AI will not eliminate (initially) localization roles, but it is reducing the time spent on certain tasks. What once took hours can now take minutes. That creates capacity.We can treat that time as a cost savings or reinvest it. If nothing meaningful replaces it, the value of the role will eventually be called into question.Jobs do not disappear because tasks are automated. They disappear when the value is not redefined.
So the real question is: what can you do now with the time AI gives you that wasn't possible before?
The world of localization is full of small, hidden details.
Some things are deeper than they seem, and I often see between in-context review and LQA in the world of Localization. They might seem the same, but if we scratch beneath the surface, we'll see they're not what they seem.
In this post, I want to focus on explaining the differences between in-context review and LQA, which is something I see being confused quite frequently, and although the tasks are similar ... they are not the same.
AI is not eliminating localization. But it is removing the illusion that execution alone is enough.
Layer 1 accuracy, delivery, quality was our playfield. Now AI scales it faster and cheaper. And when value is framed only around execution, the conversation shifts to cost and headcount.
Meanwhile, executives focus on retention and growth.
That’s Layer 2 cultural impact.
In the age of AI, localization must operate in both.
You need a solid localization tech stack before you can build a global digital product. Tools that help manage content, automate workflows, ensure consistency, handle volume, control quality, and scale across languages are essential. Without them, everything becomes slower, more expensive, and harder to manage. Today, we have great tools to support all of this. And yet, despite all these changes, something fundamental hasn’t changed in the ingredients that define good localization.
Outside the circles of localization and globalization, translation is still seen as the step to go global. As if adapting the language automatically creates a global product. As if users in new markets will suddenly feel at home just because the words are no longer in English. In reality, that’s rarely how it works. Users don’t experience products in pieces. They experience prices, payments, support, content, and expectations all at once. Adapting the language is an important start. Still, users experience the product as a whole. If only the words change, they will naturally notice the parts that didn’t.
For a long time, localization was treated as a pure execution task: translate fast, deliver on time, and stay invisible. That model worked when content volumes were lower and speed was the main challenge. As AI becomes part of everyday workflows, this approach is no longer enough. Translation itself is not the hardest part anymore. The real challenge is deciding what content deserves attention and how AI fits into the broader content ecosystem. This shift highlights a deeper change: moving from simply translating content to actively managing it.
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.
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.
“Welcome to my blog. The space where I document my passion about Localization, Project Management and Leadership”
Looking to expand and find a way to increase your presence in the global market? Then it's important to learn how to create unique content for international markets. Spoiler alert – Your friendly Globalization/Localization team might be your best ally!
Everyone at every level of your organization is responsible for Localization. Mature organizations understand the place of localization activities in their global strategies and act accordingly. They see localization as a smart investment with long-term benefits that will help put their business on the international map.
Whether you are part of an internal Localization / Globalization team, or if you are an LSP providing localization services to your clients, you will have seen yourself many times in conversations explaining the value that your team brings to the product.
What if shaping content writing as part of your Localization strategy might help you to achieve some of your goals?
Quite often, #Globalization / #Localization teams are usually small if we compare them with the high number of stakeholders they serve.
If you are a Localization team that is ... you alone, or you and another person, how can you satisfy all the Localization needs that the company needs to carry out its international growth plans?
This week in my blog, I write about what we can do when your company requires more from you and demands more services than you can offer.
What can we do in those situations?
In my professional career in this industry, I have been part of quite large Localization organizations, but I also worked for 2.5 years in a video game developer in which the Localization department was ... me.
This weekend I was watching the Mulan film, and the truth is that the film has received strong criticism and has been a failure of the audience in China. In this article, I review what aspects have failed in Mulan's culturalization strategy and what aspects we have to take into account to create global content.
Developing a video game is more complex than it seems. And within its complexity, there is a function that is more important than it might seem at first glance. The narrative part of creating a video game is crucial to maximizing the user experience ... and within that narrative part, there are several roles involved! I have created this article to (I hope) bring clarity about the different writing roles that we can find in the game industry. There are more roles than we could imagine!
The 5 "words" roles needed to create a video game
Price localization means tailoring your company’s pricing strategy to each buyer depending on local characteristics, it seems obvious but still many companies are failing to truly understand what a truly global Price Localization strategy means.
