At a New Year’s Eve dinner with my family, I saw a familiar situation play out: someone speaking with strong confidence about something they only partly understood. In Spain, we call this el efecto cuñado. What I didn’t realize for a long time is that this behavior has a name in psychology too. It’s the Dunning–Kruger effect, and it shows up just as often in localization and AI conversations as it does at Christmas dinner tables.
This feels like a pivotal moment. Localization teams are being asked to support more markets, move faster, use AI responsibly, and show impact, not just output. Expectations are higher than ever, but many teams are still trained mainly for execution. We are strong at delivering localization work, yet we often struggle to move from output to outcome and to clearly explain the impact of what we do.
AI isn’t just changing tools, it’s changing expectations
Three years into working with AI in localization, I’ve seen the pressure build: automate faster, scale more, do it now.
But the real challenge isn’t the tech itself. It’s the gap between hype and reality , and what happens when teams are expected to act like everything’s already working.
In this post, I break down five common challenges that keep showing up, and what we can actually do about them.
Words have the power to shape perceptions and influence actions, which is why reframing is such a powerful tool. In localization, we can reframe our role from simply translating to driving alignment across the company. By ensuring content is consistent, culturally relevant, and strategically aligned with business goals, localization professionals play a key role in helping businesses grow globally. This post explores how we create that alignment and why our work is much more than just translation.
Choosing between a single-vendor or multi-vendor localization model is not only about price. The real difference shows up in the day-to-day metrics: turnaround time, quality stability, cost control, and how much coordination your teams need to do. In this post, I walk through the core metrics that tend to improve with a single-vendor setup, and how they can help you understand which model fits your localization strategy right now
Even when localization teams aren’t directly affected by a company reorg, everything around them can change fast sponsors move, teams merge, budgets shift.
That’s when weak governance shows its cracks.
This post explores how strong localization governance keeps programs stable, visible, and credible no matter how often the org chart moves.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that localization buyers, like the emotions in Inside Out, are often driven by one dominant need. Some are in survival mode, juggling too much. Others are just getting started and need guidance. Some care about speed, others about cost, and some are laser-focused on how things feel in-market.
Most localization discussions stop at per-word rates. However, what appears inexpensive on paper can often turn into costly delays, rework, and frustrated teams.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) provides a more comprehensive view, one that encompasses engineering fixes, QA cycles, support tickets, and brand impact.
When procurement and leadership focus only on price, localization becomes a cost center. When they consider TCO, it becomes a key driver of quality and efficiency. And this post explains how to approach that
Many teams treat localization vendors as interchangeable compare rates, sign the contract, move on. But every switch comes with invisible costs: lost context, quality dips, and team fatigue. In this latest post, I unpack what really happens behind a vendor change ( and how to prepare for it like a continuity project, not a quick fix)
“Welcome to my blog. The space where I document my passion about Localization, Project Management and Leadership”
This week Amazon announced their weapon to kill Google Translator and to kill "us"; However I don't think that will happen. Localization industry is more technological and much more complex than many outsiders might think. This Amazon announcement made me think and I created a white paper where I share the 10 tech tools that we should include to create a high-performance Localization strategy model. I even created a Christmas tech tree! I hope you like it 😃
How can we move from a good product to a great product? How can we move from a good G-localization strategy to a great strategy? have a look at this post and we will find some advice to achieve greatness in Localizaton with the help of a cute, little animal ...
All you need is ... LOVE ! Join me in the second part of my crowdsourcing post where I explain how we might apply the Maslow pyramid to keep the morale of our volunteers up and fully engage!
This week in my weekly post I reflect on what a few years ago was on everyone's lips, crowdsourcing! Here I reflect on concepts like:
In this post, I share some thoughts about how we can get good quality of our localized content focusing on 4 areas. Have a look at this post and you might see a crossover between history, Granada and the amazing industry of G-localization!
Do you remember the TV show of the late 80's early 90's Moonlighting? I remember the two main characters played by Cybill Shepherd Bruce Willis always arguing about who was right. And I believe in the Localization industry we have our own Moonlighting show, this time starred by the Translators and Reviewers, this time fighting about who's right when it comes to preferential changes during the review the phase.
Take a look at my article where I reflect on the delicate subject of the preferential changes during the revision phase. Happy reading :)
Last week Google presented new phones and they introduced the Google Pixel Buds and these headphones are magical ... they translate up to 40 languages in real time! Again many comments in social media predicting the apocalypse of the translation industry ... and again, I believe that good translators can remain totally calm as I don't think these gadgets/technology can replace them. This week in my post I reflect about why I don't think these fancy pieces of hardware can retire aG-localizer!
Sometimes I have had the impression that in the Localization industry we have a sort of inferiority complex, that we act ourselves as under-valued services. We need to step forward and learn how to make better marketing of what we do and we can help our companies to meet their goals.
A relationship buyer-language provider is very similar to other human relationships where the key to getting the most of it it's based on solid principles such as transparency and align expectations.
In my post this week I share some thoughts about this special symbiosis. Have a good day!
Nowadays Localization services we buy as a client or we sell as vendor involve much more than just translate a word. We have glossary management, TM update, font implementation consultancy and so on ... but still charging per word is the preferend method to build quotes and budgets in our industry. And this feels so eighties, so vintage ...
A lot of gamers dream of one day being able to work in the game industry. Some of them even dream about translating games. They dream about crashing the language barrier to help everyone to enjoy a video game in their native language. It sounds like a nice desire, but, how does someone break into the video games and localization industry? That's what I cover in the following article :)
We live in a world of excess, quite often facing the paradox of choice. Is it possible to live better with less? Is this minimalist approach applicable to the relation client-language provider? What can provide better results: working with a single vendor? or with multiple vendors to cover all our G-localization needs? Keep reading :) I share with you some thoughts in my weekly post ...
Videos and Localization, the perfect marriage!! We live in a visual world, and Videos are a great booster as a marketing tool. If you combine videos and localization you might see a conversion up to 80% from your landing page. Woo-hoo!!!
What if the secret of having Localization activities involved earlier in the development phase is all about getting some friends in the Scrum teams and include Localization as part of the User Stories and as part of the definition of Done?
Are you interested in getting a mature Localization program? Or how to use Localization boosters to progress faster in the implementation of your Localization strategy program? Keep reading and you'll find some ideas that they will boost your localization strategy!
In my second post of the LMM model, I cover which are the typical processes and behaviors that we can see in organization embracing a Localization strategy program
The sense of progress is addictive.
We start learning a new language and that feeling of knowing every week new words is great.
We start weight lifting and that feeling of adding 1 kg in the dumbbell every week it is powerful.
The hot potato! The ones trying to bell the cat, the grey area, the silent war!! Stark vs Lannister vs everyone! Everyone competing for the throne, the throne of content!!Today’s post will cover one of the most controversial aspect of our industry!Content … who gets the final say?
Attending and industry event is one of the best things we can do for many reasons. I just came from #LocWorld34 and this event is the best (in my opinion) of the Localization industry. Find below my top 5 reasons why I do believe it's a good idea to attend this event.
Nowadays we don't do Localization anymore, or better said, quite often Localization won't be enough to expand in this borderless economy we live. It's Globalization time! The matryoshka of all Localization activities!
Localization professionals often focus on translation quality and best practices, but decision-makers care about customer impact and revenue. If we frame localization as a cost, it risks being deprioritized. Instead, we must highlight its value driving engagement, trust, and business growth.