Don’t Panic: Responding to the Language Industry’s AI Tsunami

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January 9, 2026

For freelance linguists and small language service providers (SLSPs), accelerated use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the language industry has triggered a deep uncertainty about income, relevance, and even the survival of the profession itself. After all, we are surrounded by unsettling headlines: mass layoffs, shrinking freelance budgets, and claims that AI will soon replace translators and interpreters altogether.

But panic-driven reactions, mass exits, premature selloffs, or wholesale rejection of AI are more destructive than AI itself. And while AI certainly represents a major structural shift, it will not bring about the end of language work. We know this because after every past disruption, the industry ecosystem has reorganized and linguists have adapted. In this article, by drawing comparisons with previous situations, we posit that AI is simply the latest challenge in an evolving industry and that a resilient path forward lies in collaboration with AI and a renewed focus on human accountability.

Familiar Anxiety

For freelance linguists and owners of SLSPs, the uncertainty that AI has caused is palpable. Should we hire or fire? Invest in AI tools that clients have not explicitly requested? Retreat from certain markets? Or prepare for an exit while valuations are still possible? These questions feel urgent and existential — yet they are not unprecedented. The situation is more like a familiar shock framed as a new crisis.

Current AI anxiety closely mirrors feelings from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, in-person interpreting collapsed almost overnight. Conferences vanished, courtrooms shut down, and medical consultations moved online. Many agencies rushed to pivot to over-the-phone (OPI) and video remote interpreting (VRI), assuming that large-scale in-person events were gone for good. Some sold conference equipment, convinced it would never be needed again.

At the time, these decisions seemed logical. By 2022, however, the market had rebalanced. In-person interpreting returned alongside OPI and VRI, conferences resumed in hybrid form, and courts reopened. In short, a new equilibrium had emerged. And the same thing will happen in the wake of AI.

Facing Disruption

Disruption rarely destroys ecosystems — it reshapes them. History suggests that the language industry adapts far more often than it collapses. For those who have worked as linguists for decades, adaptation is not a novelty introduced by AI. The profession has already transitioned from paper glossaries to computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, from standalone translation memories to cloud platforms, from human-only workflows to machine translation (MT)-assisted post-editing, and from local clients to global digital marketplaces.

Each shift required investment in software, training, certifications, and ongoing professional development. None of them were optional. Remaining competitive has always meant learning new tools while preserving professional judgment. AI is simply the next layer.

The real risk of AI is allowing it to reduce linguistic expertise to nothing more than output generation. Predictions of extinction misunderstand both AI and language. AI excels at speed, volume, and pattern recognition. It performs well with repetitive, low-risk content and predictable structures. But language is not merely a technical exercise; it is a legal, cultural, ethical, and interpersonal act.

Human professionals bring cultural intelligence, contextual reasoning, risk awareness, ethical accountability, and responsibility for outcomes. As AI-generated content proliferates, so do errors, misinterpretations, and unintended consequences. Lawsuits over AI misuse are already increasing. Regulatory scrutiny is tightening. Organizations are discovering that automation without accountability creates new risks rather than eliminating old ones. When stakes are high — involving contracts, patents, court proceedings, or medical consent forms — they do not ask only, “How fast is it?” They ask, “Who stands behind this?”

The Path Forward

The future of language services is neither human-only nor AI-only. It is hybrid. Already, successful workflows combine AI-supported MT with human post-editing, automated terminology extraction with expert validation, speech recognition supporting interpreters, and AI-assisted project management with human oversight.

SLSPs can reposition themselves as human-in-the-loop specialists, quality assurance partners, risk mitigation consultants, and cultural and regulatory experts. As AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, trust becomes scarce and therefore a new competitive advantage. Small agencies that foreground responsibility, validation, and ethical use of AI can differentiate themselves precisely where automation falls short.

For SLSPs finding themselves at a crossroads, the AI shift will indeed force strategic decisions. While circumstances differ, three broad options dominate current discussions:

Exit the market: Selling a small agency now may offer immediate liquidity and relief from uncertainty. For owners nearing retirement or unwilling to reinvest, this can be a rational choice. However, early exits often result in undervaluation. Buyers factor AI disruption into pricing, while sellers forfeit future upside in resilient sectors such as legal, medical, regulatory, and intellectual property translation.
Wait and observe: This is a defensive strategy sometimes appropriate, but rarely optimal for those still building value. Some agencies choose to wait, monitor demand, and avoid major investments. This preserves independence and flexibility, particularly for businesses with low overhead and strong client relationships. The danger lies in passivity. While waiting, competitors may experiment, adapt, and reposition themselves. Observation must be paired with learning small pilots, limited AI integration, and ongoing client conversations. Waiting can be strategic, but only if it is active.
Merge or subcontract: For many SLSPs, collaboration offers the most resilient path. Merging with or subcontracting with larger agencies provides access to diversified demand, larger contracts, and shared infrastructure. It allows small providers to focus on high-value niches such as regulated industries, cultural consulting, or quality assurance while leveraging larger networks for scale. The trade-offs are reduced independence and thinner margins. But adaptability and continuity often outweigh autonomy in times of structural change.

