How Generative AI is Revolutionising Language Localisation in Global Business Operations
Tapping into wider audiences through localised content is key to boosting revenues and breaking into new markets – navigating the complexities of diverse audiences across linguistic and cultural divides. Generative AI is transforming the art of localisation, helping businesses connect with global customers and broaden their market presence seamlessly.
Generative AI has reached a level of linguistic proficiency where it can accurately translate between multiple language pairs with over 90% accuracy for common languages.
Unleashing the Potential of Generative AI for Localisation
Generative AI possesses the ability to generate human-like text, audio, and video content. This technology is transforming the translation industry by automating and enhancing the translation process, making it faster, more cost-effective, and more accurate.
Generative AI can process and translate content thousands of times faster than human translators, making it a game-changer for businesses looking to scale quickly in international markets
Benefits of Generative AI in Localisation
Fast and efficient Generative AI can translate vast amounts of content in a fraction of the time it takes for human translators, significantly reducing turnaround time and increasing productivity.
Cost-effective AI-powered translation eliminates the need for hiring multiple human translators for different languages, resulting in substantial cost savings.
Accurate and high-quality Generative AI models are trained on massive datasets, enabling them to produce high-quality translations that are accurate and contextually appropriate.
Multilingual content creation Generative AI can generate content in multiple languages simultaneously, allowing businesses to create localised content for global audiences.
Enhanced user experience By providing content in the native language of the target audience, businesses can enhance user experience – leading to higher engagement and satisfaction.
How to succeed with Generative AI
Generative AI has the power to revolutionise the localisation industry, helping businesses reach wider audiences and communicate effectively across linguistic and cultural barriers. By leveraging the capabilities of generative AI, companies can create localised content, enhance user experience, and drive business growth in a globalised marketplace.
Localisation is not just about translation; it's about cultural adaptation. Generative AI is now sophisticated enough to incorporate cultural nuances into translations, making content more relatable
With the rapid advancements in generative AI, the future of translation looks promising, enabling businesses to connect with customers worldwide and build strong global connections.
With generative AI, businesses are not just translating words, they're translating experiences – leading to a deeper connection with audiences.
Service providers and platforms
Service providers and platforms that deliver Generative AI solutions for translation and localisation:
DeepL Known for its neural machine translation (NMT) technology, DeepL offers high-quality translations in over 28 languages. It is popular for its accuracy and ability to capture the nuances of language.
Guildhawk Guildhawk offers a unique blend of AI translation, digital humans, and data analytics, ensuring accurate and secure multilingual content. Backed by 3,000 certified linguists and award-winning solutions, Guildhawk delivers cost-effective and efficient translation services.
Google Translate A widely used machine translation service, Google Translate supports over 100 languages. It leverages Google's vast language data and machine learning expertise to provide fast and generally accurate translations.
Microsoft Translator: Microsoft's machine translation service offers support for over 100 languages. It is known for its integration with Microsoft products and services, making it a convenient choice for businesses using the Microsoft ecosystem.
Amazon Translate Amazon's machine translation service is designed to handle large volumes of text and supports over 250 languages. It is popular for its scalability and integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
SDL SDL is a leading provider of language translation and localisation services. The company offers a range of AI-powered translation tools and services, including machine translation, neural machine translation, and human post-editing.
Lionbridge Lionbridge is another major player in the language translation and localisation industry. The company provides a range of AI-powered translation solutions, including machine translation, translation memory, and terminology management.
These companies are at the forefront of innovation in generative AI for translation, helping businesses reach wider audiences and communicate effectively across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
The demand for AI-powered localisation services is expected to grow by 50% in the next two years, as businesses seek to expand their global footprint.
Additionally, here are a few more companies that are making waves in the generative AI space:
Memsource A cloud-based translation management system that uses AI to automate and streamline the translation process.
Lokalise A localisation platform that helps businesses translate and localise their content for global markets.
Unbabel A translation platform that uses AI to provide fast and accurate translations in over 100 languages.
Translated A translation and localisation company that uses AI to improve the quality and efficiency of its translation services.
D-ID D-ID specialises in multi-language AI-generated Avatars, offering tools that animate still photos and create animated human videos for various applications.
HeyGen HeyGen is a platform leveraging generative AI avatars to enable users to create unique and personalised AI-generated digital humans through text prompts and customisation features.
ElevenLabs ElevenLabs offers a platform utilising advanced AI technology to create realistic text-to-speech synthesis, allowing for high-quality voice generation and manipulation for various audio content needs.
