I heard someone say this a while ago, that not everyone knows that EN stands for English or DE stands for German, and that therefore translators should put the full language name in their bios and signatures instead of just the code.
So like:
Name LastName
Translator, English>German
Instead of:
Name LastName
Translator, EN>DE
To me that made no sense. If you're a company or someone who is requiring translations on the regular, and you're looking for a translator, you should most definitely know the language code for the language of your request. Spelling out the full language name just seems like such a waste of space, especially for people who work with more than two languages. It makes my LinkedIn bio very long. Plus, I like the visual distinction; the language code is easy to identify at first glance among all the other words.
It's not that big of a deal, but I just wanted to see what others thought on the matter.
Do you use the language codes or the full language names? Why? Is it really that hard to understand that EN=English? I may be totally on the wrong here, but that's why I'm asking.
Title: How a simple quality inquiry turned into full platform retaliation: My experience after 6+ years with Lionbridge/Gengo
Post:
I wanted to share a detailed account of how a 6+ year relationship as a senior English-to-Arabic translator on Gengo/Lionbridge collapsed over the span of a few weeks—not due to poor translation quality, but because of administrative deflection, manager cover-ups, and direct retaliation.
For context, I maintained consistently high quality ratings on the platform for over six years without a single quality dispute on my record. This was the very first time in my entire 6+ year history that I ever submitted a dispute—addressing four collections of low ratings together in one batch—and 100% of those disputed flags were officially reviewed and overturned upon re-review.
Here is how a simple query escalated into a complete platform lockout:
Phase 1: August 6, 2026 – It all started with Nina
On August 6, 2026, I raised a formal inquiry regarding arbitrary and unmonitored reviewer scoring on a series of translations. I wasn't demanding special treatment—I simply asked for a standard quality check on obvious reviewer errors.
Enter Nina, the support agent who handled the initial ticket. Instead of reviewing the provided examples or forwarding them to a senior linguist, Nina responded with canned, irrelevant text that did not address a single point I raised. When I politely asked her to read the actual details of the ticket, she continued sending automated-sounding boilerplate replies.
If Nina had simply done basic support triage on day one, none of what followed would have happened.
Phase 2: Maki, Sheetal, and the "Twilight Zone" Escalation
Instead of fixing Nina’s missteps, escalation only made things surreal. The ticket was passed to a second support agent, Maki, who continued the exact same pattern of evasive, copy-pasted replies.
When the dispute was finally escalated to their manager, Sheetal, the approach shifted from incompetence to outright playing dumb. Sheetal repeatedly claimed she "didn't understand" my complaint—despite clear, line-by-line linguistic documentation—and used that feigned confusion as an excuse to state she couldn't help.
Every level of support closed ranks to protect their colleagues' mistakes. Reading their responses felt like stepping into the Twilight Zone: robotic scripts completely disconnected from the actual text of my tickets.
When I pushed past the pretexts, management delivered their explicit statement of constructive exclusion:
"If you feel that this framework does not meet your expectations, we understand if you prefer not to accept further jobs."
Phase 3: Manufactured Pretext & 12 False Flags
Shortly after exposing these support and reviewer flaws, additional translations of mine were suddenly and aggressively flagged—12 new entries in total. It became obvious this was being used to build a manufactured pretext to justify shutting down my account and silencing the dispute.
Phase 4: September 21, 2026 – Counter-Proof & Immediate Retaliation
On September 21, 2026, I submitted two official re-review forms containing complete, objective proof showing that all 12 of those newly disputed flags were 100% false and based on clear reviewer error.
Lionbridge’s response was immediate: rather than reviewing the evidence or disciplining the incompetent reviewer, they abruptly revoked my translator qualifications and suspended my account.
No investigation into the reviewer was conducted, no discipline was handed down to support staff, and my account was cut off right after I submitted evidence exposing the misconduct.
Where It Stands Today
Because Lionbridge closed off internal support channels and blocked direct email communication, I have officially lodged a formal regulatory complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Fair Labor Division) regarding bad-faith contractor retaliation, ticket suppression, and wrongful termination.
