This is a guest post by The Migration Translators.
Looking back on 2015, it’s generally been a time of growth for the translation industry as a whole, with an average growth figure of 6.5% recorded. While there are no specific statistics for marketing translation per se, one might surmise that this sector of the industry is one of the fastest growing, with businesses worldwide attempting to reach out to new markets both inside their home base and overseas.
So what are the main trends forecast for 2016? Here are 5 trends that we can see being important this year.
Key Trend #1 A rise in the need for long tail language translation
Despite what many people think, minor languages, spoken by small communities worldwide, are not dying out. In fact, because of the Internet and the fact that more and more of the global population is able to access it, what are called “long tail languages” i.e. those languages that are not the major languages like English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian etc. are in a very healthy condition. That means for businesses to reach out to these emerging markets, there has to be an accompanying search for translators and translation agencies like The Migration Translators that can provide effective and dynamic translation in these languages.
The demand for long tail language marketing translation is probably going to outstrip supply throughout 2016 as it takes time to train translators in languages other than what has been thought to be the most important languages for marketing.
Key Trend #2 Cost will become less important than quality
As companies expand their overseas markets and consolidate their marketing experience, they will be searching for better quality marketing translation rather than looking for the lowest cost providers. This is an inevitable learning curve that many businesses go through when they find that translation and localization are key strategies when targeting a new market or markets that do not use the same language or culture as the base language of the business.
Key Trend # 3 Voice based marketing translation will be in greater demand
Companies are finding more and more novel ways to get their marketing message across. Long gone are the days when websites were adapted for a new audience by providing simple text translations. Both audio and video translation is an exciting area for serious global marketing strategies and the skills are unlikely to be available in house. For translation companies in 2016 it is expected that there will be a move to find suitable translators who can speak clearly and provide good voice over, subtitle translation and learn to use text to speech technology.
Key Trend # 4 Consolidation will continue to be an important factor
This is not something that is entirely new, but is a trend that is expected to continue throughout 2016. The size of translation companies will increase as mergers and acquisitions take place. This means that the average size of a translation company will grow at the same time as the number of providers decreases. Larger companies will have the resources to cope with more diverse demands for translation, tackle different translation needs and provide a greater range of languages.
Key Trend # 5 Proxy translation is likely to diminish in importance
Proxy translation has probably seen its peak and not all businesses have fallen for it. It will still serve a purpose for those companies that are just reaching out for the first time and are unsure of who or what to choose as a translation provider. Proxy based translation may still prove useful for companies that are not willing or simply not understand the need to adapt their websites and marketing material to suit local markets. For an increasing number of businesses that have now experienced the need for effective localisation coupled to marketing translation, proxy based provision is likely to become less attractive.
The Migration Translators is one of Australia’s most sought after translation companies. We have been a family-owned business for many years and provide translation services in 150+ languages in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and anywhere else in Australia and worldwide.
