Slator - Language Industry News

  Landexx, a language services provider based in Germany, has filed for bankruptcy. According to a court filing reported by several German legal aggregation sites , the language services provider Landexx has filed for bankruptcy. Information on the LSP is now difficult to find, as Landexx's website appears to be down. Additionally, as a private company, Landexx’s annual financial reports are not publicly accessible. German Language Services Provider Landexx Files for Bankruptcy Landexx, led by Managing Director Christel Stemmer, provided various services, including translation, interpreting, language training, and desktop publishing. Language professionals have informed colleagues of the news. For example, German-English translator Jill Sommer advised freelancers in a blog post to contact the bankruptcy trustee, Stephan Höltershinken, about any unpaid invoices. She also warned others not to accept translation assignments from the company. For at least a few years before the LSP...

Humanless LSP as a Fun Weekend Project Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, giving a recap of SlatorCon London and exploring some use cases from the Slator Pro Guide: Language AI for Consumers . Florian talks about Andrew Ng’s recent project on agentic machine translation , which involves using large language models ( LLMs ) to create a virtual language service provider (LSP). The duo touched on Apple’s recent Worldwide Developer Conference, where Apple Watch is set to get a translation widget and also recently announced a new translation API. Florian shares RWS’s half-year financial results , where despite declines in revenue, the company’s stock rose by 20%, likely due to investor perception of AI-enabled services and new product offerings like Evolve and HAI gaining traction. Esther talks about DeepL’s USD 300m funding round , which valued the company at USD 2bn, a testament to the growing interest in AI models. She also covers Unbabel’s launch of To...

Here’s a New Dataset for Emotion-Aware Speech Translation Imagine a world where translations don't just convert words but also capture the emotions behind them. This is the promise of MELD-ST, a new dataset introduced in May 2024 by researchers from the Technical University of Munich, Kyoto University, SenseTime, and Japan's National Institute of Informatics. This dataset is designed to revolutionize speech translation by ensuring that emotional context is preserved, enhancing both speech-to-text (S2TT) and speech-to-speech translation (S2ST) systems. Background Emotion plays a critical role in human conversation, yet most translation systems struggle to accurately convey the emotional tone of the original speech. While text-to-text translation (T2TT) has seen some progress in emotion-aware translation, speech translation remains a largely uncharted territory. The introduction of MELD-ST aims to fill this gap. The Creation of MELD-ST MELD-ST builds upon the existing Multimod...

Phrase CEO Georg Ell on the Arms Race in Language Technology Georg Ell , CEO of Phrase , returns to SlatorPod for round two to talk about the accelerating adoption of generative technologies and AI. In this episode, he delves into the broader implications of AI, focusing on the transformative potential of language technology in business. Let’s explore the insights shared by Georg Ell and understand how Phrase is navigating this rapidly evolving landscape. Georg Ell: A Visionary Leader in Language Technology Georg Ell is a prominent figure in the language technology sector. With a rich background in technology leadership, he has spearheaded various initiatives aimed at integrating advanced AI into language solutions. His journey with Phrase has been marked by a commitment to innovation and a vision to push the boundaries of what language technology can achieve. The Accelerating Adoption of Generative Technologies and AI The adoption of AI and generative technologies in language solutio...