Translation continues its upward trend in 2024

 

Translation is a key cornerstone of global communication. The world would be significantly smaller and more fragmented without it. Over the last few years things have evolved in many ways in translation, partly due to technological developments.

Let’s take a look at the main values and the translation’s alignment to some of today’s trends.

 

Artificial intelligence and machine translation

 

Artificial intelligence has completely transformed the translation industry, by adding neural machine translation systems. Such systems use so-called neural networks, able to understand linguistic patterns and produce much faster and more logical translations.

Top leading technology companies have heavily contributed to the development of these technologies, resulting in a continuous improvement of machine translation quality. 

AI has not only increased translation speed, but also improved the consistency of translated texts.

 

Localized and culturally adapted translation

 

Globalisation implies a growing need for translations, as global audiences are becoming wider and wider. But translating a text is not enough; it must be adapted to the culture and circumstances of the targeted audience.

Translation agencies, aware of this need, focus on ensuring that translated messages are relevant and effective in the target market. This trend of thinking about audience rather than about translation compliance is a reflection on how important adapting culturally is in global communication.

 

Translation specialized in vertical sectors

 

Specialization by sector, such as medicine, law and marketing, among others, continues to grow. Translation is becoming increasingly technical and specialized. 

Translators need in-depth knowledge in the specific areas in which they specialize to ensure the accuracy and quality of translations.

Companies look for translators with experience in their industry to ensure that technical terms are interpreted correctly. In this regard, it is important to highlight the changes in translator training programs.

 

Collaboration and project management tools

 

As translation projects have become increasingly complex, efficient project management has become essential. This need has given rise to tools that help to manage them.

Software such as SDL Trados, MemoQ and Smartcat and many new translation support tools offer comprehensive solutions for translation project management, facilitating coordination between translators, reviewers and clients. These tools also allow real-time tracking of project progress and resource management, thus optimizing translation processes.

 

Ethics and Privacy in Translation

 

Ethics and privacy are very important in this industry, as documents with confidential information and data are often processed. Translation agencies therefore have privacy policies that are shared with their teams and they also make use of encryption technologies to ensure the privacy of their clients.

In addition, translators are trained in professional ethics, to ensure responsible and ethical translation practices.

The translation industry has been in a constant transformation since its origins, and now more than ever it is driven by new technologies, as well as the growing globalisation and the ever-changing needs of its clients. Translation trends for 2024 show, just as the translation industry has always done, an approach towards innovation, specialisation and tailoring to the audience, stressing that quality, efficiency and ethics in translation are key.

We are constantly looking for the best solutions on the market in order to keep up with the latest trends at all times so that we can share the opportunities they offer with our clients.