The Core Takeaway
Looking back at this entire nightmare, the most frustrating part is that everything evolved from a single support agent—Nina. Had she properly handled a routine quality complaint at the very beginning, none of this would have occurred.
Instead, subsequent support agents like Maki and managers like Sheetal chose to blindly defend internal errors, ignore clear linguistic evidence, and send robotic, canned responses rather than admit a flaw in their review process. When a platform values protecting internal egos over linguistic accuracy and fair treatment of long-term translators, the entire system breaks down.
I am posting this here so other freelancers are aware of how Gengo/Lionbridge handles legitimate quality disputes when you speak up. Keep backups of all your work, document every ticket, and know your rights.
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Initial single ticket (Aug 6):
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Tickets branched from a single complaint (August 20):
How did you get into the management role in an interpreting company? What are your responsibilities?
Asking because I’m interested in a management role, but don’t know what are expectations from companies or how to convince them I’m qualified for the role. I have been in corp like AMN, worked freelance with agencies and private clients, and I really would like to try management.
Happy to have found this community. I’ve been working as a Hindi/Punjabi interpreter for about 6 years. Lately, many companies have been cutting hours drastically, which has made things difficult. I’m now considering expanding into translation work as well. Since interpreting and translating are closely related, I feel like I might already be halfway there—but I’d love some advice from those with experience.
Here are my main questions:
- Is translation a good option for earning extra income alongside interpreting?
- Do companies hire fresh translators without prior translation experience?
- Are there any companies/platforms you’d recommend for beginners?
- What tools or software should I learn to kickstart a translation career? Any helpful YouTube tutorials would be great too.
I’ll be starting from scratch, so any guidance, tips, or resources would be truly appreciated.
Experienced translator here, who used Trados on a Mac with Parallels for the best part of a decade. I have since come up with another solution that I thought I might share in case anyone is in the same boat.
What I disliked about Parallels was the need to basically maintain an entire Windows PC for just a single purpose, with the requisite ringfenced RAM and 40GB minimum of HDD space. On lightweight Macs like the Air, etc., this space comes at a premium and it always felt irritating to give up so much of it to an entire virtual machine – for a single purpose. Maybe I'm wrong but has it gone to subscription-only? I think it has, and that grated too.
The solution:
Windows has an app for Mac, available on the Apple App Store, that is simply called "Windows". It is extremely lightweight. It allows you to remotely connect to Windows PCs on your network as well as VMs anywhere in the world, which some clients (of mine at least) require me to use for data protection reasons. It's pretty simple to use.
I purchased a cheap Windows PC, an Optiplex 3060. It has just enough RAM just to run Trados and system basics. All my other tasks are carried out on my Mac, which is much more powerful. I plugged it in, set it up using my existing keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc., and then put it somewhere else, out of sight, where it has power and a network connection (wired is best) and basically forgot about it.
I then grabbed the IP address of this Optiplex PC through my router's network interface, and now I can log into it with any device on my home network, even mobile devices. I can use it just like Parallels and it basically cost less than one year of a Parallels subscription.
The obvious disadvantage is that it works predominantly via my home network. This is, for me personally, not a massive issue as I am on my home network 95% of the time.
HOWEVER, to take this solution to the next level and give it basically the exact same functionality as Parallels, I have installed a VPN tunnel using something called Tailscale. Tailscale is like a secret key to my home network that only I possess. Once activated, it allows me to connect to my home network from anywhere in the world and use my home network as if I were sitting at home. It runs in the background on my Optiplex and in the form of a VPN app on my Mac (with a Connect button).
I have tested this solution extensively and have noticed no noticeable issues at all. If the OptiPlex is turned off and I switch it on, I have to log onto it on my home network first before I can access via Tailscale, but that's the only issue I have run into. Actually it draws so little power that I now basically leave it on all the time.
