Top Translation Industry Trends

Another year has come! In 2020, we’ve seen a lot and learned a lot, including how to use different types of apps and platforms and how to navigate through the unknown, especially since the whole world has become computer-bound because of the pandemic. Every industry has had its own challenges depending on the environment they are in. The translation industry needed to adapt to the changes that have come with special circumstances and the evolving technology. Let’s take a look at what will be the top trends in the translation industry in 2021.

Post-editing Machine Translation

Technology is developing at an extraordinarily fast rate in the language industry. It is important for linguists to know how they can make the most of the technologies available to them, with new instruments and solutions being constantly launched. Machine translation is currently a major industry priority and post-editing machine translationis steadily gaining popularity as a service among the customers of language service providers. Linguists face the need to adjust accordingly and learn how to become skilful post-editors with the environment shifting rapidly. Translation requires reading the source material by the linguist, formulating the translation in their head, which may take a certain degree of analysis, and then eventually writing it down. On the other hand, post-editing the machine-translated text requires the linguist to read through the source text and the machine translation output and compare it with the source text to detect and correct any errors. Grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, word order, style, untranslated terms, any possible mistranslations must be paid careful attention to by linguists to arrive at a final translated text. The linguist needs to be prompt in determining whether post-editing the machine translation suggestion or deleting it and translating it from scratch is more successful after reading the machine translation output and comparing it to the source to understand how accurate it is. If the performance of the MT is of good quality and requires only some tweaks, it should be post-edited. However, the linguist should opt for translation from scratch if the MT output is of low quality and will take more time to post-edit than to re-translate.

Transcreation

Transcreation is the process of taking and adapting or recreating source material in the sense of a target language, ensuring that in the local audience the core message evokes an ideal emotional response. The emotional effect is the main reason why transcreation is so common in the translation industry space of marketing. It is also commonly used to change taglines for advertisements or products to be more fitting for local audiences around the world. In an attempt to increase possible conversions, transcreation takes essential creative freedoms with your material, often deviating completely from it. While the word 'transcreation' in the localization glossary sounds identical to many other words, this distinction distinguishes it from the primary services of most LSPs. Since transcreation could be seen more as copywriting than translation, it's a service mostly carried out by authors on the market, not linguists. It is also associated with "cross-market copywriting" and "international copy adaptation." In addition to other artistic tools, writers take the source material and turn your brand slogan or tagline in their native language into something completely different (but equally salient). Transcreation, sadly, is also one of the most costly ways to plan the content for a foreign audience. It varies in overall expense, as well as in the way services are billed, from translation. Transcreation providers charge, like copywriting, by the hour or by the job, not by the word. Transcreation providers often invoke the innovative, imaginative, and involved nature of their work to justify charging their services a steep premium.

Video Translation

Video translation is another translation industry trend for 2021. Over the years, those who have followed our forecasts will remember that this is not the first time we have concentrated on video translation. That's because, as we consume more and more of our content through this medium, it has become increasingly relevant over the past several years. So why are we flagging it as a 2021 trend again? With one word: Google. On video, Google places a growing amount of importance. SE Ranking states that it will boost your place in the SERPS and increase your click-through rate by having video on your web pages, bringing more traffic to your website. That means an increased demand for video for companies trying to sell goods or services. And it means more video translation for those looking to sell globally. As such, this year we expect to see a notable rise in video translation once again. It is already one of our most sought-after translation services, and for those making (and translating) videos, it seems like 2021 will be an even bigger and better year.

Education and Training Translation

The shape of education in the world has changed over the past several decades. And with the Covid-19 pandemic, it became especially significant. When we mention education and training, we do not only refer to public schools and universities, but also professional development, specialized training centers, online universities and training courses, webinars, vocational schools, and much more.

The importance of clean communication in webinars and other educational materials should not be underestimated. Also, when translating these kinds of information, the translator must gain full insight into the subject matter to provide a seamless and accurate translation. For this reason, getting the best education and training translation service is essential.

Conclusion - The Analysis

2020 was an exceptional year. The unexpected global lockdown that was caused by COVID-19 has had us create more ways to deal with the translation projects faster and more efficiently. We helped our clients translate their educational/informational content and videos in the fastest way possible without sacrificing quality.

We hope that 2021 will be a better year and we promise to be here by your side as always for all your translation industry needs in 2021.