Slator - Language Industry News

  A June 2024 meta-analysis published in   BMJ Quality & Safety   was recently brought back into the spotlight by Dr. Lucy Shi, who discussed its findings in   an article   for   The Hospitalist . The study, conducted by Chu et al., examined the link between language discordance and unplanned hospital or emergency department (ED) readmissions. US Study Finds that Language Discordance Increases Risk of Hospital Readmissions The researchers also evaluated whether  interpretation  services could help reduce disparities in these outcomes between patients who speak a non-dominant language and those who do not. Their analysis was based on a literature search of PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar, initially conducted on January 21, 2021, and updated on October 27, 2022. Extensive research has shown that patients and families with non-dominant language preferences often face challenges in communication, understanding medical information, and accessing...

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...

Amid growing uncertainty about translation careers due to AI advancements and sensationalized headlines, one California university is celebrating a transformative donation. On March 11, 2025, California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) announced that Mario Giannini, Executive Co-Chairman of private equity firm Hamilton Lane, has gifted $10 million to establish a Master of Arts program in Translation and Interpreting. The program is set to launch in the fall of 2026. This isn’t Giannini’s first significant contribution to CSULB. In January 2017, he donated $1.75 million to establish The Clorinda Donato Center for Global Romance Languages and Translation Studies, named after its current director. CSULB Center Expands Translation Studies with Additional $5.25M Gift Housed within CSULB’s College of Liberal Arts, The Clorinda Donato Center for Global Romance Languages and Translation Studies serves as a hub for both pedagogical research and instruction in Romance languages. Students c...

  A Pinch, a Twitch , and Everything in Between: Pinch’s Christian Safka and Twitch’s Susan Maria Howard were among the top language industry leaders who joined hundreds of attendees on March 18, 2025, for the first SlatorCon Remote conference of the year. Kicking off the day’s events, Slator’s Head of Advisory , Esther Bond, welcomed attendees and invited Managing Director Florian Faes to share the latest findings and insights in his highly anticipated 'industry health check. In his presentation, Faes began by reflecting on the challenges of 2024. He discussed data from Slator’s 2025 Language Service Provider Index (LSPI) and highlighted the growth of interpreting-focused companies, contrasted with the struggles faced by small, undifferentiated agencies and the rapid rise of language AI, driven by companies like ElevenLabs and DeepL . Faes also highlighted key findings from Slator’s 2025 Localization Buyer Survey , including the challenges buyers face in implementing AI and the ...

Joe Corkery , MD, CEO and Co-Founder of  Jaide Health , joins SlatorPod to discuss how Jaide Health is driving medical interpreting and translation with  AI , bridging communication gaps for limited English proficiency ( LEP ) patients and improving healthcare accessibility. With a background in computer science, medicine, and AI product leadership at Google, Joe co-founded Jaide Health with Julie Wilner, RN, in 2023 to address a long-standing need for real-time, interactive communication for the  LEP  patient population. Unlike older machine translation models, which worked sentence by sentence without context, Joe shares how generative AI can maintain coherence, track gender references, and infer meaning from prior context — crucial in medical settings. The CEO remains pragmatic about  Trump’s executive order  designating English as the US’s official language and revoking previous language access mandates. He argues that such policies will not change the ...

Slator’s 30-page 2025 Localization Buyer Survey provides key insights from enterprise buyers of translation and localization services. The survey of 50 enterprise buyers uncovers the challenges buyers expect to face in 2025 and assesses the extent to which they have extracted value from language AI to date. Slator 2025 Localization Buyer Survey The findings offer valuable insights for both buyers and providers. For enterprise buyers, the report serves as a benchmarking tool — buyers can compare their strategies on budgets, AI adoption, and operational challenges with industry peers. For language service providers (LSPs) and translation management system (TMS) providers, the results provide direct insights into where buyers perceive gaps in support. The survey responses shed light on buyer expectations and priorities, helping inform service development, technology investment, and client engagement strategies. Respondents represented a diverse range of industries, offering a broad ...

An  article  on the Android Authority site from March 2025 states that the instant translation function could soon be available as a permanent feature within “Circle to Search.” Android’s Instant Translation Gets Enhanced in ‘Circle to Search’ If enabled, users will be able to translate whatever they select on the screen using Circle to Search on the screen into a device’s supported languages (this varies by device brand and model) without navigating out of the search function. Back in March 2024,  Google  announced the rollout of Language Translation Technology in the “ Circle to Search ” function for Android, which allows users to circle or tap text or an object on their mobile device screen and automatically search for it without switching apps.  So far, users have been able to translate things like menus on photos or PDFs by long-pressing the home button or navigation bar, and then tapping the translate icon.  Google’s  Android XR , the opera...