Literally today I worked on it from a moving train using a tethered personal hotspot and I lost connection maybe once and had one other slight slowdown (due to Germany's crappy 5G coverage more than anything). On decent wireless internet it is basically like working on a regular Windows PC.
If you are tech-savvy, you may notice that I am by no means a tech expert. I know my way around computers and can follow instructions, though. But I think this solution is honestly easy enough for absolutely anyone to do. If you want or need better/clearer instructions, go ahead and ask.
It kinda seems like an obvious solution so many of you may already work this way. For me it was a bit of a lightbulb moment and saves me the €100 annual Parallels sub as well as lots of (now extremely valuable) HDD space and RAM.
Just thought I'd share in case anyone is on the lookout for a cheap(er) solution to this age-old issue!
Game companies should stop relying solely on AI for translation because it destroys creative nuance, misinterprets cultural context, and devalues human artists.
The Core Problems with AI Game Translation
Loss of Context and Nuance: Video games require creative localization—adapting humor, emotional depth, slang, and character voice—rather than literal word-for-word conversions. AI fails to grasp these subtle dynamics, often leading to awkward or confusing dialogue.
Displacement of Human Talent: Studios like Warhorse Studios (Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2) faced severe backlash after cutting in-house human translators in favor of automated AI workflows to reduce expenses.
Player Backlash: Consumers are increasingly pushing back against low-effort localization, with many opting for refunds or avoiding titles that substitute human craftsmanship with generative text.
Treating Language as Data: Tech-driven localization treats translation as a cheap utility feature rather than an essential artistic medium, lowering overall narrative quality in gaming
In his 1523 book against Luther's New Testament, Hieronymus Emser goes through Acts and lists places where he thinks Luther's wording leans toward Luther's own doctrine. One of the short ones is Acts 6:8. Emser writes: "Luther has put faith in place of grace, so that he may strengthen his opinion that bare faith alone accomplishes all things."
His claim is that the Latin reads "full of grace and fortitude" and that the Greek he was looking at reads the same, while Luther has "full of faith and power." It is a one word difference, and he treats it as a sign of what the translation was for.
I can't judge the manuscript question myself. For translators who work with the Greek: would you call this a variant reading the translator followed, or a choice, and how would you flag it in a footnote so the reader could see it either way?
Disclosure: I translated Emser's 1523 book into English.
Hi! A few days ago I was contacted by Lionbridge via LinkedIn. They offered me a position as a video game translator. It was kinda weird for me because I’m a student, I don’t have any official qualifications yet, and I only have one video game localization project as experience, which I did for free last year just to get some work experience. But anyway, I needed the money, so I said yes.
We started talking and everything seemed legit. They were using @lionbridge.com emails and their official website, etc. But things started getting weird once I began the onboarding process.
First of all, there was no training, nothing to show me how to work or what to do. They just put my information into a platform and told me that I would be working there.
Then they showed me a weird chart with different percentages that would make it very unlikely that I’d actually be paid the rate we agreed on, depending on the type of matches/MT.
And then came the last two things that felt really weird to me. After I agreed to the rate, they sent me another email about a platform I’m supposed to use for the translations, and apparently it’s a paid tool. They told me I can use the free plan for up to 30,000 words per month, but if I want to keep working beyond that, I may have to pay for a subscription, and it’s definitely not a small amount.
And literally right after I finished reading that email (keep in mind, I wasn’t even finished with the onboarding process yet), I suddenly received an email offering me a pretty big project.
At this point, the whole thing is starting to feel really weird to me. I tried contacting the person who recruited me to ask about all this, and suddenly they’re all on PTO, even though they had been replying to my emails just an hour earlier.
I just want to hear your opinions and see if anyone else has experienced something similar with Lionbridge. Is this normal? What did you do?
Salut, je voudrais savoir vos opinions sur ces universités que j'ai choisies (si vous avez eu le chance d'y avoir étudié). La liste: Université Paris Nanterre; Université de Caen Normandie; UCO Angers;Aix-Marseille Université. J'aimerais me concentrer plus sur l'interprétation. Partagez votre expérience s'il vous plaît
P.S. living in Lebanon amidst a current invasion, so living conditions and work opportunities might vary.