After the Big Wave, the Shore Reforms

Most tsunamis leave damage behind. But ecosystems do not vanish — they manage to reorganize, and the world does not end. Let’s remember that the language industry has survived globalization, internationalization, offshoring, CAT tools, MT, and a global pandemic. Each time, predictions of collapse proved exaggerated.

It’s true that AI is powerful. It will reduce certain types of work, and it will compress margins in commoditized segments. The AI era will certainly bring losses, consolidation, and uncomfortable transitions.

And yet, it will also elevate the value of expertise, accountability, and judgment — because language, meaning, and responsibility cannot be fully automated. For freelance linguists and SLSPs willing to adapt, collaborate, and reassert the human dimension of language, the future is not extinction — it is transformation.

Panic is not a strategy. Those who react with fear may exit too early. But those who adapt thoughtfully will still find meaningful work.

In today’s global economy, we constantly hear about bubbles across different industries — real estate, stocks, metals, and even commodities. The language industry is no exception. As global markets reach saturation, prices tend to stabilize and equilibrium is restored, paving the way for new cycles to occur in other sectors. Staying strong and steady through these economic shifts is essential. In times of change, true value emerges — where both informed consumers and genuine expertise will be increasingly recognized and rewarded.

Why the Future of Global Marketing Is InContent

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Dominic Dithurbide

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January 8, 2026

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For over a decade now, content marketing has been driving business growth. Blogs, white papers, podcasts, videos, and social posts have played a crucial role helping brands reach audiences. But the model most organizations use was built for simpler times: one core language, one target market, and a simple path from creation to distribution.

In 2026, that’s a reality that no longer exists. Our world is interconnected, audiences are multilingual by default, and discovery now happens across platforms and languages. A buyer in Argentina may first see an American brand through an English search result automatically translated into Spanish, or may never see the original source at all — only a machine-generated proxy page from a search engine.

In response, many organizations have focused on the wrong strategy: prioritizing speed over strategic brand adaptation. Often, the results speak for themselves, with many facing a distinct lack of global visibility and engagement. And with W3Techs finding that 49.3% of websites are in English, against only 1.5 billion English speakers, there’s a sea of missed brand engagement opportunities.

Global marketing success now depends on how deeply a brand adapts to a market, not just whether its content exists in another language. The issue for brands is not a lack of content — it’s the mismatch between how content is produced and how global audiences actually experience it.

The solution lies in adapting a brand into new markets, not adapting content assets between languages. Achieving that requires adopting the InContent Marketing framework and its different adaptation levers: translation, localization, transcreation, and market-native creation.

The Global Content Challenge

Marketers are accustomed to facing challenges on a daily basis, be it shrinking budgets or being tasked with delivering more with less. But those operating today are under new levels of pressure — the type that traditional content strategies can’t address.

First, discoverability across languages is declining as search platforms increasingly fill brand adaptation gaps. Academic research has found that documents written in languages other than English (LOTE) fail to appear among the top search results.

Internal workflows are also fragmented, with global teams creating assets that regional teams must adapt under tight timelines and without strategic clarity on adaptation depth. Measurement compounds the problem further, with multilingual performance assessed using the same metrics as single-market content, masking misalignment.

At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated these challenges. Content output is growing exponentially, faster than quality assurance (QA) can scale. This means multilingual content quality isn’t just a consideration, but a visibility and credibility issue.

Once an optional extra for organizations trying to enter new markets, automated adaptation of content has evolved into a fundamental part of the user experience (UX) on search engines. When local-language content is missing or insufficient, platforms may automatically adapt pages and present those versions directly to users, sometimes without sending traffic back to the source, risking brand misrepresentation.

Put simply, brands are at risk of losing control over how their message appears in local markets. Low-quality or poorly adapted content can misrepresent intent, tone, or accuracy. If you don’t act intentionally, your content might still be adapted, perhaps just not by your brand.

Introducing InContent Marketing

InContent Marketing represents a shift in mindset to address these challenges. It’s the natural evolution of inbound marketing for multilingual content marketing, increasing performance through content that is “in language,” “in culture,” and “in market.” That means InContent Marketing is inbound marketing for multilingual content. It’s a strategic framework for brand adaptation across markets.

