Whatever language will become the International language of the future, or whatever languages will be used the most in the future will not only affect the Media Industry, but also the Translation Industry.
Last week, we discussed the topic of AI and other Translation Machine Technology, and what their roles may be in the near future. For this article, I want to talk a little about Media Localization and how it affects the Translation Industry – and also how it will affect the Translation Industry of the future.
If you are an LSP, you probably already do business or have done business before with a Media Company, providing translation services to them for various reasons, such as Screen or Subtitle Translation, or maybe Dubbing or Document Translation. Whatever services you provide, I’m sure you’ve noticed the rise in the need for translation within the Media Industry as a whole.
As you may already know, Localization from the viewpoint of the Translation Industry is pretty much just making a company’s product or services available in the specific target language that they work or do business with. Or, when a company wants to adapt their product to meet the specific needs of a certain language. But I want to talk a little about where the Translation Industry is headed concerning localization.
Lately, more and more companies are having their products and services translated into multiple languages in order to reach a broader audience – which makes sense. Companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other Media groups are looking to grow their businesses, making them available in as many parts of the world as they can. That fact, alone, should make you ask, “In the future, what languages will be used/needed the most?”
Think about it. There’s really no telling where this world will stand concerning languages in the future. As of now, English is considered the International Language of the world. But years from now, who knows if that will stay the same. Maybe it’ll be Spanish or French, or Mandarin – (which has the most speakers of any language in the world). Whatever language it’ll be will tremendously affect the translation industry in an astronomical way. How so?
Well, let’s say that in the future, the International Language is changed to Mandarin Chinese. There’s no doubt that the increase in the use of the language will create a higher demand for the localization of the language. Hollywood is considered the biggest movie industry in the world. So it only makes sense that if other movie industries want to compete and reach a broader audience, they would need to supply their content in other languages, especially in the language that most people watch movies in.
In other words, what I’m saying is that whatever language will become the International language of the future, or whatever languages will be used the most in the future will not only affect the Media Industry, but also the Translation Industry. Because the higher the demand is for whatever languages are used the most in the future will determine how valuable a Translation Company will be to the market. And this will ultimately affect the profits of companies and determine whether they will sink or swim.
This is something that every translation company should think about. What language or languages will be used the most in the future? And based on the languages that your service provides, will there be a need for your services? Because if you’re offering translation services for a language or languages that aren’t being used, you won’t generate much business. It’s very crucial that we not only think about how our companies can succeed now, but we must also keep the future in mind as well. That will determine the overall success and effectiveness that our company will have in the market, and also the legacy it will leave.
Here is a list of current most used languages in the world:
- Mandarin (Chinese)
- Spanish
- English
- Hindi
- Arabic
- Portuguese
- Bengali
- Russian
- Japanese
- Punjabi