Experts predict that by 2025, over 75% of all localisation services will involve some form of generative AI, transforming the industry and how we think about global content.
How can businesses get the localisation process right?
Getting the localisation process right, is key to success. On the flip side, getting it wrong can cause huge issues.
What are the nuances of using generative AI for translations and what are its potential limitations, its ability to handle domain-specific content, and its adaptability to the ever-evolving linguistic landscape? How do we safeguard against bias, protect sensitive information, and the particular types of content that may still require a human touch? What are the methods that companies should employ to maintain quality? How will AI deal with dialects, and localise multimedia content? What are the measures in place to ensure cultural sensitivity is in place in translations?
Q: What are the potential limitations of using generative AI for translations? A: Potential limitations include the possibility of inaccuracies in nuanced or complex text, the challenge of capturing idiomatic expressions perfectly, and the need for human oversight to ensure quality in sensitive or critical content.
Q: Can generative AI handle translations that require a high level of domain-specific knowledge? A: While generative AI can learn from domain-specific datasets, it may still require human expertise to ensure accuracy in highly specialised fields such as legal, medical, or technical translations.
Q: How does generative AI manage to stay updated with the latest linguistic changes and slang?
A: Generative AI systems are often continuously trained on a diverse and up-to-date corpus of text which can include internet content and other current materials to stay abreast of evolving language use.
Q: Is there a risk of generative AI introducing bias into translations?
A: Yes, there's a risk of bias if the AI is trained on biased datasets. It's important to use balanced and diverse data to minimise the introduction of bias in translations.
Q: How does generative AI ensure the privacy of sensitive content during translation? A: Generative AI platforms often implement strong data security measures, including encryption and adherence to privacy standards, to protect sensitive content during processing.
Q: Are there types of content for which generative AI translations are not recommended
A: Generative AI may not be recommended for translating highly creative literature, poetry, or content with heavy cultural nuances that rely on a deep understanding of the source material's context.
Q: How do companies ensure the quality of translations when using generative AI?
A: Companies often use a combination of automated quality checks, human proofreading, and post-editing by professional translators to ensure the quality of AI-generated translations.
Q: Can generative AI adapt to different dialects within the same language when translating?
A: Advanced generative AI systems can be trained to recognise and adapt to different dialects, although this capability may vary depending on the system's training and the availability of dialect-specific data.
Q: In what ways can generative AI facilitate the localisation of multimedia content? A: Generative AI can facilitate the localisation of multimedia content by providing automated voice-over translations, generating culturally relevant images or video content, and adapting layouts to accommodate text expansion in translation.
Q: What measures are in place to ensure that generative AI translations adhere to cultural sensitivities? A: Developers can incorporate cultural sensitivity filters and use datasets that are representative of target cultures. Additionally, involving local cultural consultants in the AI training process can help ensure that translations are culturally sensitive.
Considerations
Taking off the rose-tinted spectacles, let’s also not forget that Generative-AI localisation and translation technologies have their limitations:
Accuracy
While generative AI boasts over 90% accuracy for common languages, this figure may not fully represent the technology's grasp of linguistic subtleties. The nuances of language, including irony, humour, and regional colloquialisms, can elude the precision of AI, akin to the limited fluency of a tourist using a phrasebook.
Speed versus Cultural Nuance
Despite the impressive speed of generative AI in producing translations, speed should not overshadow the true goal of localisation: to convey deep cultural meaning. AI might currently offer a fast food-like simplicity in cultural nuance, which falls short of capturing the complex and varied essence of local cuisine.
Cost Savings versus Quality
The cost-effectiveness of AI in translation may come at the expense of the nuanced human understanding essential for capturing the essence of language and context. The value of human intuition and the ability to choose the most fitting expression should not be underestimated in light of financial benefits.
Cultural Adaptation
The claim that generative AI can adapt content to cultural nuances overlooks the depth of understanding required for true cultural adaptation. Effective localisation involves an intricate awareness of local customs, traditions, and taboos that AI has yet to fully emulate.
The Role of AI in Localisation
While generative AI offers significant potential and is pushing boundaries in the localisation industry, its predicted growth should be tempered with an understanding that AI serves as an adjunct to human expertise rather than a replacement, particularly in the nuanced art of translation.
The Human Factor
The portrayal of generative AI in localisation as a technological utopia should not overshadow the indispensable role of the human element. Technology can be a powerful tool in the craft of localisation, but it has not achieved the level of artistry and irreplaceable human touch that remains at the heart of translation.
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