This approach frames content and brand adaptation as a strategic decision. The goal is to design content systems that achieve the desired engagement and impact necessary to make a brand resonate in different markets in their corresponding languages, and to do so with cultural fluency. Messaging, format, tone, and distribution align with how local audiences search and engage.

The shift mirrors existing consumer behavior. Unsurprisingly, audiences prefer information in their own language and respond more positively when content feels native rather than merely understandable. In fact, according to CSA Research, 76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their native language, and 40% will never purchase from websites in other languages.

So, the need for InContent Marketing is there. But adopting this mindset requires a different approach to brand adaptation.

The Adaptation Spectrum

To start with, adopting effective global adaptation requires establishing clarity at home. Without a clearly defined brand voice, positioning, and set of guardrails, multilingual expansion often amplifies inconsistencies. Local teams are left hanging, and cultural adaptation becomes subjective instead of strategic. Conversely, strong brand clarity works for teams across the globe, empowering them to make confident decisions across all levels of adaptation while staying aligned to a shared narrative.

Equally important is recognizing that not all content requires the same level of adaptation. Brand adaptation exists on a spectrum, with each level representing a different depth of engagement and cultural resonance. Choosing the right level of adaptation depends on multiple factors, including budget, content type, desired audience response, and how sensitive the content is to cultural nuance or market expectations.

At the base is your brand voice and style guide, which provides guard rails crucial to defining your brand’s truth. This content establishes consistency throughout markets and ensures all adaptation decisions are tethered to brand identity This provides a consistent framework for adaption decisions, ensuring that message remains aligned with the brand.

From this foundation, organizations can apply four adaptation levers:

Translation extends the brand’s reach and basic usability in new markets. In practice, this is the least “culturally fluent” lever. But it’s ideal for lower-stakes content, such as product descriptions, where clarity is the priority and cultural nuance is less critical.
Localization adapts content to local conventions, formats, and audience behaviors. This increases trust, usability, and relevance while staying anchored to the global brand. Localization works well for marketing campaigns or content requiring moderate cultural adaptation.
Transcreation adds emotional nuance, re-expressing messages through local cultural logic for stronger campaign impact. This lever is ideal for high-impact campaigns where engagement and emotional connection drive performance.
Market-native content creation originates locally while remaining anchored to brand truth. It’s best reserved for high-stakes moments where authenticity drives conversion, such as SEO-driven flagship campaigns, thought leadership, or high-stakes content. This is the most culturally fluent lever a brand can activate. But it also highlights more variables around cost and engagement.

There is no universal “right” choice between these levers. The most effective global strategy often combines multiple adaptation types, applied intentionally based on the purpose of the content, desired engagement, and available resources. It’s a strategic framework for brands to adopt. By understanding the spectrum and intentionally selecting the appropriate level of adaptation, brands can maintain control of their message, connect meaningfully with local audiences, and maximize engagement across markets.

Getting InContent Right

Success with global content also requires a shift in execution models. Traditional global workflows are linear. InContent Marketing replaces this with a continuous loop; insights from each market inform content creation, adaptation depth is selected intentionally, and performance data feeds back into future decisions. In this model, learning replaces repetition, and each adaptation lever is applied based on strategic goals rather than habit or default process.

AI plays a key role in this loop by enabling quick scale and consistency. But without judgment, this also risks introducing errors. While machine translation (MT) quality continues to improve, performance varies by language, domain, and context. So human oversight remains essential for brand stewardship, cultural relevance, and high-stakes content.

Finally, success must be measured differently. Traffic alone is no longer sufficient. Global content performance should be evaluated by market-specific visibility, engagement, conversion, and trust. When measurement reflects strategic intent, global content shifts from being seen as a cost to being recognized as a growth lever — supporting brand clarity and market resonance across multiple regions.

Redefining Success in Global Content

The future of global marketing is not about translating more content. It is about choosing the right level of adaptation to enhance brand clarity, adaptation depth, and ultimately measurement at scale. Most importantly, it’s about creating genuine and authentic relevance across markets.

InContent Marketing provides a framework for navigating this complexity with intention, allowing organizations to maintain control of their message while meeting audiences where they are. Now, for global marketers, the challenge is no longer whether to adapt content, but how strategically and deliberately each adaptation lever is applied to drive real impact.

Marc Westray of Interpreters Unlimited Named to 2026 Leaders of Influence List

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MultiLingual Staff

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January 8, 2026

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Marc Westray, Sales and Marketing Specialist at Interpreters Unlimited, Inc., has been named to the San Diego Business Journal’s 2026 Leaders of Influence in Advertising, PR, & Marketing List — marking his third consecutive time earning a place on the prestigious list.

