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Chapter 1 Charting the language industry: Interview with an industry observer

  • Florian Faes and Gary Massey
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Handbook of the Language Industry
This chapter is in the book Handbook of the Language Industry

Abstract

In an interview conducted in April 2022, an observer, analyst and commentator of the global language industry, Florian Faes, outlines the present state and future directions of the global language industry. After defining the language industry from his own and his company’s perspective - the news analysis and research platform Slator - he describes the challenges involved in charting the industry in terms of revenues and segmentation. He considers its current state of health and some major drivers behind it, first and foremost technology, proceeding to explain how the concept of the “human in the loop” is being supplanted by that of the “expert in the loop” in response to technological advances in artificial intelligence. Expanding on the role of technology in the language industry, he draws attention to its importance not only in producing linguistic output, but also for getting content to vendors and distributing it to human linguists, as well as for workflow and enterprise resource planning. He ends by reflecting briefly on the educational implications of progressively hybrid working models and of the way language-service providers (LSPs) appear to be diversifying their activities upstream and downstream of core translation, localization and interpreting services.

Abstract

In an interview conducted in April 2022, an observer, analyst and commentator of the global language industry, Florian Faes, outlines the present state and future directions of the global language industry. After defining the language industry from his own and his company’s perspective - the news analysis and research platform Slator - he describes the challenges involved in charting the industry in terms of revenues and segmentation. He considers its current state of health and some major drivers behind it, first and foremost technology, proceeding to explain how the concept of the “human in the loop” is being supplanted by that of the “expert in the loop” in response to technological advances in artificial intelligence. Expanding on the role of technology in the language industry, he draws attention to its importance not only in producing linguistic output, but also for getting content to vendors and distributing it to human linguists, as well as for workflow and enterprise resource planning. He ends by reflecting briefly on the educational implications of progressively hybrid working models and of the way language-service providers (LSPs) appear to be diversifying their activities upstream and downstream of core translation, localization and interpreting services.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface to the Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Series V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Introduction: Contextualizing language industry studies 1
  5. Part 1: Contexts and technological resources
  6. Chapter 1 Charting the language industry: Interview with an industry observer 17
  7. Chapter 2 Evolution of the language industry 33
  8. Chapter 3 The institutional language industry: Intercultural mediation at the European Parliament 49
  9. Chapter 4 Artificial intelligence, automation and the language industry 71
  10. Part 2: The human factor: Professional profiles
  11. Chapter 5 MT developers 101
  12. Chapter 6 Language technology developers 121
  13. Chapter 7 Translation and localization project and process managers 143
  14. Chapter 8 Terminology managers 179
  15. Chapter 9 Revisers and post-editors: The guardians of quality 203
  16. Chapter 10 Video game localizers 225
  17. Chapter 11 Transcreation: Beyond translation and advertising 251
  18. Chapter 12 Audiovisual translators 271
  19. Chapter 13 Media accessibility specialists 295
  20. Chapter 14 Legal translator profiles 321
  21. Chapter 15 Technical translators 349
  22. Chapter 16 Translators in medical and health settings 375
  23. Chapter 17 Heritage tourism translators 403
  24. Chapter 18 Language awareness in humanitarian responses 431
  25. Chapter 19 Distance interpreting as a professional profile 449
  26. Chapter 20 Conference interpreting in AI settings: New skills and ethical challenges 473
  27. Afterword 489
  28. Contributors to this volume 495
  29. Index 501
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110716047-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface to the Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Series V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Introduction: Contextualizing language industry studies 1
  5. Part 1: Contexts and technological resources
  6. Chapter 1 Charting the language industry: Interview with an industry observer 17
  7. Chapter 2 Evolution of the language industry 33
  8. Chapter 3 The institutional language industry: Intercultural mediation at the European Parliament 49
  9. Chapter 4 Artificial intelligence, automation and the language industry 71
  10. Part 2: The human factor: Professional profiles
  11. Chapter 5 MT developers 101
  12. Chapter 6 Language technology developers 121
  13. Chapter 7 Translation and localization project and process managers 143
  14. Chapter 8 Terminology managers 179
  15. Chapter 9 Revisers and post-editors: The guardians of quality 203
  16. Chapter 10 Video game localizers 225
  17. Chapter 11 Transcreation: Beyond translation and advertising 251
  18. Chapter 12 Audiovisual translators 271
  19. Chapter 13 Media accessibility specialists 295
  20. Chapter 14 Legal translator profiles 321
  21. Chapter 15 Technical translators 349
  22. Chapter 16 Translators in medical and health settings 375
  23. Chapter 17 Heritage tourism translators 403
  24. Chapter 18 Language awareness in humanitarian responses 431
  25. Chapter 19 Distance interpreting as a professional profile 449
  26. Chapter 20 Conference interpreting in AI settings: New skills and ethical challenges 473
  27. Afterword 489
  28. Contributors to this volume 495
  29. Index 501
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