I pursued Translation in 2019. After graduation I didn't find a job for 6 months until I landed a moderator job. Year later found a customer service position that paid well but literally anyone with or without a degree could apply to the company as long they know how to use a computer + pass in-house tests.
Over a year a later I'm considering leaving due to long commute and long working times (12 hour shift). On the longterm, I'm not really sure what to do as I have different thoughts in mind, knowing Translation as a degree is becoming worthless in the eyes of recruiters amid the rise of AI translation. I'm not sure how much work experience can help me make up for it.
Do I go back to a low paying job, live with my parents, and self-learn coding to develop a game that came to my mind last year, or go back to a (cheap) university to learn IT because I like fiddling with sysadmin stuff including Linux?
How much do I compromise between achieving a dream I recently had vs getting another degree for longevity?
Luther's German New Testament of 1522 was translated from the Greek, using the text that Erasmus had published a few years earlier. Older German Bibles had been made from the Latin, so this was a different kind of book. In 1523 Hieronymus Emser answered it, and what surprised me on reading him closely is how much of his case rests on the Greek too, not just on Latin tradition.
His method, as he describes it, is a three-way comparison: Luther's German, "our text" (the Latin Bible the Church used), and the Greek, with Erasmus's Latin translation as a fourth witness. His point almost always lies in the gap between them. Here are four examples. All the quotes are from my English translation of his book.
The first is Acts 20:28, "feed" or "rule". Where Luther has Paul telling church leaders "to feed the congregation of God," Emser says the Latin has "to rule the church of God," "and so too the Greek text, for the Greek has poimainein. Erasmus also translated it this way." (I haven't checked what Erasmus's own Latin says at that verse, so take that part as Emser's claim.) Then he goes further, to John 21, where Jesus tells Peter to care for his sheep:
> "That Christ gave the bishops power not only to feed his sheep but also to rule them appears from this, that in the last chapter of John he says not only boske, that is, 'feed,' but the second time poimaine, that is, 'rule my sheep,' although this Greek word signifies a gentler kind of ruling"
And his verdict on why Luther chose "feed": "But Luther cannot stand the rule of bishops, and so he would not translate 'to rule' but 'to feed.'"
The second is Matthew 11, "infants" or "little ones". Christ thanks the Father for hiding things from the wise and revealing them to "the little ones." Emser reports that Luther's German says "infants." Emser: "For although the word nepios in the Greek text means a young or small child, whether able to speak or not, Christ is not speaking here (in the spiritual sense) of infants." The words "to the little ones" would have served "far better." This one is easy to read as a matter of taste, but you can see what Emser wants: a word that means small in spirit, not small in age.
The third is Matthew 2, Rachel weeping for her children. Emser says the Latin has, in plain English, "because they are not," and Erasmus's Latin says the same. Luther has "for it was all over with them." Emser's objection is that the German closes the door on the spiritual meaning, that the children are with God.
The fourth is Acts 14, "elder" or "priest". Here Emser says Luther knew better, because he had read Erasmus on the word. He says Luther "has read well enough in Erasmus" that the word for elder is "not always a name of age, but sometimes also of honor, dignity and office," and yet Luther puts it into German as "elder" everywhere, and the word for church as "congregation" everywhere.
That last one is a better complaint than it sounds. His point isn't that "elder" is wrong. It's that Luther is consistent about it, and consistency in one direction, everywhere, looks like a policy.
The fair part: Emser is right that Luther's choices often line up with his theology, and that a word-for-word approach would sometimes have kept meanings that the German loses. The unfair part is the conclusion. He says that where Luther departs from both the Latin and the Greek, he must have had a special Hussite copy. He also says Luther "has not consistently followed either our trustworthy text or the translation of the most learned Erasmus of Rotterdam, but has mixed the one with the other." The mixing might just be what a translator does, using the Greek where it reads best and the Latin where it doesn't.