The annual recognition highlights professionals whose work has made a measurable and lasting impact on branding, visibility, and business growth. Westray’s continued inclusion reflects another year of sustained results, strategic execution, and local and national exposure achieved through integrated marketing, media relations, and content initiatives in an increasingly competitive and fast-moving communications landscape.

Over the past year, Westray helped Interpreters Unlimited continue building on record setting performance, increasing website traffic and lead generation beyond prior all-time highs while significantly improving email campaign engagement across corporate, government, healthcare, education and all other sectors.

In addition, Westray oversees the company’s press and media strategy, and awards program, helping strengthen brand credibility and visibility across all sectors in San Diego and nationwide. His work played a key role in securing major industry and business honors for the company, along with high profile media coverage from national and regional outlets including NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and USA Today. His efforts have positioned Interpreters Unlimited as a trusted voice in conversations around language access, innovation, and inclusive communication.

The San Diego Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence list recognizes individuals who are shaping how organizations communicate, grow, and connect with their audiences, honoring those who are driving results, elevating brands, and making a lasting impact through creativity, strategy, and leadership. Honorees are selected based on professional achievements and their broader impact within the advertising, public relations, and marketing industries.

You can view the whole list of recipients at https://shorturl.at/RXDCU and learn more about Interpreters Unlimited at interpreters.com.

About Interpreters Unlimited, Inc.

The IU Group of companies include: Interpreters Unlimited, Accessible Communication for the Deaf, Albors & Alnet, Arkansas Spanish Interpreters and Translators, and IU GlobeLink, LLC, and are headquartered in San Diego, California as a minority-owned company. IU Group is committed to providing equal opportunity in the work environment with its diverse team to aid in supplying linguistic and cultural interpretation services to clients nationwide. A combined 70 years in the industry has demonstrated a surplus of leadership and best practices, which has helped establish its respected role in the language services community with services that include interpretation, document translation and non-emergency medical transportation.

TransPerfect’s GlobalLink Technology Honored in 13 Categories of G2’s Winter 2026 Report

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MultiLingual Staff

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January 6, 2026

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TransPerfect, the world’s largest provider of language and AI solutions for global business, announced that its GlobalLink® technology has been recognized as a leader in Enterprise Translation Management and Enterprise Website Translation Tools in the G2 Winter 2026 Report.

GlobalLink’s rankings are based on verified user feedback collected by G2, with reviewers frequently citing its usability, quality customer support, and enterprise capabilities. The Winter 2026 Report continues a pattern of strong performance in G2 reports, where GlobalLink has regularly been recognized as a leader across multiple categories.

In the Winter 2026 Report, GlobalLink received 19 honors across 13 categories:

Leader – Enterprise Translation Management
Leader – Enterprise Website Translation Tools
Leader – Mid-Market Translation Management
Leader – Localization
Leader – Software Localization Tools
Leader – Translation Management
Best Support – Mid-Market Website Translation Tools
Best Relationship – Enterprise Translation Management
Best Relationship – Enterprise Website Translation Tools
Best Meets Requirements – Mid-Market Website Translation Tools
Easiest to Do Business With – Mid-Market Website Translation Tools
Easiest to Use – Mid-Market Website Translation Tools
Users Most Likely to Recommend – Enterprise Translation Management
Users Most Likely to Recommend – Mid-Market Website Translation Tools
Momentum Leader – Translation Management
Momentum Leader – Software Localization Tools
Regional Leader – United Kingdom Translation Management
Regional Leader – Enterprise EMEA Translation Management
Regional Leader – Enterprise Europe Translation Management

GlobalLink is TransPerfect’s award-winning technology suite combining translation, AI-powered content creation, workflow automation, and system integrations in one scalable enterprise solution.

TransPerfect President and Co-CEO Phil Shawe commented, “We appreciate our clients for sharing their feedback and G2 for capturing those insights. GlobalLink’s continued strengths reflect the value it provides to organizations managing multilingual content and workflows at scale.”

About G2

G2 is one of the largest peer-to-peer software review platforms, reaching over 90 million software buyers annually. The platform hosts more than 2.5 million trusted user reviews for over 180,000 software and service companies. G2 Reports are released quarterly and rank software based on verified user reviews, customer satisfaction, and market presence. You can learn more about GlobalLink’s reviews at www.g2.com/products/globallink/reviews.

About TransPerfect

TransPerfect is the world’s largest provider of language and AI solutions for global business. From offices in over 150 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 200+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 6,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect’s GlobalLink® technology to simplify the management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong.

Bureau Works Named “Tech of the Week” by Nimdzi Insights

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MultiLingual Staff

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December 29, 2025

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Bureau Works, a provider of AI-enhanced localization technology, has been named as the “Tech of the Week” by Nimdzi Insights in recognition of their latest Translation Portal, a multimodal, all-in-one multilingual content experience designed to simplify and accelerate global content workflows.

