Localization project management blog

Machine translation. Artificial intelligence. Neural language processing. Predictive modelling. These fancy terms have been flashing everywhere over the past several years to the point when it seems that all your localization problems can be solved with a double click. As of 2021, they can’t. In this article, we will try and explain the exact role of technology in the translation/localization process in the simplest possible terms and help you understand what it really can and cannot do for you.

We may perceive translation in various ways – it may be good, bad, correct, incorrect, fluent, awkward, poetic, mechanical and so on – but it is easy to forget that translation is actually an asset. To be more precise, our painstakingly and successfully localized materials for specific markets are assets simply by virtue of their function – they generate profit, reduce expenses and improve sales.

Since a project manager is a member of the production team, the role of the PM is often too easily associated exclusively with the production part of the service, or “what we deliver”. However, a project manager is equally important in the “how we deliver” part of the operation, in building a positive experience for the customer who works with us.