Women in Localization (W.L.), the leading professional organization for women in the localization industry, is proud to announce the release of the organization’s first-ever impact report for 2023.

While Women in Localization’s impact during the organization’s 15-year history is undeniable, the 2023 Impact Report is the first time that data has been collected to measure the true extent of W.L.'s impact and continued growth. 2023 was a momentous year for Women in Localization, which marked 15 years since its co-founding by Anna N. Schlegel, Eva Klaudinyova, and Silvia Avary. During this time, the organization has experienced steady and sustained growth.

As of April 2024, W.L. has 13,000 members and a community of 30,000, both of which are increasing daily. By the end of 2024, the organization expects to expand from 29 to 35 global chapters, furthering its mission to provide professional development, networking, and a sense of community for its members.

“Women in Localization continues to grow every day, and this remarkable growth wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our Sponsors,” said 2024 Women in Localization President and co-Founder Anna N. Schlegel. “We owe so much to so many people for the success of our organization - Sponsors, Partners, Members, Volunteers, and our Board. We are fortunate to have such a supportive and dedicated community around the world.”

Other 2023 accomplishments include the launch of a new Mentorship platform, MentorEase, and matching over 100 mentors and mentees, which surpassed expectations to reach a new milestone. Last year also saw W.L. refresh its website and launch three video series on Instagram called Be Inspired, Be Empowered, and Ask the Chapter. During a year when many faced layoffs and job uncertainty, Women in Localization’s job board proved to be popular with 37 companies advertising roles, 66 positions posted, and over 1,074 clicks.

Drawing 7,245 total registrations in 2023, Women in Localization’s events continue to be popular. After putting all in-person events on hold during the pandemic, face-to-face events returned in 2023. W.L. held 36 in-person events last year, with networking and happy hours generating the highest attendance. Among 2023’s 34 virtual events, AI-related topics such as “Beyond MT: Navigating the new AI-driven localization landscape” and “Product Management in AI” generated the most registrations.

Going forward, Women in Localization will release an Impact Report annually to measure the organization’s progress.

“We look forward to tracking Women in Localization’s impact on our industry,” said Schlegel. “There is a strong demand for new Chapters and we have ambitious plans for our organization. This report will help us better understand where we have been and where we need to go".

 Copies of the report are available for download on the Women in Localization website

Leading Women in Localization Switzerland is Chapter Manager Amaia Zaballa Zarzosa from Varian, a Siemens Healthineers Company. She is joined by Membership Manager Arijana Alagic, also from Varian, Mentorship and Education Manager Zoë Morrow from Avaloq, Social Media Manager Dania Dalmonte from Apostroph, and Sponsorship Manager Natalia Pita from FIFA.

“The presence of numerous multinational companies and international organizations has led to the fast growth of the localization community in Switzerland,” said Chapter Manager Amaia Zaballa Zarzosa. “Localizers here are eager to get together and exchange good practices, and localization-related events tend to see high attendance rates. We are looking forward to offering localization professionals new opportunities to connect and learn from each other.”

“Being a multilingual country by nature, where diverse languages are embedded in the culture, we are very excited to help advance women and the localization industry in Switzerland,” said Women in Localization co-Founder and 2024 President Anna Schlegel.

In-person events will initially be focused around the Zurich area, expanding into other major cities within Switzerland as interest grows.

The chapter’s inaugural event will be held in person on March 7, 2024, at 7pm CET at Avaloq headquarters in Zurich Manegg. The event will introduce the organization, its goals, and the Switzerland leadership team, as well as offering attendees the opportunity to connect with each other during a networking apéro. Those interested in attending the inaugural event are encouraged to register to become a member of Women in Localization and sign up on Eventbrite. The Switzerland Chapter can be found on LinkedIn.

“Thanks to the work of our Program Director María Jesús de Arriba Díaz, together with the support of the EMEIA GEO Managers, we can respond to the great demand to open and onboard new chapters seamlessly,” said Schlegel. “We are extremely happy to see the growing number of global members supporting W.L.’s mission and volunteering to work for the advancement of women and the localization industry.”