The Translation Portal empowers organizations to handle complex translation and multimedia tasks with speed and ease. It allows teams and agencies offer both quick automatic translation and an easy way to request human review.

With just a few clicks, users can:

Securely leverage all of their translation memories and glossaries in the background.
Preserve file formatting while leveraging the best of models and their knowledge base without having to worry about training models.
Turn speech into text for rapid transcription of audio and video content.
Add subtitles and captions automatically, including downloadable SRT files for seamless multimedia distribution.
Convert text into speech using text-to-speech technology, choosing from multiple AI voices. Users can listen to a preview and download the resulting file — all with their preferred terminology applied. It also works for the translated texts.
Perform cross-modal conversions, eliminating the need for multiple tools.

This level of multimodality sets the Translation Portal as a fitting solution for dynamic content localization, whether for marketing videos, corporate communications, training content, or multilingual media projects.

In addition to the listed capabilities of Translation Portal, Bureau Works’ Free Flow Editor enables:

Dynamic revision workflows that combine AI suggestions with human expertise, allowing for real-time collaborative multilingual content editing.
Working with source content flexibly and semantically. Bypassing the standard “segmented logic”, Free Flow adapts to the user preferences and learns from the edits made.
Integration with existing localization processes, empowering linguists and project managers with more control, visibility, and efficiency.

These innovations reflect Bureau Works’ commitment to bridging language technology with practical human-centric workflows reducing operational complexity.

“We need to create a new space for our industry. It needs to be easy, safe, inexpensive and several notches above the experience of dropping things in a model and getting them back. Our portal is a response to this need.” — said Gabriel Fairman, Founder and CEO of Bureau Works.

The “Tech of the Week” distinction highlights Bureau Works’ leadership in developing multimodal AI-powered solutions that meet the evolving needs of global brands.

About Nimdzi Insights

Nimdzi Insights is an international market research and consulting company. Nimdzi advises on international trade & development, language services, language technology, and localization programs. Nimdzi guides companies through investment and M&A activities. Nimdzi consultants are committed to providing opportunities for continuous professional development and resources for business professionals worldwide.

Smartling Delivers High-Quality Translations at Scale Using Amazon Nova

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MultiLingual Staff

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December 20, 2025

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner, Smartling, addressed issues of translation accuracy while reducing post-editing costs by building an AI translation solution on AWS. Using Amazon Nova, the solution increased translation quality by 26 percent, decreased editing effort by 30 percent, and lowered costs by up to 15 times compared with other machine translation approaches. On AWS, Smartling delivers accurate translations at scale while maintaining low-latency performance for customers worldwide.

Opportunity | Delivering quality translations with lower effort

Serving hundreds of enterprises across more than 450 languages and locales, Smartling provides AI-driven translations. As demand grew, it faced a key challenge: foundational large language models produced fluent translations but often lacked the nuance required to capture tone, terminology, and cultural context. Customers had to spend significant time on manual post-editing to ensure quality and brand consistency.

Olga Beregovaya, vice president of AI at Smartling, said, “Our biggest challenge was striking the right balance between accuracy and fluency. We needed translations that were faithful to our customers’ brand voice while keeping costs manageable.”

Performance was also critical. Latency is a common challenge for large language models, and even short delays can slow down fully automated translation workflows. Smartling needed a solution that could deliver higher-quality results, reduce reliance on human editors, and operate fast enough to keep up with customers’ needs.

Solution | Building LanguageAI on AWS

As a participant in the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, Smartling decided to expand its use of AWS services to address these challenges. The company integrated the Amazon Nova Pro foundation model within LanguageAI, its AI-powered translation platform, for its balance of quality, cost efficiency, and speed.

To strengthen translation accuracy, Smartling designed its AI workflows with a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) AI framework on Amazon Aurora that intelligently incorporates translation memory, terminology, and style guides. By collaborating closely with AWS, the team optimized the RAG implementation and reduced purpose-built prompt sizes from 3,000 to just 200 tokens while maintaining translation quality.

This optimization enabled the system to process customer-specific requirements like terminology and brand voice efficiently. Combined with a custom prompt-engineering pipeline, the RAG framework helps Smartling deliver high-quality AI translations, with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) storing translation data and Amazon CloudWatch monitoring system performance in near real-time.

A key factor in the project’s success was close collaboration with the Generative AI Innovation Center. Joint benchmarking and optimization helped Smartling reduce computational costs by cutting prompt sizes from thousands of tokens to just a few hundred while preserving translation quality. “The level of collaboration and support from AWS has been outstanding, with Smartling and AWS working as one team to drive innovation and customer success,” said Beregovaya.

