InsideLoc

20/05/2026

Have we given up on language richness?
Are translators losing their skills? ☠☠

Even if you cannot stop the disempowerment of language users due to the massive exposure to machine translation and AI's sloppy output, there is something you can do as a translator (and as a speaker) to preserve your skills.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭.

READ.
Read a lot.

Read the classics. ✒
Read adventure books. ⚔
Read drama. 😲
Read poetry. 🎨
Read essays. 🥎
Read horror. 😱
Read web content, but also printed content. 📜
Read different genres.

Read LONG books with intricate patterns ans layers, not just attention-grabbing quickies.

By different authors using different writing styles, so you can absorb multiple ways of expressing, conveying ideas. Thoughts. Intention.

Machines oversimplify. It's in their silicon nature.

Regardless of the many flashy sales statements you hear every day, machines do not understand.
They just process information using a very basic set of rules.
Basic? 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵—

𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜.
If compared to the human brain and the zillion shades of grey (matter) involved in every decision made to choose the right word, the right nuance, the right tone, machines use simple processes.

Machines oversimplify because that’s the only way to mimic understanding. Any developer can confirm this.

So how do you counter this downward spiral and keep your cultural & language skills?

Build back your language muscle. 🦾
Reconquer your ability to choose among infinite options. 🔀
Reclaim your ability to stand out from the average in the AI era. 😎

This, and your ability to make educated decisions.
These are the two key factors that will ensure you survival (and success) in tomorrow's market.

And, incidentally, make your work more enjoyable and fulfilling.

𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵?

12/05/2026

Este ejercicio periodístico, académico y de ensayo reflexivo de Nicholas Carr me está ayudando a ver que no es la primera vez que nos enfrentamos a una herramienta que le da la vuelta a todo.

Qué cíclicos somos los seres humanos, si nos fijamos en la historia.

08/05/2026

I usually try to avoid mixing language business with politics, but in this case...

The equity fund KKR (yes, them again) have acquired Lionbridge.

I will leave the interpretation of the context, the subsequent readings and the consequences to you.

Super Agency Lionbridge appointed Sebastian Bretschneider as its new CEO after investment firm KKR took over ownership.

07/05/2026

¡Nos ponemos serios para hablar de contratos de traducción!

Nos vemos en este nuevo de Trágora Formación - Escuela Profesional de Traducción e Interpretación para descubrir qué debemos incluir (y qué no) en los acuerdos escritos, presupuestos y facturas para nuestros clientes y las agencias con las que trabajamos.

¡Te interesa!

📆 Miércoles 13/5 - 17:30 CET

Información e inscripciones: 🚀

Formulario de matrícula

06/05/2026

Just checked the latest MultiLingual Media issue. 🧐

I still believe that the sponsored content (mostly from companies investing heavily in AI solutions) takes too much space to provide a fair overview on the state of things to smaller players —modest translation companies and freelancers, who still make up for a significant chunk of the reader base—.

However, this month provides a refreshing take on AI adoption by Maurizia Gregorio from Novilinguists srl, who have been around for 30 years.

Maurizia questions the main narrative around implementation, and points at the vagueness of the (hideously popular) 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣-𝙞𝙣-𝙩𝙝𝙚-𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙥 theme, which takes away people from the spotlight and places people's expertise and judgement as a nice-to-have option, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵?

Many of us (including fellow LSPs) agree with Maurizia's take.
Yet we see plenty of statements around AI being adopted by companies WELL AWARE that they might be dooming the industry by taking away large chunks of human expertise to provide a service that will not be able to keep up in the long run.

𝗜𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀.

If we run out of competent language craftspeople, branding and commerce will suffer.

If we run out of enthusiastic translation students, nobody will fix AI slop any longer. Nobody will be able to. 💀

If we delegate all the key steps in a process we once owned, no one will understand what's broken when (when, not if) it breaks. 💣

If we keep embracing solutions that leave only the most ungrateful, boring, and frustrating parts of the workflow to the people making language work for global business (yes, translators!), true talent will jump off this unrewarding boat, and only desperate, unskilled people will be willing to make a bland attempt to fix what's no longer fixable.

The situation is messy.
Good news is that we are still in time to take back control.
But taking control means making a stand.
And taking a stance. 🎱

You might be enthusiastic about AI adoption, but you should not hide the side effects this will have in the short, mid, and long term.

And buyers should be aware of it, even those who put profit behind everything else.

Because profit will dry out once the industry is depleted of true talent.
And there's no rewind button on this.

Latest issue of MultiLingual:
https://multilingual.com/magazine/may-2026/

05/05/2026

Ya tenéis fresquito el n.º 189 de la emblemática 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘢, la publicación de los traductores de las instituciones de la Unión Europea.

Destaco la nota biográfica de Alberto Rivas Yanes sobre Juan Gerona, traductor encarcelado con Franco que acabó trabajando en los servicios de traducción de la ONU.

¡Hale, a leer!

https://op.europa.eu/webpub/dgt/puntoycoma/documents/pyc_189_es.pdf

05/05/2026

Tiny gestures that add up even in wartime.

A digital platform developed by Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna provides access to a toolset for translation and students that replicates a booth environment for learning practice.

