Professional language services in the AI era
How are professional language services evolving in the AI era? AI-enabled tools have made multilingual content creation easier than ever. So where do professional language services providers fit in? As enterprises uncover the huge potential and attempt to overcome the limitations of AI, successful global brands continue to rely on the language and in-country expertise of professionals.
Transactional relationships are out. Relational ones are in. Our blog post explores how AI-savvy LSPs are an indispensable extension of your team. As pain point slayers, linguistic consultants and purveyors of happiness.
Key Takeaways from this article:
| 🔸AI-savvy language service providers solve pain points that tools alone cannot. 🔸Professional LSPs offer tiered solutions matching your budget and content risk. 🔸Relational partnerships free your team to focus on strategic business goals. |
Helping you solve your pain points
It’s a tough time for businesses. Your priorities right now may include improving operational efficiency. If you’re reading this blog post, you probably also want to drive international growth. And management is expecting AI to be a key factor in helping you achieve both.
Except the operational efficiency you were hoping for isn’t happening. Quite the opposite, in fact. Your teams feel burdened with extra tasks they hadn’t anticipated. And the international growth? You’re too busy fighting fires to notice. What’s more, all this micromanagement is diverting focus and hindering your strategic business goals. So, what are you struggling with? We’re here to listen and help.
“We don’t have the budget for professional translation”
Professional translation should be viewed as an investment, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. Many language services providers offer tiered pricing. The great ones take the time to listen to your needs and advise you on the best approach – one that’s tailored to you.
Here’s the good news. AI translation can be a good choice for low-visibility, low-risk content, such as:
- Email correspondence
- Feedback and surveys
- Employee insights
- User-generated content
Other types of content may be suitable for machine translation post-editing. This is a more cost-effective alternative to traditional, fully human translation.
If you’re not too risk averse, you could try publishing AI translation output for smaller markets. See how it performs with tools like Google Analytics. You can then decide whether it’s worth investing in professional localisation for these markets. And if you’re a little more cautious? AI-savvy LSPs have years’ worth of data-backed insights on AI translation quality. Hiring a linguistic consultant could save your business months of fruitless testing – and thousands of euros along the way.
“We have a tool that can do the translation for us”
Tools with translation as a feature can be a good choice for simple, well-structured content. However, these tools tend to fall short on more complex content. Do any of these sound familiar?
- The translation doesn’t fit the space in the layout, so now I have to resize the text boxes.
- The tool promised one-click translation, but apparently, embedded text in videos is out of scope.
- Our translated software strings don’t respect the character limit.
- The translation sounds fluent, but the terminology and style are off. This will take so much time to edit!
- Our AI voiceover tool has created translated audio clips with longer runtimes than the original.
- I know we’ve translated similar content before, but I don’t know when or where. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t how it’s been translated now.
- The line breaks seem to have confused the machine. The translation looks disjointed.
It can be extremely dispiriting to have to work with tools that seem to cause more problems than they solve. Yet management is keen to see a return on their investment. What then?
That’s when professional language services come in. The scenarios above are what professional language services providers fix behind the scenes. Some refer to it as localisation engineering. It involves setting up your source content in a way that’s optimised for translation. And putting everything back together for each target language at the end. It can be fiddly and time-consuming.
“We don’t have enough time to wait for a professional linguist to do the work”
Speaking of time-consuming, are you sure you’ve factored in all the pre- and post-processing that’s required? Managing hundreds of assets in multiple languages takes a huge amount of effort. Tagging localisation management onto someone’s job description is a fast track to burnout. So what happens when your brightest talents leave to find more favourable working conditions? Do you have the time to hire, onboard and train their successors?
“Our local offices take ages to approve copy”
On that note, how are your local offices doing? Professional language services providers take long approval turnarounds as the first sign that all is not well. So, what could be going on?
Are you asking your local offices to approve AI-translated content? If so, there may be a mismatch between expectations and reality. Do your local office representatives know what you’re aiming for? Do you just need the gist? Or are you aiming for high impact? Who’s accountable for any errors that slip through?
Local office representatives are more aware than most that AI systems’ claims of “99% accuracy” are a fallacy. AI translation could be making their job much harder. Making sure that your translated content is free from inconsistencies, inaccuracies and bias could be taking a huge toll on them.
If you’re working with professional translators, do you know if they’re any good? Do they have subject matter expertise? Do they write in the right style and tone for your brand?
This is where a professional language services provider can do all the heavy lifting for you. At Planet Languages, we offer professional language services with exceptional, effective project management. We also take care of liaising with your local offices for content approvals. A one-stop solution, from initial project brief to your content being ready for publication. It’s all part of the more relational approach to help global businesses to succeed.
Boosting workplace happiness
Which brings us to the subject of happiness. We all enjoy work more when we’re not fighting fires. How can a professional language services provider like Planet Languages help you be happier? And achieve your strategic business goals, too?
Choice: we empower you to do translation your way
Sometimes, you don’t really need a translation. You need the gist. Or a rough draft that you can rewrite in your own voice. Or something else entirely. Our linguistic consultancy services can help you make smarter decisions and save you from making costly mistakes.
Flexibility: we work with you as an extension of your team
There’s no need to worry about software compatibility or ecosystem integration. More importantly, there’s no need for you to wrestle with a clunky tool alone. We make your tech work for you. We have extensive experience with a variety of translation systems and are tool agnostic. What does that mean for you? You get maximum flexibility and bespoke workflows. Your projects, your way. Always delivered with care.
A lighter load: we do the heavy lifting
Your investment in a tool with translation as a feature can morph into an unwieldy localisation management programme. It’s a minefield to tackle alone. We can act as your helping hand, steer you in the right direction, or even take it all off your plate. Free up your team so that they can focus on your strategic business goals.
Peace of mind: everything you’d expect from a language services professional
We support you every step of the way with:
- Linguistically correct multilingual content
- Consistency with your brand tone of voice, your corporate terminology, and previously approved content
- Robust processes and ISO-certified services
- Professional linguists
- Full project management
- Regular updates
- A focus on integrity and first-class service
Ready to talk?
Would you like to find out more about how we combine AI-powered solutions with human expertise? Contact Planet Languages today to find out how our professional language services can help your business.
More professional language service questions? Here are the questions people often ask after reading this post:
Warning signs include staff spending excessive time fixing formatting issues, inconsistent terminology across content, local offices taking longer to approve translations, and complaints about quality from international teams. If your « time-saving » tool is creating extra work, it’s time to reassess your approach.
Ask about their experience with your content types, how they handle terminology consistency, what project management support they offer, and whether they’re tool-agnostic. Enquire about tiered pricing options and whether they can liaise directly with your local offices for approvals.
Calculate the hidden costs of your current approach: staff time spent fixing AI errors, approval delays, potential brand damage, and employee burnout. Compare this against LSP quotes. Professional translation is an investment – demonstrate ROI through improved efficiency and international market performance.
Yes. Tool-agnostic LSPs integrate with your existing systems and handle the technical complexities your tools create. They optimise source content for better machine translation results and manage post-editing, helping you maximise your technology investment rather than replacing it entirely.
Onboarding timelines vary depending on content complexity and volume. Most providers begin with a discovery phase to understand your needs, followed by terminology setup and workflow integration. Expect a phased transition rather than immediate handover to ensure quality and consistency from day one.
About the author
Antonios Koutsounouris is a translation industry veteran with an MSc in Machine Translation. An expert in AI and human language solutions, he is committed to delivering maximum value to our clients with innovative, tailored solutions.