Outcome | Improving translation quality by 26% and cutting costs by up to 15x

By integrating Amazon Nova Pro within LanguageAI, Smartling achieved notable gains in translation quality, efficiency, and cost savings. Benchmarking showed a 26 percent improvement in Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) scores, a widely used metric for evaluating machine-generated text by comparing it to human-created reference translations. “Higher BLEU scores mean more accurate capture of tone, terminology, and stylistic preferences, among other criteria,” said Beregovaya. Smartling’s linguists also reported a 30 percent decrease in editing effort, which helped enterprises bring content to market faster.

In addition, Smartling achieved cost savings, with the new solution proving up to 15 times cheaper compared to leading trained machine translation engines, which cost about $80 per million characters. In turn, this helps the company pass savings along to its customers while maintaining high-quality translations. “Amazon Nova has given us the performance, cost efficiency, and quality we need to expand translation at scale. It helps our customers grow globally by bringing content to market faster,” Beregovaya added.

Alongside these gains, the company also addressed latency challenges. Smartling has not experienced any inference delays, which ensures that translations run reliably in fully automated workflows for its customers. Building on this foundation, Smartling plans to make LanguageAI available through AWS Marketplace and continue refining its performance as adoption grows.

About Smartling

Smartling makes translation seamless. Its AI-first enterprise platform helps global businesses reach customers in their native languages, across any channel. Each year Smartling translates billions of words into more than 450 languages and locales.

Language Connections Earns SDO Certification for Government Translation

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MultiLingual Staff

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December 20, 2025

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Language Connections, a Massachusetts-based language service provider (LSP), has announced their new Supplier Diversity Office (SDO) Certification through the Massachusetts Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP). As a language services provider specializing in translation for government agencies, the SDO certification confirms its status as a Massachusetts small business and marks a natural progression in its longstanding work with state agencies across the Commonwealth.

Decades of Service to the Commonwealth

The SDO certification reflects Language Connections’ established track record with Massachusetts government agencies and public institutions. For decades, it has supported organizations including the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Boston Mayor’s Office, and the City of Boston, delivering critical translation and interpreting services that help these agencies fulfill language access obligations and serve the Commonwealth’s diverse, multilingual communities.

With SDO certification, Language Connections can now expand these partnerships through enhanced procurement pathways. State agencies benefit from streamlined processes when working with SDO-certified language translation companies, including access to SBPP-designated procurements that support the Commonwealth’s small business spending objectives.

What SDO Certification Enables for Government Translation

SDO certification through SBPP creates concrete operational advantages in state procurement processes:

Eligibility for SBPP-Designated Procurements: SBPP-registered vendors can compete for small business procurements specifically designated for program participants, expanding opportunities to secure state contracts for official translation services and government interpreter services needed in public health communications, legal proceedings, or emergency situations requiring immediate multilingual support.
Small Business Spending Objectives: SBPP participation helps state agencies meet small business spending benchmarks for discretionary spending, supporting the Commonwealth’s economic development goals while accessing linguistically and culturally accurate services from a vendor with demonstrated public sector expertise.
SBPP Eligibility in COMMBUYS: SBPP-registered businesses can pursue SBPP-eligible opportunities that are flagged in COMMBUYS, helping procurement officers identify qualified Massachusetts small businesses when language services are needed for court proceedings, public hearings, healthcare facilities, or community outreach.
Partnership Opportunities: Prime contractors and larger service providers can engage SBPP-registered vendors as subcontractors or teaming partners to support small business participation goals on state projects, creating expanded collaboration opportunities.
Improved Discoverability: SBPP registration is flagged in the COMMBUYS procurement system, increasing visibility for procurement officers seeking qualified language service providers with government compliance expertise and public sector communication standards.

Proven Expertise for Government Translation

Language Connections brings extensive experience serving Massachusetts state agencies and public institutions. Its work includes simultaneous and consecutive interpretation for government meetings and public hearings, official translation services for legal documents, vital records, and public notices, medical interpretation services for state healthcare facilities and public health initiatives, website translation for government portals and communications, and multilingual support for emergency communications and community engagement programs.

Alongside existing industry certifications, this SDO certification formalizes its eligibility to compete for small business procurements and strengthens relationships built through consistent delivery and deep understanding of public sector communication requirements. State agencies have relied on Language Connections for critical language services for decades, demonstrating the reliability and sector-specific expertise that this SDO certification now formally supports.

About Language Connections

Language Connections is a leading translation, interpreting, and localization company based in Boston, MA with over 30 years of experience providing language services to clients in both the public and private sector. It works with a global network of linguists to deliver culturally accurate, industry‑specific B2B solutions in over 100 languages.

