At GALA 2025 in Montreal, we sat down with Viviana Bernabé, Head of Accessibility and Interpretation at WeLocalize, to talk about the evolving role of interpreters in an AI-driven industry.

Viviana reflects on the outcomes of the recent SIG session at GALA, where participants gamified future use cases for interpreting technologies, and explores how regulation, trust, and context continue to define where—and when—human interpreters are essential.

This panel brings together language policy advocates, legal experts, and industry leaders to unpack the implications of recent executive orders under the Trump administration—particularly the declaration of English as the official language and the revocation of a long-standing language access directive.

Moderated by Eddie Arrieta (Multilingual Media), the discussion features Bruce Adelson (attorney and former DOJ official), Bill Rivers (language lobbyist and chair of SAFE AI), Mila Golovine (MasterWord CEO), and Giovanna Carriero Contreras (AAITE). The panel explores legal frameworks, symbolic impacts, real-world effects on hospitals and schools, and what professionals and communities can do to protect civil rights in uncertain times.

Interview by Deema Jaradat

In this interview, Michael Mulé of the U.S. Department of Justice discusses the historical framework of language access in the United States, common counterarguments, and the use of automatic translation technologies in language access contexts. Interviewee Deema Jaradat provides key takeaways and shares some closing thoughts.

By Cameron Rasmusson

On March 1, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring English the official language of the United States. The author reflects on the degree to which the executive order will reshape language access in the United States and how these changes might affect language service providers.

By Mimi Moore

This author discusses the challenges and complexities of managing change in regulated industries, particularly medical device manufacturing, highlighting the reasons for the perceived slowness of these industries to adapt and emphasizing the need for regulatory scrutiny, risk management, and patient safety.

By Deema Jaradat

Machine translation engines often struggle to produce accurate, consistent, and culturally sensitive output in Arabic. In this article, the author argues for improving the technology through corrective and preventive measures to enhance its efficacy for Arabic.

By Melissa May

For clinical trials involving linguistically and culturally diverse patient populations, successful eConsent implementation goes beyond simply digitizing consent forms. A successful implementation strategy includes regulatory compliance, data privacy, and cultural sensitivity.

By Ryan Foley

Although AI can enhance language services in regulated industries such as healthcare, legal services, government, and education, human expertise remains essential to ensure accuracy, safety, and compliance in critical situations.

By Ewandro Magalhães

The author discusses the often misunderstood profession of interpreting, focusing on the psychological landscape of interpreters, the pressures they face, and why they may be perceived as difficult, unresponsive, or even arrogant.

What does it really mean to be “AI mature” in the localization industry?

In this episode of Localization Today, Eddie Arrieta sits down with Gabriel Karandyšovský, industry researcher and consultant at Gabe’s Lab and Argos Multilingual, to explore the AI Maturity Model—a framework designed to help localization teams understand where they stand in their AI journey. From AI-Aware to AI-Transformed, Gabe walks us through the five stages, the reasoning behind the model, and how companies can assess their current stage in less than 20 minutes.

We also discuss how different teams adopt AI at different speeds, the evolving roles within localization, and the real-world value of mapping progress.