Slator - Language Industry News

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, breaking down Slator’s  2025 Language Service Provider Index  (LSPI), which features nearly 300 LSPs and reports 6.6% combined growth in 2024 revenues, totaling USD 8.4bn. Florian touches on a surprise USD 10m donation from private equity executive Mario Giannini to  launch a new MA translation and interpreting program  at California State University, Long Beach. The duo talks about  McKinsey’s State of AI report , which continues to classify translators as AI-related roles and shows that hiring them has become slightly easier. In Esther’s M&A corner,  TransPerfect  announced two acquisitions, Technicolor Games and Blu Digital Group, further expanding its presence in gaming and media localization. In Israel,  BlueLion and GATS merged  to form TransNarrative, and Brazilian providers Korn Translations and Zaum Langs  joined forces  under the Idlewild Burg group. Me...

The  United States  government has issued an unusual  RFP for translation  services: The target languages are all indigenous to the US. The contracting agency is the Office of Indian Economic Development (OIED), which falls under the Bureau of Indian Affairs that governs programs concerning federally recognized American Indian Tribes. OIED has allied with the Department of Agriculture, or USDA, in this contract. This will provide a means whereby diverse agencies can request translation into Native languages. The  RFP  features a  set-aside for Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises , meaning that only companies meeting certain revenue and ownership requirements may apply. OIED would prefer to award a single contractor work for all four languages. "This is a one-year project that will respond to federal agency requests for ongoing...