven solutions. Other M&A activity includes Deluxe's strategic investment in AppTek, TransPerfect's acquisition of TheSpeech, Diuna Group acquiring Yellow, and Cloudbreak Health's sale.Esther provides an update on financial results, with Straker anticipating a revenue decline while Keywords experienced growth in its top line but a decrease in its globalization division. Meanwhile, Appen faced a failed takeover bid after the bid was leaked, impacting the acquisition of the company.The podcast also touches on Google Translate's controversial decision to shelve its human feedback tool, Contribute, which allowed users to suggest translations for improvement. In other AI news, researchers from the Earth Species Project are exploring the possibility of translating animal communication using advanced AI models.Florian wraps up the pod with the European Commission's recent tender award, TRAD23, which sparked concerns among individual translators regarding pricing and quality standards.

Dr. B.J. Woodstein, Professor, Translator, and Writer, joins SlatorPod to talk about translation theory and its implications for literary translators, while also shedding light on the professional challenges, nuances, and ethical considerations.B.J. discusses her upcoming book, “Translation Theory for Literary Translators”, where she aims to demystify translation theory and make it accessible to translators. She highlights the need for translators to understand and engage with translation theory to enhance their work and make informed decisions in their practice.The author shares insights on the market dynamics of literary translation, including how translators are selected, rates are set, and the challenges faced in the industry. She highlights the importance of human intervention in translation, especially in handling linguistic nuances, cultural concepts, and editorial decisions that go beyond what AI or machine translation can achieve.B.J. reflects on the linguistic and cultural challenges in translating from Swedish to English, such as dealing with different language structures and cultural nuances that may not easily be translated. She also explores the complexities of translating sensitive or explicit content, where decisions need to be made to maintain cultural authenticity while adapting for the target market.The podcast concludes with B.J. sharing her current research projects on equality, diversity, and inclusion in higher education, as well as her interest in translating queer literature. 

Mihai Vlad, the Founder of Video Highlight and former General Manager of Language Weaver, joins SlatorPod to talk about his entrepreneurial journey and insights into the language AI startup landscape.Mihai discusses his latest venture, Video Highlight, which aims to solve the inefficiency of extracting valuable information from lengthy videos by providing automatic transcription, timestamped summaries, key highlights, and interactive chats.By enabling summaries in multiple languages, Video Highlight gained unexpected traction from non-English speakers in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, indicating a global demand for efficient video consumption tools.Mihai talks about the utility of leveraging AI-powered models, particularly LLMs, in various content creation and processing tasks, such as summarizing podcasts, generating derivative content, and aiding in machine translation.Mihai reflects on the entrepreneurial journey in AI, emphasizing the importance of timing, innovation, and adaptability. He discusses the challenges of balancing cost-effectiveness while scaling up operations and the significance of making strategic decisions regarding API usage and infrastructure.

Chris Reynolds, the EVP and General Manager of Worldwide Localization and Fulfillment at Deluxe, joins SlatorPod to talk about the complexities of dubbing and the potential impact of AI on the industry.Chris discusses the different elements in the dubbing process, including voice casting, script adaptation, and post-production, as well as the challenges of tight timelines, particularly with the rise of streaming services demanding simultaneous releases in multiple languages.The Deluxe executive also highlights the technical challenges associated with distributing large, uncompressed master files, especially for major Hollywood studios. He underscores the critical role of automation in managing the workflow and ensuring timely delivery of content.Chris shares how Deluxe plans to use AppTek's expertise in language AI to enhance the quality and efficiency of dubbing workflows, while maintaining the artistic integrity and emotional resonance of the original content.Chris also touches upon the recent agreement by SAG-AFTRA and its implications for voice actors' rights and compensation in the era of AI dubbing.While there is an increasing amount of AI tools for lip-syncing and dubbing, Chris emphasizes the continued importance of human voice actors for conveying emotion and nuance.Looking ahead, Deluxe is focused on integrating tools more securely, improving dubbing workflows, and exploring hyper-localization to cater to different languages and dialects.

Jordan Evans, the CEO of Language Network, joins SlatorPod to talk about the evolution of his family-founded language service provider (LSP) and his sales-focused growth strategy.Jordan's professional trajectory began with a blend of sales, tech startups, and a stint as a linguist and translator, before acquiring Language Network and achieving significant growth.Regarding growth strategies, Jordan discusses the challenges and benefits of acquisitions, emphasizing the importance of finding the right fit and maintaining stability during integration. He advises starting with acquisitions within one's core expertise before branching out into new areas.The conversation shifts to sales and marketing in the language industry, with Jordan highlighting the need to cut through the noise and engage customers effectively, whether through traditional methods like cold calling or newer digital channels.When it comes to the role of AI in language services, Jordan advocates for adopting off-the-shelf technologies to meet customer needs efficiently while allowing for scalability and adaptability.The CEO attributes the growth of interpreting in the US to increased awareness of language accessibility issues and funding initiatives, especially in sectors like healthcare and immigration.Jordan advises that LSPs should capitalize on their unique strengths and niches, enabling them to differentiate themselves from larger competitors and maximize value for clients.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with Head of Research Anna Wyndham joining to give a breakdown of the 2024 Slator Language AI 50 Under 50, a list highlighting 50 of the newest and most notable language AI companies.The list focuses on 50 language AI companies under 50 months old, showcasing their innovations in speech-to-text, machine translation, speech synthesis, and more.Esther talks about Disney's Accelerator Program, which invested in two language AI startups: ElevenLabs and AudioShake. AudioShake uses AI to parse audio tracks for mixing or dubbing and ElevenLabs, a multilingual AI voice startup, recently raised USD 80m.Florian mentions AnthropicAI's new language model, Claude 3 Opus, and shared a user's experience testing it for translating a low-resource language (Circassian) with impressive results. (note: a few hours after the podcast production was finished, the user gave an update that the model was trained on Circassian).Florian briefly touches on Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, with translation getting a shoutout as a key early use case for large language models.Esther provides an overview of Honyaku Center's financial results for Q3 2024, where overall revenues saw a 3% growth and translation remained the primary revenue driver.Esther shares news about recent layoffs at Sega of America, affecting 61 temp workers from quality assurance and localization.