Our Analysts' Insights

Imagine yourself in a café in Paris or on a beach in Cancún, running into some gorgeous human specimen you just can’t help but approach. You walk up to the person, offer them a hearing device, and point for them to put it in their ear while you pop one in yourself. Then you launch an app on your smartphone and start communicating via the help of machine interpreting, hoping the app will accurately translate your best pick-up line.

It wasn't new handsets or mobile services that garnered the most attention at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Instead, it was automobiles: Intel's 5G-enabled autonomous car, Peugeot's Instinct concept vehicle, and flying car prototypes such as the AeroMobil. If any industry exemplifies disruptive change these days, it's the car industry.

While often complex and costly, localization is a well-established practice at many companies. CSA Research's interviews and surveys with both Global 3000 companies and language service providers show that the best of these organizations have tamed the rhythm of localization – processes and schedules are understood and under control. Many plan to throttle back their localization budgets as they work to optimize their current processes and tools for the 10 or 20 languages they support before...

Situations where individuals don’t speak the same language abound. Settings for interpreting range from courts, to health care, immigration, public safety, tourism, and trade. CSA Research tracks interpreting technologies that support the coordination and delivery of interpreting services. Changes are happening rapidly in this growing market sector, with new offerings constantly modifying the technology landscape. Let’s look at four developments that are paving the way.

The interpreting field is a hotbed of creativity due to technological advances and the desire from large-scale buyers to spend their budgets wisely. In this blog post, we explore two new solutions for medical patients with limited language proficiency (LLP), which can substitute for on-site or remote interpreters in select healthcare settings – patient registration and office visits.

The interpreting technology front has been particularly active lately. After LanguageLine announced the release of a new video remote interpreting solution, thebigword launched a new interpreting management product called IMS Direct. Announced today, the software-as-a-service solution (SaaS) is for buy-side organizations and addresses the need for automation in interpreter assignments.

Selecting the right translation management technology can mean the difference between growth and stagnation for language service providers. But choosing a TMS to manage their myriad business, process, and linguistic functions requires a lot of work. LSPs have to evaluate both the features and functionality of shortlisted products and assess the software developers’ ability to sustain and improve their position in the market.

When health care practitioners, governmental agencies, or businesses want to leverage the power of video remote interpreting (VRI) to enable communications, they need to plan ahead. Or at least, they had to until today.