The procurement need for translation services is on the rise with companies and governments regularly communicating with existing and potential customers, business partners, even employees working in other countries. Translation services can be segmented into the following categories based on applications:
Technical translation: Technical and user manuals, maintenance manuals, contracts and patents, installation guides, product datasheets, and catalogs, etc.
Medical translation: Safety documentation, medical consent forms, instructions for use (IFUs), clinical documentation, contracts and patents, packaging and product labeling, etc.
Software localization: Software user interfaces, error messages, system messages, help files
Website translation: Website copy, downloadable documents, video subtitles, currencies, address formats, and embedded graphics
Commercial translation: Business correspondence, company accounts, reports, memos, tenders and quotations, brochures, newsletters, magazines, etc.
Administrative translation: Management documents, training materials, employee manuals
Financial translation: Company annual reports, financial statements, financing packages, tax reports, cash flow, and income statements, disclosures, etc.
Translation services also have two segments based on service type; machine translation and human translation. Machine translation is majorly used for conferences and real-time scenarios. Whereas, human translation services are more common in document translation activities.
The global translation services market was estimated at ~USD 50 billion in 2020 and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% from 2020 to 2027 due to growing engagements of local markets into businesses. The demand for the translation of documents to languages such as English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese is very high. North America and Europe are expected to witness significant growth as the population in the region continues to shift and becomes more diverse, the need for effective translation services is expected to increase in all the industries across the region, and qualified translators and interpreters are crucial in serving the needs of this increasingly diverse population.
The cost of translations services has two aspects; software development, installation and ownership cost; and translation rate. The software development and installation are regarded as the fixed cost of service, whereas the software maintenance and translation rates are variable components of translation services. The translation rates are determined by many factors such as number of words and pages, subject matter, time, language combination, etc.
The translation services market is moving towards adopting AI for real-time translation services. This may create a large digital divide between cities that are often connected and villages that are not in emerging market countries. For some developing countries in APAC, the adoption of software-based translation services would not be feasible due to financial reasons. In those regions, human translators will still have a major role to play in the translation business. Moreover, the adoption of AI in translation services is still in the development phase. Hence, the services offered by using AI currently may not be error-proof as it is difficult to process a large number of languages to retain the exact expression or meaning after translation.
TransPerfect, Lionbridge, LanguageLine, SDL, RWS, WELOCALIZE, Yamagata Corporation, Semantix, Logos Group, Lingotek are some of the key translation service providers. The global translation services industry features a highly fragmented landscape as the top 10 players hold less than 10% of the overall market share. Many suppliers are strengthening their geographic service capability through mergers and acquisitions. Grand View Research will help our client identify the best-suited suppliers by mapping their core capabilities and operational efficiency.
Component wise cost break down for better negotiation for the client, highlights the key cost drivers in the market with future price fluctuation for different materials (e.g.: steel, aluminum, etc.) used in the production process
Offering cost transparency for different products / services procured by the client. A typical report involves 2-3 case scenarios helping clients to select the best suited engagement with the supplier
Determining and forecasting salaries for specific skill set labor to make decision on outsourcing vs in-house.
A typical newsletter study by capturing latest information for specific suppliers related to: M&As, technological innovations, expansion, litigations, bankruptcy etc.
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