Language Industry Veteran Dolores Rojo Guiñazú on What Makes a Fulfilling Career

By

Nicolas M. Martin Fontana

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December 20, 2025

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Over the course of her 35-year career in the language industry, Dolores Rojo Guiñazú has founded a language service provider (LSP), created a podcast, spoken at conferences, and developed expertise in education, marketing, legal, and healthcare translations. Here, she discusses the motivations behind it all and why she’s optimistic about the future of the industry.

Why do you enjoy reading MultiLingual magazine?

MultiLingual magazine consistently provides in-depth insights into the ever-evolving world of language services. I was an early reader. I remember my college days visiting the local Sworn Association of Translators’ library as a student to read the hard copy that was received every month. I always find the latest trends in technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Its diverse perspectives from thought leaders and friends keep me informed and inspired, helping me refine my skills and adapt to new challenges. What I like the most is the sense of community and shared purpose among language professionals that is reflected in the magazine.

How did you get involved in the translation business?

My journey into the translation business began 35 years ago when I moved from Chaco to Buenos Aires to pursue a college degree in translation at Universidad del Salvador. As the granddaughter of Italian immigrants, I grew up surrounded by the richness of linguistic diversity and the stories that languages carry. This deep connection to my roots sparked my passion for bridging cultures through communication. Leaving home to study in a new city was a leap of faith that required grit, determination, and a belief in the transformative power of language. This experience at 19 years old shaped my career and truly grounded my commitment to helping others navigate linguistic and cultural landscapes.

Since you entered the translation industry, how has the business landscape changed?

When I entered the translation industry over 35 years ago, the landscape was entirely different from what we see today. At that time, the internet was unheard of, and translation work relied heavily on paper dictionaries, typewriters, and face-to-face interactions with clients. Projects often involved courier services for document delivery and painstaking research, long hours at the library looking up terms, and researching a lot to ensure accuracy.

Imagine that I used to spend entire weekends at the library to look up terms, definitions, and research on the topics I had to translate…

Over the years, I’ve witnessed the industry evolve dramatically. Technology changed it all. The advent of the internet, computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and machine translation (MT) revolutionized workflows, making processes faster and more collaborative. Globalization has expanded the demand for language services, while artificial intelligence (AI) and neural MT have introduced both opportunities and challenges. Despite these changes, one constant remains: the value of human expertise in delivering culturally nuanced and accurate translations. Navigating these transformations has been both exciting and rewarding. I enjoy and cherish my ever-evolving profession, and am ready to see what the future holds.

Could you share your experience working with your first client or on your first project?

My first professional experience in the translation industry was with a prominent local law firm, where I was asked to translate an extensive Export Agreement. The project was a true baptism by fire, as it required mastery of complex legal terminology and precise language to meet the high standards of the legal field. I spent countless hours researching terms and ensuring that every clause was translated with utmost accuracy and clarity. As a newcomer, I approached the project with a mix of determination and humility, knowing the importance of delivering a flawless product. The client’s positive feedback and satisfaction with my work were incredibly rewarding and confirmed my decision to pursue my career and continuous education. This job gave me the confidence and commitment to provide exceptional service, no matter the challenge.

Do you believe it’s a good time to enter the translation business?

Absolutely! The world is more connected than ever, and the demand for language services continues to grow, driven by globalization, digital transformation, and the need for cultural and linguistic accuracy across industries. While technology has become a prominent part of the landscape, it has also highlighted the irreplaceable value of human translators in delivering nuanced, context-aware, and culturally sensitive translations. I believe we have a unique chance to embrace innovation, specialize in emerging fields, and carve out a niche we love and enjoy. The industry offers diverse opportunities, and — with the right combination of skills, adaptability, and passion — there’s never been a better time to make a meaningful impact as a language professional.

Where do you see yourself professionally in the next 10 years?

In the next 10 years, I envision myself as an advocate in the language services industry, using writing and podcasting as platforms to delve into the profound impact of communication, languages, and human resilience. I want to explore and share stories that highlight the role of language in connecting people, fostering understanding, and empowering communities across the globe.

My goal is to contribute to the professional growth of language specialists by mentoring and offering resources that emphasize both the technical skills and the emotional intelligence required for success. Through my podcast, Attitudable, I aim to create a space for conversations about the courage and adaptability that define us as language professionals and as humans.

I also see myself driving innovation in the industry by collaborating on initiatives that prioritize inclusivity, language access, and cultural competence while maintaining the highest standards of quality and ethics. My ultimate purpose is to inspire others to harness the power of language as a tool for change, connection, and values as human professionals.

What predictions do you have for the future of the translation industry?

