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
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Email Marketing for Freelance Linguists
    • Preparing for the Critical Google Update Coming in May 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
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Email Marketing for Freelance Linguists
    • Preparing for the Critical Google Update Coming in May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register For Email Marketing for Freelance Linguists and Learn How To Win New Clients.

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Reader Polls: Human Translation Speed, Look Who’s Hiring Aggressively, Email Behavior

2 weeks ago

February 23, 2021

Reader Polls: Human Translation Speed, Look Who’s Hiring Aggressively, Email Behavior

Industry News ·

by Marion Marking

On February 23, 2021

2 weeks ago
Industry News ·

by Marion Marking

On February 23, 2021

Reader Polls: Human Translation Speed, Look Who’s Hiring Aggressively, Email Behavior

Let’s start with the good news. There are many open roles and language service providers (LSPs) and localization teams are hiring aggressively, according to the majority (43.2%) of respondents to Slator’s recent poll.

Here’s proof: Barely two months into the new year and, already, Slator has featured a couple of dozen key hires who recently joined their new companies. For instance, Philadelphia-based LSP and translation tech provider, Globo, began with a bang, announcing 10 new hires in January; and, in February, added Tal Roth as Senior Proposal Manager. Then Burbank-based media localization provider, Visual Media Services, welcomed Donna Thomas as SVP of Sales for the Americas.

One LSP that has continued building its team is Argos Multilingual. After filling key posts in 2020 (CEO, CTO, EU Sales Chief, etc.) the company hired Kathleen Bostick as Localization Strategist and Dan Koenig as Content Strategist in January.

Advertisement

Media localizer Plint has been building its leadership team as well, starting with CEO, Thomas Roberts, and Head of Plint Direct, Tobias Mannheimer. London-based LSP, Travod, meanwhile, hired Steve Higgins as Chief Commercial Officer; and Massachusetts-based staffing firm, Anzu Global, added Annette Hemera as Globalization Account Manager, both in January.

LocJobs.com I Recruit Talent. Find Jobs

LocJobs is the new language industry talent hub, where candidates connect to new opportunities and employers find the most qualified professionals in the translation and localization industry. Browse new jobs now.

LocJobs.com I Recruit Talent. Find Jobs

According to the rest of respondents to Slator’s January 29, 2021 poll, a significant number of LSPs/loc teams are still hiring, albeit selectively (34.1%), while others are only hiring replacements (9.1%), have freezed hiring (2.3%), or are even downsizing (11.4%).

If the February 2021 Slator LIJI continues to hold after posting a record upswing since Covid-19 hit, we can expect more hiring news in the months to come.

Email Patterns Since Covid

Marketing and Sales teams that have moved nearly all their funnel-building activities online will be glad to know that although email volumes have dipped overall (due to general business slowdown), engagement is up and unsubscribe rates have significantly slowed since Covid, according to an Oracle study from last spring. A more recent study out of the Harvard Business School stated that email volumes have already increased more than 5% versus pre-Covid, over 8% of them sent after business hours.

Pro Guide Sales and Marketing for Language Service Provider and Translation and Localization Companies (Product)

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

Data and Research, Slator reports
36 pages. How LSPs generate leads, hire and compensate Sales staff, succeed in Digital Marketing, and benchmark against rivals.
$260 BUY NOW

Someone should do a study though on how all those Zoom intra- and inter-office meetings, on top of scheduling/productivity tools, such as Asana (which we use here at Slator), have affected overall email volumes; because, going by Slator’s February 5, 2021 poll, they no longer seem too unwieldy. (Given the interest in this “huge market” from investors, such as those backing Otherside, email isn’t going anywhere.)

The majority of respondents (41.6%) said they receive 11–49 emails daily, while less than a tenth said they only get 1–10 emails per day. However, about a quarter said they still get 50–99 emails, 16.9% said they get over a hundred, while a tenth said it still feels like millions!

PEMT Trends

Post-edited machine translation (PEMT) became the dominant translation method in 2020, as pointed out by Memsource CEO David Čaněk in a January SlatorPod interview (here’s the video excerpt). A survey of the European language industry from last spring bore this out, showing that the majority of LSPs (78%) said PEMT was their highest priority and “strongest new service.”

Čaněk further said, “The post-editing effort […] in machine translation is getting smaller and smaller every year.” So what would be a reasonable human translation speed assuming MT quality was good?

Language industry M&A and Funding Report product

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Data and Research, Slator reports
40 pages on translation, localization industry M&A, venture funding. Valuations, PE funds, deal rationale, geo, investment theses.
$490 BUY NOW

Roughly a third of respondents to Slator’s February 12, 2021 poll, said it would range from either 600–800wph or 800–1,000wph.

Less what a fourth estimated a slower PEMT speed of 400–600wph, while the rest gave it a faster 1,000–1,200wph (11.7%) or over 1,200wph (6.4%).

Still on PEMT, back in 2019, Trados creator Jochem Hummel predicted that the work of a professional translator will evolve into that of a subject-matter expert who revises machine translation (MT) output. At the time, Slator readers were fairly divided over whether improving MT quality meant that subject-matter expertise would be more critical compared to, say, source language proficiency.

As a number of translation buyers have shifted to hiring subject-matter experts fluent only in the target language to perform PEMT, we wanted to know if this would become a trend. No, said the majority (45.2%) of respondents to Slator’s February 19, 2021 poll.

A significant portion (33.9%) said it will remain a niche approach. However, a fifth said it will indeed become a trend over the next five years.

TAGS

Annette HemeraAnzu GlobalArgosArgos MultilingualDan KoenigDonna ThomasGloboKathleen BostickMTPEOthersideAIPEMTPlintreader pollreader pollsSteve HigginsTal RothThomas RobertsTobias MannheimerTravodVisual Data Media Services
SHARE
Marion Marking

By Marion Marking

Slator consultant and corporate communications professional who enjoys exploring Asian cities.

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
6CONNEX to Partner with Interprefy to Help Clients Host Large Scale Events in Any Language

6CONNEX to Partner with Interprefy to Help Clients Host Large Scale Events in Any Language

by Interprefy

BLEND Raises $10m to Fuel Global Growth with End-to-end Localization Services

BLEND Raises $10m to Fuel Global Growth with End-to-end Localization Services

by BLEND

Iconic Launches INTRA Translation Platform

Iconic Launches INTRA Translation Platform

by Iconic

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Smartling - Global Ready Conference 2021

    Global Ready Conference

    by Smartling

    · April 14

    When you can't traverse the world, let the world come to you. Join our annual global event from home.

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

Seprotec

Seprotec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Poland Rules on LSP Using Google Translate; Defines ‘Professional Translator’

Poland Rules on LSP Using Google Translate; Defines ‘Professional Translator’

by Marion Marking

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

Behind the Scenes of the European Parliament’s Pivot to Remote Interpreting

Behind the Scenes of the European Parliament’s Pivot to Remote Interpreting

by Seyma Albarino

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 13,500 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

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