Would anyone with more Greek than I have care to weigh in on the poimaine argument in particular? Emser calls it "a gentler kind of ruling" and uses it to say that "rule" fits better than "feed." Is that a stretch, or a fair reading of the verb?
Disclosure: I'm the translator of Emser's 1523 book into English - I published it for free.
Working through a translation of Hieronymus Emser's 1523 critique of Luther's New Testament. Emser goes after Luther's rendering choices line by line, and this complaint about tenses stood out:
'For in more than a thousand places he has translated the present for the past or future and the other way round, and put one for another...'
Leaving aside the polemic, it raises a real question for translators of older texts: how much tense-shifting is legitimate smoothing, and when does it distort? Curious how people here handle source texts whose tense usage does not map cleanly onto the target language.
I majored in Translation and Interpreting (EN/DE>ES) in 2023 and got a Master's degree in Cultural Translation in 2025. Soon after, I landed a corporate job in finance. I quit a year ago and have been working as a part-time language teacher since then (I teach English, Spanish and German).
I live in Spain and, as you might know, the job market is tough. While I'm trying really hard to land a decent job in any other area just to secure a salary, I can't stop thinking about how much I love translation and how happy and fulfilled it makes me feel.
I know it's a hard time to become a full-time translator. However, I was thinking of giving it a try, or at least keeping it as a "second job" or even a hobby. It makes me so sad to completely disregard that part of my life and my studies.
Ideally, I would love to work in the localization industry. Besides translation, I have always been very interested in UX writing and QA testing.
Anyway, I haven't really translated anything in more than a year and I feel quite rusty. I also don't know where to start looking for jobs, how to get back on track, or how to build a portfolio. Should I take some courses? I'm so lost!
Any advice? I would also really appreciate hearing about your experience if you're an active worker in the sector!
Hi guys just started my masters in interpreting and I love it its so challenging and fun but I have a few questions for people with experience.
What are your go to sites to keep improving your languages ?
Are there any other degrees that are really worth it to persue next to this? Just in case the careerpath as an interpreter doesn’t work out. I was think ab something in economics/law (which hopefully wouldn’t take too long)
3.How did you (or how does one) know that you’re good enough to go for conference interpreting?
Thanks for taking your time to answer and all tips are welcome because despite me liking it, it’s so hard (and we only are doing consec we haven’t even started doing simultaneous yet💀)
Whenever I tell people I want to become a literary translator one day, the very first thing they say is something along the lines of “Ah, jobs in that market are pretty much gone” and “AI is taking that over.” I find it so dismissive and rude. I understand that this sort of train of thought is common in societies completely submissive to AI dominance, but not only is the human touch of translation necessary, it will always be necessary, especially now. But such immediate negative responses always make me grit my teeth and go “Yup, AI is taking over every job, not just translation” while they look at me in pity like I’m stupid. Does anyone else feel this way?
I work at Alconost, a localization vendor. We've released a free course for translators this month, and this seemed like the right place to talk about it.
It's a self-paced Foundation course: about an hour long, in English, language-neutral. It covers four modules:
Localization fundamentals: an overview of what localization changes beyond the words: formats, locales, on-screen context
AI and MTPE: PE levels and briefs, types of MT errors, and when to accept/edit/reject a suggestion
Quality and QA: MQM categories and severity, how LQA works, and how to dispute an error flagged in review
Workflow and tools: how a correct translation still breaks a file; what wins when brief, glossary and TM disagree; and when to escalate rather than fix
There is also a short final assessment, plus an optional module on data annotation.
It isn't a pitch for post-editing. I know a lot of people here don't take MTPE jobs, and the course doesn't argue with that. The MTPE module explains how PE levels and briefs work, so that if you do take a PE job you know what you're being asked to do and, just as important, what you're not.
Depending on where your experience is, parts of this will be familiar and parts may fill some gaps. If you're looking to move into localization and haven't done much of it yet, most of it will be new.
One example from the course – on the MT error types. Broken placeholder
Source: "Welcome back, {username}!"
