qui - Tekom

Portuguese, and Japanese. In 80% of the localisation work outsourced by
clients, the source language is English.
MLVs and SLVs
Today, at the beginning of 2000, the major players in the localisation
industry are the following companies:
- ALPNET
- Lionbridge
- Berlitz GlobalNET
- Bowne Global Solutions
- Lernout & Hauspie
- SDL
These companies are all examples of multi-language vendors (MLVs)
offering a wide range of services besides localisation, varying from
SGML/XML consulting and large volume documentation translation and
publishing (ALPNET), to multilingual internet services and testing
(Lionbridge), from speech technology (Lernout & Hauspie) to language
training (Berlitz). Revenues of these companies are approximately US$ 70
million. The second tier of multi-language vendors are companies such as
the localisation department of Sykes.
Even though these MLVs usually get the most publicity, most of the
revenue in the translation and localisation industry is still generated by the
thousands of single-language vendors (SLVs) and freelance translators that
are active in every country. SLVs typically focus on one target language,
have 1 to 30 employees, and offer mainly translation and desktop
publishing services. Most SLVs work for MLVs; freelance translators
usually work for both MLVs and SLVs.
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