logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • Design Thinking – February 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • Design Thinking – February 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Advertise on Slator! Download the 2021 Online Media Kit Now

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Reader Polls: New LSP Survival, 2018 Outlook, NMT’s Impact, Google Auto ML

2 years ago

August 7, 2018

Reader Polls: New LSP Survival, 2018 Outlook, NMT’s Impact, Google Auto ML

Features ·

by Esther Bond

On August 7, 2018

2 years ago
Features ·

by Esther Bond

On August 7, 2018

Reader Polls: New LSP Survival, 2018 Outlook, NMT’s Impact, Google Auto ML

The UK is still proving to be a popular location for budding new business owners in the language industry, with over 150 new companies joining an already mature and hyper-competitive market in the first six months of 2018. Some of the founders of these new LSPs shared their experiences and visions for their companies in interviews with Slator, providing insight as to why professionals from the language industry are starting out on their own in unprecedented numbers.

One challenge they may face is silencing the skeptics: 55% of Slator readers polled thought that less than half of these new UK LSPs would still be around in mid-2020, and a third believed that just 25-49% of these companies would last at least two years. Around 20% of respondents backed the new arrivals to survive the next couple of years, estimating that at least three quarters would still be operating two years from now.

Advertisement

Prevailing Optimism for LSPs

The incumbent LSPs are way more optimistic about the near-term future of their own businesses, however, with almost three quarters of poll respondents saying that their company outlook for the second half of 2018 is positive (46%) or very positive (28%). An equal percentage thought the outlook was neutral (13%) as thought the outlook was either slightly negative or negative (13%).

Optimism prevails while H1 2018 performance among the few listed language services and technology providers has lagged behind 2017 and slowed since the April 2018 performance update. Overall, however, language industry companies still outperformed the major indices.

This subdued sentiment is somewhat echoed by those willing to take a bet on investment strategies: over 80% of respondents said that potential investors should “wait for a dip” or not invest in publicly-listed LSPs right now, indicating that many believe that shares of these companies could fall in the near future. Just under 20% think now is a good time to invest, indicating that they foresee an uptick.

Is Neural MT (Really) Impacting The Supply Chain?

In March 2018, 41% of buyers who responded to a reader poll, said that neural MT (NMT) had begun to have an impact on their unit price expectations. 59% said NMT was not having any impact, however. This spread also reflects the observations of both buyers and vendors several months later in July 2018, when 42% of respondents from both categories said that NMT was having a real-life impact on their business, productivity, pricing or other.

The impact of neural is likely to become more felt as machine translation keeps evolving and major tech players continue to raise the stakes. Google for one recently announced new Auto ML (machine learning) Translation capabilities amid much hype at its Google Cloud Next conference in July 2018.

But the reception among Slator readers has been mixed. While almost a third (32%) of respondents think that Google’s Auto ML Translation is a big deal, a significant percentage (28%) believe it’s more smoke than fire, and mostly PR. Most are reluctant to give an opinion one way or another and prefer to “wait and see”.

TAGS

Auto MLGoogleNMTpollsreader polls
SHARE
Esther Bond

By Esther Bond

Research Director at Slator. Localization enthusiast, linguist and inquisitor. London native.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
iDISC Awarded ISO 27001 Information Security Management Certification

iDISC Awarded ISO 27001 Information Security Management Certification

by iDISC

XTRF Launches a Bi-Monthly Free Networking Event for Localization Professionals

XTRF Launches a Bi-Monthly Free Networking Event for Localization Professionals

by XTRF

150 Million Words Translated: the German EU Council Presidency Translator Sets New Records

150 Million Words Translated: the German EU Council Presidency Translator Sets New Records

by Tilde

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Memsource MT Post-Editing Pricing Models Webinar

    Pricing Models for MT Post-Editing Workshop

    by Memsource

    · February 3

    Hear a panel of innovative localization professionals share different approaches for MT post-editing pricing.

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

Seprotec

Seprotec

Versacom

Versacom

SDL

SDL

Smartling

Smartling

Lingotek

Lingotek

XTM International

XTM International

Smartcat

Smartcat

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

by Esther Bond

The Slator 2020 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2020 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

Top Language Industry Quotes of 2020

Top Language Industry Quotes of 2020

by Monica Jamieson

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,000 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.