By Grischa Wenzeler
Translators Day 2025
Two standout topics of this year’s Translators Day were the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) in translation and the efforts required to attract and keep clients in a commoditised market where human translations have often become just an exchangeable element in the translation workstream, with machine translations and AI-generated texts gaining market shares.
The day’s events
The day began with a poll among the audience, conducted by CIOL Chair Steve Doswell and Head of Membership Dom Hebblethwaite, with some surprising results, namely more positive views of the current market than expected. Roughly a third of the attendees experienced a small or big increase in work volumes over the past year and a similar share saw a small or big drop, with the remainder having no change at all. AI was identified as the major negative driver and finding new clients through diversification and specialisation as a positive driver, compensating for the loss in volumes to AI. These trends were picked up on in some of the presentations that followed the polling session. Stella Hodkin, Chief Language Service Officer at CLEAR Global, drew attention to the fact that smaller languages often get further marginalised by advancing technology such as AI, being more geared towards large languages like English and Mandarin. In her presentation, she focused on the efforts to build datasets and develop language technology for small languages, often with the support of Translators without Borders.
❝Translators can be language experts who offer something beyond translation.
Ilenia Goffredo, co-founder and managing director of LingBox, a London-based translation agency that provides businesses with translation services in multiple languages, drew attention to combining human intuition and digital tools, whereby translators are able to advise clients on tone, brand messaging, market adaptation, and strategy. In her view, translators can be language experts who offer something beyond translation. She also emphasised that accuracy in translation is non-negotiable in specialised fields such as Legal, Finance, and Banking. AI has its limits in these areas and the consensus among the audience was that human translators will always be needed here, bringing a unique value or skill to the table that AI cannot.
Vasiliki Prestidge, director of Greek to Me Translations, focused in her presentation on how to find clients and how to keep them. According to her, key to enlarging one’s client base is, among other things, a professional online presence, for example in form of a website or blog, as well as defining one’s own brand, for instance in terms of one’s values, tone of voice and visuals.
A good balance of diversification and specialisation are also crucial to establish and distinguish oneself in the market. Upskilling through continuous professional development, such as attending this CIOL conference, are equally important, as is networking. I would add to the above the importance of regular direct contact with the translator’s spoken target language environment. This is a point that translators who are based outside of their native country, like myself, need to think about carefully. The “home market” is also an important place to find clients and keep in touch with them in person. With these factors in mind, I am happy to share that I will be opening a second home office in Berlin, Germany this summer, a city that I look forward to returning to three months per year after having studied economics and established my career in banking there many years ago before I moved to London.
Following a Q&A session with CIOL Vice President Susie Dent, lexicographer, linguist, etymologist, bestselling author, and broadcaster, the day concluded with a panel discussion between five CIOL Council Members, including Dr Mariam Aboelezz and CIOL Council Vice Chair Anita van Adelsbergen. The panel expressed optimism about the profession’s future despite the challenges posed by advancing technology, if translators embrace new technologies, are prepared to upskill, and perform their function as “cultural bridges”. This is a role that AI will, in all likelihood, not be able to play and where the “human touch” will still be needed in future. With that in mind, I look forward to the challenges this year brings and to Translators Day in London in 2026.
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