Translation and Interpretation Services
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 2,700 translation and interpretation service providers in the US translate written material, interpret speech from one language to another, and offer sign language services. Specific services include localization (adapting digital content for a specific market), transcription, subtitling, voiceover/dubbing, and language testing or training.
Dependence on a Highly Skilled Workforce
Translation and interpretation agencies and companies rely on highly skilled workers to provide services.
Industry Growth
Globalization and increasing diversity within the US population has boosted demand for translation and interpretation services.
Industry size & Structure
The average translation and interpretation service provider operates out of a single location, employs fewer than 5 workers, and generates $2.4 million annually.
- The US translation and interpretation services industry consists of 2,700 firms that employ 37,000 workers and generate about $6.5 billion annually.
- The global language service provider (LSP) industry is estimated to be worth more than $59 billion, according to the Business Research Company.
- The industry is concentrated at the top; the top 50 companies account for 68% of industry revenue.
- Types of companies include multi-national firms, language technology firms, local agencies and freelance interpreters and translators.
- Large firms include TransPerfect, Lionbridge, and LanguageLine Solutions (Teleperformance).
Industry Forecast
Translation and Interpretation Services Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Feb 5, 2025 - President Trump’s Orders may Have Cut Access To American Sign Language Interpreting Services
- Some deaf federal employees at some agencies can’t access American Sign Language interpreting services and other accommodations following President Trump’s orders to remove all positions related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, according to advocates working with deaf federal employees and interpreters. The White House has not provided ASL interpretation at its news conferences or broadcasts either, and there are no ASL interpretations on videos posted to its YouTube channel. The accessibility section of the White House website has also been taken down. Failure to provide interpreting services to deaf employees may be a violation of Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal law that mandates the government to provide reasonable accommodations to its employees, and the Americans with Disability Act, which prohibits discrimination and mandates equal access to those with disabilities, according to legal experts contacted by the Washington Post.
- Microsoft announced a gated public preview of its Microsoft Translator Pro app for enterprise users. The app allows users to view and hear translations between coworkers, users, and clients within an enterprise’s ecosystem. In a use-case example included in a press release, the company described an English-speaking hotel desk clerk using the Microsoft Translator Pro app to converse with a Chinese-speaking traveler. Microsoft also announced an update to the Azure AI Translator’s Document Translation feature. In addition to translating digital documents and scanned PDFs, beginning in January 2025, Document Translation will be able to translate mixed-content documents, including text embedded in images.
- Amid increased competition for streaming viewers, Netflix is working to improve the quality of dubbing and translation to widen the cross-border appeal of foreign-language programs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Netflix has focused on South Korean programs after the success of Squid Game, the streamer’s most widely-viewed show ever. Using South Korea as a test case, Netflix has employed hundreds of voice actors worldwide and is training them in Korean cultural nuance and traditions to offer more authentic and appealing dubs. The firm aims to leverage the cross-cultural appeal of South Korean reality shows, such as physical competitions, dating programs, and game shows, as they tend to cost much less than scripted programming. Netflix content is available in over 30 languages, and non-English offerings account for a third of its viewing.
- In September, Google released a research paper outlining its strategy for improving machine translation by large language models (LLMs) by having them follow workflows that mimic human translation processes. Google’s refined approach breaks the translation process into several steps, including pre-translation research, drafting, refining, and proofreading. The tech giant hopes that its new approach will streamline the translation process and generate more accurate and contextually appropriate translations while relying completely on the LLM’s internal knowledge and eliminating the need for outside resources.
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