#l10n

Language Is Alive and Evolving, So Too Must the Role of the Linguist

Posted by Yung-Chung Heh

by Victoria Shimkus (MATLM 2026)

It’s not every day that you get a private lecture from the CEO and CMO of the world’s largest language service provider, but when they are longtime friends and colleagues of Winnie Heh, anything is possible. Simon Yoxon-Grant (CEO) and Suzanne Franks (CMO) of LanguageLine Solutions joined us on campus in Monterey to talk about how the role of linguists is evolving in the age of AI. The good news? Language is innately human, and humans will always need to be looped into language services, especially when those services are critical.

LanguageLine Solutions provides on-demand interpretation via phone and video, face-to-face interpretation, translation and localization, and linguist testing and training, all on a massive scale. They shared many stats about their services, but one that stood out is that they service 85 million interactions a year. In Suzanne’s words, “people are calling us to create mutual understanding 85 million times each year.” As a trained linguist, Suzanne connected with us on both a professional and emotional level. She highlighted that in the U.S., 20% of the population speaks a language other than English at home. This emphasizes the need to have language access “embedded” in client services and to involve linguists earlier in the design phase, giving them greater impact in the workflow.

 To really show the human impact of this work, Suzanne shared a video where one of their interpreters, Rosalva, described what it means to show up professionally in moments of real human need. Her message was clear: accuracy, cultural context, and empathy are non-negotiable when interpreting in critical moments. Interpreters often step into intense and unpredictable situations, and it takes composure and a “servant’s heart” to do this work well. As Rosalva put it, you put your emotions aside because you are there to assist the client and the community.

Simon and Suzanne reminded us that while technology has an important role to play, it can never replace the human ability to handle nuance, emotion, creativity, and cultural context, the qualities demonstrated in Rosalva’s video. AI may be useful for low-risk interactions, but the vast majority of LanguageLine’s calls are high-stakes. That’s why they always keep humans in the loop; any interaction can be escalated to a human interpreter, who is always there as a safety net.

Our presenters spoke about how clients are demanding AI and other technologies be integrated into their services, and when asked how well informed he thought their clients are when it comes to risk assessment, Simon explained that their clients are beginning to ask smart questions about AI, risk, and efficiency. LanguageLine’s approach is to be transparent: technology can expand access and help reduce costs, but clients need to assess their own risk tolerance, especially when lives and livelihoods are on the line.

While traditional roles for translators and interpreters will always be essential, new opportunities are emerging. These include post-editing machine translations, integrating AI and speech technologies, training AI models with linguistic nuance, developing accessibility tools, serving as hybrid communication specialists, and ensuring fairness and bias reduction. When a student asked whether these jobs truly exist in the industry, Simon confirmed by explaining that their parent company has 500,000 employees worldwide and all of these roles are present in their various business units, with many now emerging at LanguageLine.

This confirms that the role of the linguist is shifting, involving a wider range of responsibilities such as quality checking machine output, refining workflows, and shaping AI systems to be more culturally competent and accurate. It is important to remember that tools should be there to support linguists rather than replace them, and that we need to be the humans in the loop who live the culture of a language and train the language models to do the same. We are entering a hybrid future where linguists work alongside technology to expand access, and where learning and leveraging technology will be essential.

There was also a question about whether there were any training or academic programs available to practice the skills needed for these emerging roles, and we were told that “there isn’t a whole lot out there since the jobs are so new.” So then how can early career professionals like MIIS students obtain the training needed? Simon’s response: “Find companies that are progressive when it comes to leveraging new technologies. Get yourself hired. Be part of the team that develops the new technology or incorporates the new technology into the workflow.” Along with this advice, Simon and Suzanne shared that if they were hiring for new, undefined roles, the top skills they would look for in candidates are: curiosity, critical thinking, adaptability, and persistence in seeking answers.

So where does this leave us? With opportunity. With a growing demand for linguists who understand technology, who can adapt to new tools, and who never lose sight of the human side of communication. Language is alive and evolving every day, and so too must the role of the linguist.

How Two Degrees in Japanese Literature Translated Into a Localization Career – A Conversation With Jamie Cox

Posted by Yung-Chung Heh
Jamie Cox
Jamie Cox is a Localization Producer at Blizzard Entertainment with years of experience on both the vendor and client sides of the localization industry. His October 2020 post on LinkedIn was on an issue near and dear to my heart – with two degrees in Japanese literature, how he “stumbled” into localization and how liberal arts and foreign language skills can translate into a successful career outside the classroom. I am always on the lookout for role models for language students, hence this conversation on lessons learned in navigating his career path.

Q: Please tell us about what sparked your interest in Japanese literature.

In high school, my family hosted an exchange student from Japan for a couple of weeks. This student taught me about Japanese culture and sparked my interest. I then was able to visit him in Japan a year later and I fell more in love with Japanese culture and the language. Japanese literature was the available major at my undergrad university (University of Montana), and so that’s where my passion for Japanese literature began.

Q: You used the word “stumble” in describing how you got into localization. How did it happen?

After graduating with my MA in Japanese Literature from Portland State University and moving to California, I didn’t know what to do next. A friend suggested I do some freelance translating for a company called Gengo. I noticed Gengo had an office close to where I was living at the time, and I reached out to see if they had any internships available. As luck would have it, they were looking for a project management intern at the time. That was over seven years ago, and I’ve been a localization project manager ever since!

Q: Have your two degrees in Japanese literature helped you in your career in localization? In what ways?

In the localization industry, it’s definitely a plus to know an additional language, even if you don’t actually use it for your own work. In my case, my knowledge of the Japanese language helped me secure the internship at Gengo, because Gengo is a Japanese company with its main office in Tokyo. In a practical sense at work, I don’t often use Japanese, but in the past I have occasionally done a quick check to make sure characters are appearing correctly in a delivery, or line breaks are accurate, those small types of things that every project manager will do from time to time.

Q: In addition to one’s language skills and cultural knowledge, are there any additional skills that can help one’s career in the localization industry?

I think soft skills that one tends to learn from education around language  (like foreign language learning or other liberal arts degrees) help tremendously in being able to accurately and easily convey information, either written or verbal. Additionally – at least for project managers – organization and documentation is paramount, so learning how to stay organized in your personal life will help you in your professional one as well.

Q: Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently in terms of managing your career?

The more you can offer to a company in terms of the skills you bring to the table, the better. There have been times I’ve wanted to streamline or modify a workflow but haven’t had the technical knowledge to do so, whether through Excel macros, database queries with SQL, or something similar. If I could do things differently, I would try to focus on cultivating some of those more technical skills to be a more well-rounded project manager.

Q: What is the best career advice you have ever received?

The most important thing to know about the localization industry is that it is a small one – you never know when the person you worked with (and hopefully made a great impression on) will pop back up later on in your career. Networking is very important, and so is making sure you’re always putting your best foot forward at work. We work in a great industry with amazing people from all over the world, so be sure to enjoy the connections you make.

Winnie Heh

Career Advisor

MIIS