Interprefy has published a report, Global Businesses and Live Translation. This looks at how and why businesses use live translation services. The research is based on a survey of 1,000 key decision-makers involved in events worldwide. It is not a long report, and while 18 pages in length, it is a quick read.
The report is divided into several sections:
- Introduction
- Methodology
- Market Overview
- Key Insights
- Research Analysis
- Conclusion
The key takeaway from the report is that 94% of respondents are willing to consider using AI as a component of their translation services at events.
The market for translation services is growing. Business Research Insights identified that the global interpreting market size was USD 9.49236 billion in 2022. It is predicted that the market is expected to reach USD 26.60 billion by 2031. Thus exhibiting a CAGR of 10.76% during the forecast period.
The AI/Machine Learning translation industry is predicted to reach $3 billion by 2026/27. Considering the total translation market, this could be conservative as AI solutions prove their worth.
What is in the report
While in-person professional simultaneous translation is still the most popular option for 70% of respondents, AI is used by 67% of respondents. This rapid rise of AI-powered translation is likely to continue.
The report also highlights that audience accessibility is the top reason for live translation services. AI-based translation services offer solutions at a lower cost that enable live translation in internal company meetings as well as external conferences.
The report highlights that the top reason for live translation services is audience accessibility (65%), improving audience engagement (61%) and increasing audience satisfaction (61%).
While there is an acceptance that human interpreters will make an error, there is less tolerance for AI translation. The authors infer this might be because a human interpreter can nuance their translation where they are unsure. However, the accuracy and ROI of AI translation are rising.
Oddmund Braaten, CEO at Interprefy, said, “The speed with which AI-powered speech translation has been adopted since its launch less than two years ago is impressive. However, it is important to acknowledge that the report also shows that 58% of respondents use Remote Simultaneous Interpretation and 53.5% use live multilingual captions. This demonstrates the breadth of multilingual technology available to event planning professionals today.”
New solutions, new use cases?
What is insightful from the report is the potential for translation services to go beyond traditional conference events. The top three uses for translation services are:
- Business meetings (69%)
- Industry conferences (64%)
- Company ‘all hands’ (63%)
The rise in the use of AI means that multi national firms are seeing the benefits of using them to bring their employees together.
Braaten continued, “The expansion in live translation services provides organisations with more opportunity to expand their multilingual support beyond traditional external conferences or events. In the past, organisations’ use of in-person interpretation and remote simultaneous interpretation has perhaps been limited to high-value events. However, with the growing awareness of new, innovative, and accessible live translation services we are seeing more internal and training events offering multilingual services.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This report has some interesting findings that demonstrate the rapid emergence of AI-based translation services, such as those offered by Interprefy. The report itself is short and would have benefitted from trending information, had it been available. Perhaps a similar report next year will provide some further insights.
There is also a lack of qualitative insights within the report, where these might have shed some light on the benefits that respondents see from translation services. AI-based live translation is a reality that a larger number of companies should consider. It offers significant benefits for communication and collaboration across the business, and could significantly help in bringing companies together.
Live translations are revolutionizing global business, enhancing communication and collaboration across languages, and facilitating smoother international operations and partnerships.