This week I talk about Price Localization, and how I thought a colleague was playing a joke on me when he told me about the big mac index to calculate prices when I was planning to move to Canada …
I’ve been always attracted by stories when I was a child with the book and as an adult studying storytelling in Toastmasters or in workshops about Storytelling with Numbers. I like stories, I like words and content, I like exploring what entails a good user experience. And this week in my weekly post I write about Storytelling in UX, because storytelling in UX has the potential to engage users. It can also make their user journey easier and persuade them to convert. It sounds good, doesn't it?☺️
If you work in a in-house Localization department you will know how difficult it is to identify yourself with more than just a number and that your achievements and your contributions to the company are recognized by the people around you.
And if you are a linguistic freelance it may be even more difficult to get the recognition of your achievements
It is widely proven that staying behind the computer does not help us increase our visibility, however, how many times does it happen?
Making yourself “visible” to others is essential if you are looking to grow in your career and climb steps,
What is the point of delivering the best Localization project in the world or having the best Localization solutions if nobody finds out about it?
Localization projects usually involved many stakeholders, and this might bring unclear roles of responsibilities
How a Localization Project Manager might bring structure and clarity to the roles that stakeholders play within the Localization project. I think there are 2 options, either we embrace the force and master the Jedi mind trick, or we can use this Localization Project Management trick that I describe in this post that I just wrote!
Quite often Localization teams speak a different language than the business, and we need to find a way to close that gap to create a meaningful impact, align efforts and to feel that as localization professionals we are understood
There has been an obsession in my life to find Localization ROI …
Not everyone can work well in a remote environment, and that’s ok, that’s the beauty of the diversity… Now, if you want to debate what’s best — remote work or co-located work — this post is not for you. But, if you want some ideas to consider about how to improve while working remotely then this post is for you. For many years I've been working with remote teams, with remote LSPs, with remote ... bosses. COVID has put us all to work remotely in a somewhat forced way, including my friends Manuel, Carlos, and Angel, with whom yesterday after months I was able to get together again and enjoy some beers and some good tapas!! In this conversation, the topic of remote work arises, and this post is a reflection and a summary ... a summary of the 4 things I have learned working remotely, in one of the most distributed industries 4 things I have learned working remotely in the language industry.
If you are not sure what a Content Strategist, Content Copywriter, UX Writer, Content Copyeditor, or Content Globalizer do … this blog post might help you to understand the differences ☺️
Onboarding plays a critical role in a new hire's success, happiness, and motivation. Good onboarding is especially important for remote employees since they don't have as many opportunities to organically integrate into the company job processes and the working culture.
Do you know the best practices for a successful onboarding experience?
After talking to Natalia this week I found inspiration to write my weekly post about that topic …
Fortunately, the perception that an internal PM at the client side is simply a file-pusher sending files for translation to an LSP and wait until the translated file is back is changing.... but still sometimes it's not clear what's the value that an internal PM brings within a software organization who moved to an outsourcing Localization model. I reflect on this topic in this post where I write about the business value of an internal Localization Project Manager when working embedded in a company who decided to outsource localization activities to an LSP
25-five years achievement of working in the Localization industry unblocked! ☺️ this special post is a journey about what has happened in the last decades plus some predictions for the future!
Until now the localization industry has been immune to the crisis, it has been growing for years and years. We still do not know how we will get out of this. Maybe we got out of this too! And probably, something that will continue to be very relevant is understanding how an LSP chooses its collaborators.
Research and connectors are 2 components and that can bring the localization industry to the next level!
Sometimes we forget that Good Copy is Good Business, sometimes we forget that Microcopy Makes Money, sometimes we forget that Microcopy is Cheap, that it's everywhere, and it's Powerful, and fortunately there are books like this one and UX writing professionals doing a tremendous effort to remind us of the importance of words as a means of persuasion and thus move users to take action
Defining localization metrics is relatively easy. In many cases, a team can write a reasonable list during a workshop, like the ones I mentioned above, or during a strategy session. The conceptual part of what to track and why rarely takes long. The real difficulty appears later: HOW you actually obtain those metrics.