Last week, hundreds of translation and localization professionals flocked to Brussels to learn all about the latest in the industry.
When you attend a conference called “Translation all around us –The added value of translation in business and society”, you go in with high expectations that the speakers you meet, the information delivered and the energy you’re surrounded by will be absolutely exceptional.
If there was one universal topic from 2019TEF, woven throughout the forum, it’s all about the user’s experience.
Create opportunities for everyone in Europe means also to overcome language discrimination. A chance to improve the world in concrete ways often starts with translation. For many Eastern countries like Ukraine due to lack of complementary resources and various types of bottlenecks the “social” T&I service for high need communities is not so popular as in older Europe. Still the perspectives of creating meaningful opportunities for people and taking advantage of diverse backgrounds and skills is definitely benefitial for busineses. At Translatel, we feel proud to be involved into volunteer projects to shift perceptions around linguists role in modern society.
Gone are the days of technology solutions being newsmakers. Translating Europe Forum remains the best place (without self-proclaimed experts, thought leaders and trendsetters) to uncover the hidden potential within your talent and technologies, whether you work in localization or translation management. “Translation at a click: instant help or instant gaffe?” panel with Microsoft, Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics, Charles University and Unbabel was really a success. Being strongly committed to possible solutions of addressing the industry talent gap and making stronger ties with academia really appreciated the best educational practices presented at “Getting your work read: languages at the service of science”. Loved the notorious but very common: “Fix this now, fix this cheap, make sure it’s perfect and please don’t ask any difficult questions” that can sum up the major problem of company-client relationships today.
Within this audience (inhouse and online) there seemed to be broad agreement on some claims:
• Translators are thriving in the non-traditional translation environments – inside NGOs, at management companies, in traditional banks etc.
• Translation is now used in policy making as the red thread between different nations
• Translation industry has matured and is ready for the next phase.
Looking forward to educational sessions, meaningful content, networking, and more at Translating Europe Forum 2020!