This solution —originally designed to ensure learning continuity under — is regularly used by the VN Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine) and the Saint Joseph University of Beirut (Lebanon) to help future interpreters move forward with their learning programme despite the ongoing conflicts.

And I believe this is important, and am happy to be part of a public university that cares about these gestures.

More info (in Italian):

Nata durante il lockdown al Dipartimento di Interpretazione e Traduzione, ReBooth è oggi in uso a Kharkiv e Beirut, garantendo la continuità della formazione anche quando l’accesso alle aule è limitato o impossibile

28/04/2026

𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡. We preach to the choir too often.
We need less. 👇

Following a most exciting event season, including , BP Translation Conferences, selected corporate events, teaching at Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Universidad de Valladolid, Trágora Formación - Escuela Profesional de Traducción e Interpretación, and ISTRAD, along with providing custom training sessions on translation technology solutions to clients —all within a 10-week window—, it's time to slow down.

Basically, the next couple of weeks typically see me:

☠ Updating my invoicing
✒ Following up on pending communications
🔨 Fixing broken appliances
⭐ Planning the next event season (🍂)

After the usual hectic activity on social media built on the excitement of events, I find myself gathering all the thoughts, ideas, and project info to turn them into concrete 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Which leaves me little time to spend on other conversations.
I want to focus.
I no longer feel the urge to be present everywhere no matter what.

Good strategy requires 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, so you may see fewer posts coming from me in the following weeks.

While I understand that each of us are at a different stage in our yearly planning, I see plenty of posts that share generic advice over and over again
[𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝐼-𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑝 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚] and creating content delivering a value close to zero.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝.
Nothing you haven't heard of a thousand times this same week.

Posting on a nearly daily basis just because some people feel they need to be hyperactive on social media to stay relevant.

Well, that's not my game. 🐣
Fewer posts, more useful content and insights.

Is this at the sake of visibility?
Not at all.

If you...

💎 write and share the right type of content
AND
⌚ respect your peers' time and priorities by not flooding their timelines
.. then you will keep the attention of those who were REALLY listening.
👢 And get rid of passive listeners that only add up to your social media ego by artificially boosting your follower count.

𝐌̲𝐲̲ ̲𝐡̲𝐨̲𝐦̲𝐞̲𝐰̲𝐨̲𝐫̲𝐤̲ ̲𝐭̲𝐨̲ ̲𝐲̲𝐨̲𝐮̲:

Check your posts in the last 30 days. 👁‍🗨

😎 Do you feel you had something to say?
😲 Or did you write it just to soothe the almighty LinkedIn algorithm?

😎 Did you think carefully about what's in it for your readers?
😲 Or were you looking for some thirst-quenching likes?

🔥 Did you burn too much time thinking about your next social media post?
🐱‍🚀 Or did you deliver & take action?

📢 Did you just preach to the choir?
⏩ Or did you help move real conversations forward?

Think about whether this is what you needed.
Or what your audience needed.

[Pro tip: Now read again this post while listening to Elvis Presley's 𝐴 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)]

17/04/2026

Congreso excepcional a la vista para amantes de la traducción BIEN HECHA y de las palabras BIEN JUNTADAS.

Mi querida Universidad de Valladolid organiza en el Campus de Soria la nueva edición de «El Ojo de Polisemo».

𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴.
La cifra habla por sí sola: por algo será.

📆 Del 6 al 8 de mayo, tres jornadas llenas de lengua, traducción, estudios y casos prácticos.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Con un cartel de lujo que cuenta con José Ángel González Sáinz, Amaya García Gallego de ACE Traductores, Eva Gallud, Miguel Ibáñez, David Muñoz Mateos, Sabela Rodríguez Ríos, Paula Espinosa Velasco y nada menos que Quico Rovira-Beleta.

Si trabajas en traducción y no has ido nunca a una charla de Quico, solo has vivido a medias.

¡Y muchos más! Cristina Adrada Rafael, Nora Aparicio Alfaro, Rosana Esquinas López, Beltrán de Ceballos Vazquez y suma y sigue. 😎

¿Y de qué van a hablar? 😛
Lingüística, poesía, inteligencia artificial, asociacionismo... Lo han pensado todo.

¡Ah, y además en Soria 🏰 y con unas entradas de lo más asequible! Tarifa reducida hasta el lunes 20 de abril, ojo. 👁‍🗨

Información e inscripciones . ✒

https://eventos.uva.es/151799/programme/el-ojo-de-polisemo-xv-traducir-naturalmente.html

¡Arrea pa Soria, que no te vas a arrepentir!

XV edición del encuentro bianual El Ojo de Polisemo, que tendrá lugar, del 6 al 8 de mayo de 2026, en la Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación de la Universidad de Valladolid (Campus de Soria), bajo el sugerente, y a la vez polivalente, lema: ¿Traducir? ¡Naturalmente! Las inscripciones estar...

16/04/2026

Just back home after 2+ weeks away and getting ready for the trip to Avignon with a nice surprise: a wasp nest in my attic's crawl space the size of a politician's head. ☠

In the meantime, it's time to kick off the training module on Quality Assurance at ISTRAD once again (this will surely be more pleasant than taking care of the wasps).

Looking forward to meeting this year's students!