Localization Today

By Jace Norton

The author recounts his career journey from missionary to interpreter to company founder — and how he came to learn about indigenous languages and communities along the way. Now committed to providing language services to underserved populations, Norton encourages readers to look beyond their narrow surroundings to adopt broader perspectives on language access.

Interview by Cameron Rasmusson

Unicode CEO Toral Cowieson works at the heart of the international coalition that keeps technology working for everyone. The group’s text encoding standard guarantees that the characters and scripts displayed on your digital devices function properly in your language of choice. MultiLingual spoke to her about this essential work that makes the world go around.

By Mimi Moore and Carrie Fischer

US college and university enrollments in courses for languages other than English fell 16.6% from 2016 to 2021. Moore and Fischer explore some reasons for the decline in language learning, offer a few solutions, and extend a call to action to the localization industry to start turning the tide.

By Tim Brookes

Bamboo carving is a traditional writing technique of the indigenous Mangyan people of the Philippines. Tim Brookes describes how ancestral poetry is inscribed onto the plant, highlighting the culture’s connection with nature and spirituality.

A conversation with Gráinne Maycock, chief revenue officer at Acolad. We will discuss the evolution of AI in the language industry and their most recent launch. Lia an AI solution that empowers humans to achieve remarkable work.

By Jan Hofmeister and Laszlo Varga

Sticking with an outdated translation management system can hold a company back. The authors explain the benefits of migrating to a more modern platform and outline the necessary strategies and steps for a successful switch.

By Jourik Ciesielski, Laszlo Varga, and István Lengyel

The Mayan civilization may have vanished, but its linguistic heritage endures. Today, up to 22 ancient Mayan languages are still spoken in Guatemala and beyond, though their survival remains precarious. Ewandro Magalhães describes the challenges facing native speakers and efforts to provide language services to those in need.

By Bridget Hylak and Gosia Wheeler

The authors argue that ensuring access to digital products and services for people with disabilities is not only a legal requirement and an ethical practice, but also a great business strategy for reaching new consumers.

Interview by Gerald Roche

Scholar and activist Abduweli Ayup was imprisoned in China for his work promoting the language rights of Uyghur people and other ethnic groups. In this interview, he discusses his background and motivations, and offers some words of encouragement for language rights defenders everywhere.