Innovation in Language Learning

Localization, the process of adapting products or services to specific cultural and linguistic contexts, continues to grow in importance and complexity and has become increasingly vital in today's globalized world. Beginning in the 1980’s, when the wide availability of desktop computers led to global expansion for computer firms, to the new paradigm of language operations (LangOps) (Graça, 2021), we have witnessed a remarkable evolution in localization, resulting in a multi-billion dollar industry. Given the swift advancement of neural machine translation (NMT), a game changer for the industry, and the rapid proliferation of other artificial intelligence (AI) applications that are reshaping and redefining the localization industry, it is important to examine in what way, the current academic localization programs are preparing future localizers to address the rapidly changing market ahead. It is, therefore, crucial that higher education institutions react and adapt to the changing landscapes in the Localization industry. Traditional localization tools are unable to cope with the speed of AI, which significantly increases the pace of the localization process, enabling businesses to cost-effectively customize content. Due to the multidimensional nature of the Localization industry, the presence of localization in academic training programs shows considerable diversity worldwide. In many cases, translation and localization training has relied on tasks that mimic those of the industry (O’Brien & Rossetti, 2020). This study aims at giving a state-of-the-art overview of current Localization Specialists skills, by analyzing online job ads, specifically on LinkedIn and Glassdoor. The identification of a set of skills and areas of expertise is crucial for conducting needs analysis and curriculum development in this field.