Slator - Language Industry News

Can AI Agents Execute Complete Translation Workflows? Slator- Language Industry Intelligence The Evolution of Translation Translation has come a long way from the days of bilingual dictionaries and phrasebooks. The need to bridge language barriers has driven innovation, bringing us to the age of digital translation tools and now, AI agents . But can AI truly handle the complexity of complete translation workflows? Can AI Agents Execute Complete Translation Workflows? The Rise of AI in Translation Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized many industries and translation is no exception. The question isn't just about AI performing translations but about AI agents managing entire translation workflows. Let's dive deeper into this fascinating development. Understanding AI Agents What are AI Agents? AI agents are autonomous entities designed to perform specific tasks. These tasks range from simple commands to complex problem-solving activities, all without human intervention. ...

Language Industry Buyer Tracker July 2024: Key Points Explained Slator- Language Industry Intelligence The language industry is constantly evolving, with new developments, acquisitions, and trends emerging regularly. Staying updated is crucial for businesses and professionals in the field. The Language Industry Buyer Tracker for July 2024 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest happenings in the industry. Let's dive into the key points from this month's report. Slator- Language Industry Intelligence What is the Language Industry Buyer Tracker? The Language Industry Buyer Tracker is a monthly report that tracks significant events, trends, and changes within the language services market. It includes details about acquisitions, mergers, financial performances, and technological advancements. This tracker is an essential resource for anyone looking to stay informed about the industry's dynamics. July 2024 Highlights This month has seen several notable updates in the la...

eBay Launches New In-House Large Language Model for E-commerce with Translation Capabilities In a June 17, 2024  paper ,  eBay   introduced its series of  l arge language models  (LLMs), tailored specifically for the  e-commerce  sector. eBay’s New In-House Large Language Model for E-commerce Can Also Translate These models, named LiLiuM 1B, 7B, and 13B , were developed in-house to meet eBay’s specific needs across various applications, including translation, in the e-commerce domain, providing full control over licenses, data, vocabulary, and architecture. The authors said that “these models are meant to eliminate dependency on third-party  LLM s within eBay.” eBay explained that using foundation models like the LLaMA-2 models, which can be accessed and adjusted for specific purposes, poses risks related to licensing, data security, and future-proofing. They noted that these models are generally trained on English-centric data and are quite gene...

  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...