Beyond language specialists

Last year we said goodbye to translators and hello to language specialists – have we moved beyond that? 

This is us being a bit more concrete on where we see roles evolving. There will be a lot more focus on validation rather than translation. What we call language specialists now need to start being more comfortable with the notion of only signing pretranslated content off or reworking it if necessary in contrast to actually translating it. Answering the questions: Is the content factually correct? Is it usable (i.e. will users be able to cope in the target market)? Is it compliant with market regulations (e.g. for pharmaceutical or patent content)? Will it connect with its target audience? That concretely means a lot more focus on subject matter expertise beyond the pure language skills. 

It also means we need to be able to have a more diverse approach to language quality around those criteria and find a way to better articulate what good enough looks like. It also implies more focus on audiovisual work as content generators want to establish a deeper connection. And more focus on software localization and testing since content users will expect intuitive, native user experiences as they navigate an application. The single exception to that will be more focus on low resource languages, where AI capabilities struggle to this date. That said: Even here, progress in AI capabilities, quantum computing, etc. will break down that barrier faster than we think, so getting ready to invest more time into understanding how to validate areas like compliance, usability, human connection will even there be time well spent.