I predict a rise in demand for translators who can work across multiple languages, genres, and platforms, as businesses seek to connect with ever-more diverse and global audiences. I also believe we’ll see a shift toward more collaboration and innovation in the industry, with translators working more closely with technology experts to fine-tune AI models and ensure ethical use of language tools. Perhaps our businesses will become more interdisciplinary, with professionals needing to combine language proficiency with an understanding of fields such as data security and AI.

It is very hard to know, but aspiring to find a balance in efficiency of technology and the irreplaceable qualities of human judgment, creativity, and cultural awareness will play a key role. All professions will have to evolve. Let’s hope the world will continue demanding clear, accurate, and culturally sensitive communication of human professionals.

Five Ways AI Reshaped the Translation Industry in 2025

By

MultiLingual Staff

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December 19, 2025

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As 2025 comes to a close, the translation and localization industry looks a little more settled — and perhaps more complex — than it did 12 months ago. Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved from headline-grabbing promise to everyday presence, reshaping workflows, expectations, and market dynamics along the way.

The Translation Technology Insights 2025 (TTI) report, published by RWS, captures this moment of recalibration. Rather than confirming fears of wholesale automation, the data — based on responses from nearly 2,000 language professionals worldwide — points to a year defined by adoption, experimentation, and a clearer understanding of where AI adds value and where it still falls short.

Five themes stand out:

1. Adoption accelerated faster than understanding

By most measures, 2025 was a breakthrough year for AI adoption. Machine translation (MT) remained firmly embedded in production workflows, used by around 60% of respondents overall and by roughly 80% of language service providers (LSPs). Beyond MT, interest in broader AI tooling surged, with nearly three-quarters of respondents exploring new investments.

Yet maturity lagged behind momentum. Many AI-enabled features — such as terminology extraction, content tagging, and intelligent resource recommendations — remained unevenly implemented or underused. Respondents repeatedly pointed to integration gaps, particularly between translation platforms and third-party tools, as a major obstacle.

In practice, 2025 looked less like an industry that had “mastered” AI and more like one racing to keep up with its own adoption curve.

2. Trust, quality, and accuracy dominated concerns

While usage increased, confidence did not rise at the same pace. Accuracy and quality remained the two most cited barriers to AI adoption, reflecting persistent unease about reliability, consistency, and domain control.

Security, compliance, and bias concerns also loomed large, particularly for enterprise teams working with sensitive or regulated content. Large language models (LLMs) proved useful for drafting, ideation, and support tasks, but far less dependable for controlled, high-stakes translation without human oversight.

When AI outputs failed, the response was rarely abandonment — but it often meant reverting to human review. The message from 2025 was clear: Capability alone is not enough; trust remains the true bottleneck.

3. Human–AI workflows became the norm

One of the clearest shifts captured in the data is the normalization of hybrid workflows. Among respondents using MT or LLMs, the overwhelming majority reported applying some form of post-editing.

But post-editing itself is evolving. What was once framed as error correction now increasingly involves pattern recognition, quality estimation, prompt refinement, and strategic decision-making about when and how to use AI outputs. The TTI report’s “power of four” concept — combining translation memories, termbases, MT, and LLMs — reflects this more orchestral view of technology.

The conclusion is difficult to ignore: AI has not replaced translators — it has changed what expertise looks like.

4. Demand shifted rather than disappeared

Concerns about shrinking workloads were real in 2025. Around 43% of freelancers and LSPs reported reduced customer requests, fueling anxiety about long-term demand.

But the enterprise view tells a different story. Nearly three-quarters of corporate and public-sector respondents reported stable or growing internal demand for multilingual content. Work has not vanished; it has moved upstream into organizations, across content types, and into technology-mediated workflows.

Market data reinforces this redistribution. While traditional language services showed modest contraction, language technology and AI-enabled services expanded rapidly. When newer services such as multimodal content, speech and data creation are included, overall market growth remains strong.

5. Skills and roles continued to evolve

Perhaps the most lasting impact of 2025 lies in how roles are changing. Post-editing has become a baseline skill, while hybrid positions — spanning linguistics, data, quality, and AI orchestration — are increasingly common.

Demand is also growing for adjacent capabilities such as annotation, validation, and domain expertise, mirroring broader trends across enterprise AI. At the same time, three-quarters of respondents acknowledged that their workflows still need improvement, underlining the scale of change underway.

The conversation has shifted, and automation risk has given way to skills evolution.

Looking ahead

In hindsight, 2025 was not the year AI replaced translation. It was the year the industry learned how to work with it — pragmatically, critically, and with human expertise firmly in the loop.

AI is accelerating production, reshaping market structures, and expanding what “language work” includes. But quality, trust, and judgment remain central. As the industry looks toward 2026, the lesson is clear: Translation is not shrinking — it is transforming.

To explore the full dataset and analysis, download the complete Translation Technology Insights 2025 report.