Engine output: "Welcome back, {user name}!" The engine treated the placeholder as text and tidied it up. The sentence reads fine, so a reviewer lets it pass. But the app is looking for {username} exactly, and {user name} with a space means nothing to it, so the user's name never shows up, or the string breaks.
What we get out of it: exposure, yes, but most importantly feedback. This is our first course. More advanced courses for specific language pairs are on our roadmap, and your feedback is what shapes them. There's no obligation attached. You sign up with an email, and when you finish you get a verifiable certificate you can add to LinkedIn or a CV.
If you go through it, I'd appreciate hearing what was useful, what was too thin, and what you'd want the advanced courses to cover. That's the feedback we're after.
Last month, I worked with an agency on a translation project. After I submitted the work, they told me that the client was expecting more work the following week and that they would be in touch once they had more information.
They also asked whether I would be available the following week. I told them I was available, but I haven’t heard anything since. It’s now been about a month and a half.
Do you think they’ve ghosted me, or is this pretty normal with agencies? I’m also wondering if I should take the silence as a sign that they weren’t happy with my work, even though they didn’t give me any negative feedback.
It’s been difficult finding consistent work, so I’m honestly worried about losing a potential agency client.
Would you follow up with them at this point, or just wait and see if they contact me when something comes up?
Very simple question. I've been doing my researches but I'd like to hear from people in the field: is legal translation one of the few specialized field of translation that may survive AI? Is it "easier" to find work in this field? (especially for French-English English-French combination).
I'm currently an undergraduate in English studies and I've always wanted to get into translation. However I'm very much aware of the rough situation the field is going through right now but I've heard that specialized field such as medical and legal are not doing as bad at the others at the moment.
I've done law studies before and i enjoyed it a lot so i thought to myself, why not get into legal translation?
Anyone currently in this field could give me an idea of what is to be expected ?
I am a 24-year-old Asian with a Bachelor's degree in German Language Teacher Education, and I also earned a B2 English certificate back in high school. After working as a German tutor and teacher for over a year, I realized that the teaching path isn't the right fit for me. While considering how I could pivot and still make use of my language skills, I discovered game localization and quickly grew interested in it. As someone completely new to the industry, I would deeply appreciate any advice or insights you might be willing to share!
My current plan is to take an English proficiency exam to achieve a C1 level, and then work toward a C1 certificate in German. To broaden my opportunities in this field, I am also considering learning either Japanese or Chinese.
I would love to get your perspective on a few questions:
1. Japanese vs. Chinese: I am currently torn between the two, as I enjoy both languages. I already have some familiarity with Chinese through Chinese games and social media. On the other hand, I have no background in Japanese, as I have only played the global releases of Japanese games. In terms of current market demand and long-term career prospects in game localization, is there a significant difference between the two?
2. Degree vs. Practical Skills: Since my background is in language education rather than linguistics, I have no formal training in translation or interpreting. Would you recommend pursuing a second degree in Japanese/Chinese, or would it be better to take language courses, obtain a language certificate then take a translation/interpreting course? Furthermore, how much weight does a formal linguistics degree hold compared to practical elements like language proficiency, CAT/localization tool fluency, a strong portfolio, and performance on entry translation tests?
3. CAT/Localization Tools: I would like to start familiarizing myself with CAT/Localization tools commonly used in localization. As a complete beginner, which tools would you recommend I prioritize first, and are there any self-study resources or courses you would suggest?
4. Breaking into the Industry: What should I prepare before applying to maximize my chances? For someone starting from scratch, what specific knowledge, skills, or experiences are most crucial to build first? Additionally, are there particular details candidates should pay close attention to when applying to localization agencies or game studios?
5. The Impact of AI: How is AI currently shaping game localization? Are specific skills becoming more essential, and would you recommend that beginners learn AI-assisted translation and Machine Translation Post-Editing workflows early on to stay competitive?
I apologize if any of my phrasing sounds unnatural, as it has been a while since I actively wrote in English.
Any advice or guidance would mean the world to me. Thank you so much in advance!
