LSP UVP – Make your LSP stand out with a unique value proposition

The langThe language service and technology industry is estimated to be worth a whopping USD 64.7 billion. And due to the growing content economy, this market is set to steadily rise. The need for global connectivity means that LSPs will remain in high demand, and the top translation companies will continually strive to secure the largest slice of the pie.

The research from Nimdzi breaks down the biggest players in the field, providing a list of the world’s largest translation companies in 2022 with the goal to provide “invaluable industry data about service distributions, technology adoption patterns and industry trends.”

The study assesses the impact of outsourced language services and technology. Let’s dig deeper into the top 10 translation companies and pinpoint exactly what it is that makes them stand out in a fiercely competitive industry.

1) TransPerfect

While it lost its champion’s belt in 2020, it won it back in 2021. And for the first time, the language industry now has a billion-dollar company. Long-time industry leader TransPerfect reached USD 1.1 billion in revenue in 2021. This is up from USD 852.4 million in 2020 and represents an increase of more than 30% year-over-year. Especially for a company of this size and during times that saw the world economy suffer, this is an impressive level of growth. With 200+ offices worldwide and 26 years in the localization industry, TransPerfect’s rise to the top has not come overnight. They have honed their high-quality translation skills by completing over 300,000 language projects, and they claim to translate more than 7 million words a day.

2) RWS Holdings

Given the acquisition of former rival SDL, which propelled RWS to the top in 2020, the company was expected to reach the billion-dollar mark in 2021. However, the newly combined company only grew by a little less than two percent in 2021, reaching USD 955.3 million. A possible explanation could be a focus on aligning company efforts after the mega acquisition and a change in leadership — in June 2021, RWS announced the appointment of a new Group CEO, Ian El-Mokadem, who replaced Richard Thompson at the helm.

3) LanguageLine Solutions

With over 20 years of experience in the language services industry, in terms of sheer size and scale, LanguageLine is the top dog of certified translation. Boasting nearly twice as many full-time employees as their next biggest rival, LanguageLine Solutions operate out of 364 offices neatly spread across the globe. They offer translation and interpretation services to healthcare institutions, government departments, and multinational businesses. With a strong focus on customer support and dedicated project managers, LanguageLine should hope to expand even further throughout all areas of the translation enterprise.

4) Keywords Studios

Up from the 7th spot in 2020, Keywords Studios place a strong emphasis on interaction, a vision that is evident from simply landing on the homepage of their website. Keywords Studios support game developers and publishers worldwide and have been around since the very earliest localized games. Leading with a creative specialism, their unique approach and market position makes them global pioneers in their field. High-quality localization is delivered by a team of native multilingual experts who focus on culturally sensitive and carefully considered content.

5) Lionbridge

Lionbridge, another household name in the market, held the position as the second-largest language service provider for many years. In 2020, the company sold its AI division — Lionbridge AI — to TELUS International, a digital customer experience company from Canada. The deal went through for approximately USD 935 million (CAD 1.2 billion). Despite the sale, Lionbridge is not leaving this lucrative field altogether but will rather focus its AI efforts exclusively on language services, for instance in the form of neural machine translation (NMT) as well as using applied AI to tag, annotate and score content to drive automation and improve quality checks and cost estimates in the translation workflow. In this year’s ranking, Lionbridge made it to the 5th position, with USD 545.9 in revenue.

6) Iyuno-SDI Group

SDI Media held position number 10 in the 2021 ranking, with a confirmed revenue of USD 191 million. SDI Media was acquired by Iyuno Media Group in 2021, and Iyuno-SDI Group was formed.

Iyuno-SDI Group is a global entertainment technology and localization company serving the world's leading entertainment studios in dubbing, subtitling and media services with 67 offices across 34 countries.

7) Appen

Appen specializes in developing training data for various ML and AI applications, one of which is machine translation, ranging from product descriptions and user reviews to speech interfaces. Placing their belief in data as the key to achieving the most effective machine translation, Appen customizes engines to suit individual specifications and designs tailored databases to make the translation process more accurate and efficient.

8) translate plus

A relative minnow compared to some of the much larger companies offering language services, translate plus has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years, placing it firmly in the Nimdzi global top 10. Working hard to provide the client with tailor-made translation packages, translate plus are an independent language service provider, which means they are not limited by the constraints of a specific technology and can choose the best fit for each project.

9) Acolad

Up by a dozen positions since last year, Acolad places an emphasis on its multi-local approach. With over 25 years of experience in the language services industry, Acolad has a strong, dedicated customer service team and more than 2000 professional linguists working for them. Having started as a family business, it has expanded into a global leading language services provider while still keeping its famous local and regional culture and expertise.

10) Welocalize

As its name suggests, Welocalize offers multilingual solutions to allow international companies to communicate globally. Recognizing the impact that digital transformation is having on the industry as a whole, Welocalize attempts to drive enterprises towards managing multilingual content as a means of obtaining a competitive advantage.

That’s it! But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Explore the remaining 90 companies from Nimdzi’s study in the table above.

Top Translation Software

If you’re interested in the leading translation agencies, you’ll also want to know that more and more businesses and individuals are choosing CAT-based localization environments for their translation needs. Most of these combine automated translation technology with human translators to quickly produce high-quality translations.

So, to complement our list of top translation companies we’ve also selected and reviewed the top cloud-based and desktop solutions out there. As a quick reminder, here’s the difference between the two – a cloud-based CAT tool is software you access and use online, whereas a desktop translation tool is traditional software you download and install on your computer.

To help you get an idea of market share and interest in each tool, we’ve chosen solutions that come up top of SERPs and rank them by  Semrush’s estimated number of unique website visitors in the past six months.Here’s what we got.

Top Cloud-based Translation Software

Smartcat

An all-in-one language delivery platform powered by the most popular translation engines, Smartcat also provides the industry’s leading marketplace and a comprehensive set of translation project management features.

Memsource

A commercial translation management system, Memsource focuses on enterprise companies and translation agencies tostreamline collaboration between the companies and project managers.

MateCat

MateCat is a simple open-source CAT tool to assist both professional and non-professional users with their translation tasks.

Wordbee

An end-to-end translation management system with an integrated CAT tool, Wordbee focuses on translation project automation.

Wordfast Anywhere

Wordfast Anywhere is a translation memory tool designed to help language service providers manage their linguistic resources more efficiently.

Smartcat and Memosource occupy the top positions in the graph above, showing buyers’ interest in comprehensive solutions that offer as much choice as possible and everything in one package.

Top Desktop Translation Software

memoQ

A CAT suite designed for Microsoft operating systems, memoQ is tailored for the needs of corporate businesses and language service providers.

Trados

A classic, Trados is a translation product designed to make the work of professional translators easier.

Déjà Vu

A CAT tool featuring its own program interface, Déjà Vu focuses on translation memory creation and management.

OmegaT

A translation memory application written in Java and famous for its large community, OmegaT positions itself as a tool for professional translators.

CafeTran Espresso

A CAT tool for both amateurs and professionals, CafeTran Espresso is packed with features to help increase translators’ productivity.

The graph above shows the popularity of established desktop solutions catering to corporate and B2B language service provider needs.

That’s it! To learn more about Smartcat, Memsource, MemoQ, Trados, and other tools, head over to our article Top Translation Software Tools in 2022.

Top 100 translation companies

Top 100 LSPs in 2022 : Nimdzi Study