Common Sense Advisory’s predictions for 2011: increased visibility for language services

Each year Common Sense Advisory has issued predictions for the language services industry based on their extensive qualitative and quantitative research. In 2011, language will appear more prominently on the radar of global and domestic organizations than ever before:

* Marketers of everyday products feature built-in language support.

* Translation energizes customer experiences.

* Fiscal scars trigger spending sobriety.

* Project managers at global organizations face an identity crisis.

* Nervous tolerance of machine translation (MT) turns into enthusiastic acceptance.

* Crowdsourced and user-generated content displaces internal documentation and technical support.

* Global and multilingual social media become areas of domain expertise.

* Marketers grab the language opportunity by the “long tail.”

* Video and audio skills create localization stars.


* Hybrid “buyer/supplier” organizations make waves in the industry.

In summary, Common Sense Advisory’s predictions reveal a thriving, exciting climate for the language services industry in 2011, with an overriding theme of enhanced visibility. Language will be seen as an opportunity for revenue enablement, and the increased attention will mean that both buyer requirements and vendor offerings will evolve to become more numerous and diverse. Technology and service providers will play a vital role in facilitating this evolution.