About Women in Localization

Women in Localization (W.L.) was founded in 2008 by Silvia Avary-Silveira, Eva Klaudinyova, and Anna N. Schlegel, and is the leading professional organization for women in the localization industry with over 11,000 members globally. Its mission is to foster a global community for the advancement of women and the localization industry. It aims to provide an open, collaborative forum where women can share expertise and experience and help each other move forward in their careers. Started in the San Francisco Bay Area, W.L. has expanded its membership to include women across the globe, encouraging members to meet in other local geographies. To learn more, visit www.womeninlocalization.com. You can also follow W.L. on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

electronically by allowing its interface to be translated into Inuktut, the closely linked languages of the North.

Starting today, the Inuit will be able to use Facebook’s translation application to spell, with Roman letters, words such as “home,” “messenger,” “marketplace” and “photo album” that guide users around the social network.

Other speakers of Inuit languages will be asked to vote on the translation with a thumbs up or a thumbs down and, once a translation has received sufficient endorsement, it will become the official Inuktut translation on Facebook.

Kevin Chan, the head of public policy at Facebook Canada, said the network held a recent round table with Indigenous leaders from across Canada, including Aluki Kotierk, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) – the legal representative of the Inuit in treaty negotiations.

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business at CHF 0.34 (USD 0.35) per word. When the results are out, you are told that it’s too cheap and that you should have offered at least CHF 0.40 per word. In disbelief, you appeal the decision only to have your case thrown out on a technicality. Or, imagine if, after you submitted your bid, the buyer comes back asking you to kindly increase your rate to their CHF 0.40 minimum buying price. That is what happened to a couple of Swiss language service providers (LSPs) in 2016.

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politeness.

It should therefore come as no surprise that nobody says "thank you" more than the Brits, who seem to be in a constant haze of perpetual gratitude.

Researchers analysed interactions between local people speaking a total of eight languages across five continents and discovered that Brits do in fact say "thank you" more than anyone else.

However, the findings revealed that such expressions of gratitude aren’t as common as you might think.

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Each year the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization recognizes cultural and natural sites for their outstanding value to humanity, ranging from beautiful natural landscapes to humankind’s most ingenious constructions.

Spain's Secretary for International Cooperation, Fernando Garcia Casas, thinks bilateral cooperation between his country and Jamaica could be greatly increased by encouraging greater use of the Spanish language here.

“We would like to see Spanish made a second language in Jamaica: More use of the Spanish language. I believe this is an important factor in tourism, because you are surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries,” he stated.

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Australia plans to tighten its citizenship rules to require higher English language skills, longer residency and evidence of integration such as a job, officials said Thursday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the new citizenship test would reflect Australian values instead of the current multiple-choice format.

"This will be good for the applicants, good for the nation, underlining our Australian values at the very heart of Australian citizenship," Turnbull told reporters.

"This is not about administration. This is about allegiance and commitment to Australian values," he added.

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Learning languages is a promise of peace, innovation and creativity, and will contribute to the achievement of global development goals, the head of the United Nations agency for culture and education has said, marking International Mother Language Day.

“There can be no authentic dialogue or effective international cooperation without respect for linguistic diversity, which opens up true understanding of every culture,” said UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova in her message on the Day.

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The project is part of the new MEITS (Multilingualism - Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies) project based at the University of Cambridge, and funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

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Yongzin means “master” or “teacher” in Tibetan. It is the world’s first search engine solely in the Tibetan language, and also the one and only choice for China’s seven million Tibetan people, unless they use a VPN to jump China’s Great Firewall. Chinese search engines like Baidu and Sogou don’t search in Tibetan, while Google, which does, has been blocked in China for years. 

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The free app, called Omotenashi Guide, is currently in the testing phase and is designed to work without an internet connection, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports. It works by picking up a signal embedded in loudspeaker announcements, turning the audio into text in Japanese - for locals who may have hearing difficulties - and six other languages, including English, Spanish and Korean. It'll be trialled later this month at bullet train stations in Tokyo, Hamamatsu and Kyoto, and is also being tested in shopping centres and airports.

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