State of the language market: southwest Indiana mirroring the trend

After reviewing the recently issued 2024 NIMDZI 100 ranking of the largest language service providers, it’s clear that the market is steadily growing amidst many changes, from rapidly advancing machine translation to hybrid modes of interpreting as an aftermath of the pandemic. Although some areas of language services in southwest Indiana are hyper focused within specific industries and language pairs, much of the NIMDZI report accurately depicts the market at large that has made its way to the midwest region. As the demand for language services continues to rise, what’s left is for companies and independent contractors alike to adapt to the core needs among an ever changing perception of the profession by both clients and providers. 

To save you the reading, here are my biggest takeaways from the report:

• Interpreting services are the main driver of language services provider (LSP) growth in the US. This is likely due to increased immigration, and therefore a growing limited-English proficient (LEP) population throughout the country. Another factor may be a decline in demand for written translation, with many clients opting for machine translations when possible to cut costs. Much of the interpreting services can be found in healthcare, court, and educational settings.  

• 3 out of the 5 largest LSPs in the world are US-based. A nation fueled by immigration backed by a steady economy has created the opportunity for several large players to establish themselves as the go-to language services provider for decades. The report makes no implication that these lion companies are declining any time soon, though their focus has certainly shifted to align with market trends.   

• The top 100 LSPs only contribute 20% of the total market revenue. This is promising news for the hundreds of boutique to mid-sized language agencies across the globe that have a world (no pun intended) of market share in front of them. In particular, smaller LSPs have the potential to thrive in rural areas, niche industries, and for minority languages. 

• 6 out of the 10 largest LSPs have 25-99 employees. It’s probably safe to assume that this number does not include the independent contractors that are completing the actual translation and interpreting work, but why is this significant? First, it shows that even the giants in the language services space aren’t as large as other corporations that we see across different industries that house thousands of employees. Second, it’s clear that running a multimillion (or nearly billion, in some cases) language services provider doesn’t require an extreme payroll to function efficiently. 

• The top 100 LSPs derive the bulk of their revenue from interpreting services (primarily in healthcare, government, education, and finance). Again, I will refer to my previous points about shifts in market demand, although interpreting as a service may be much more profitable than other services in general. 

How, then, do these trends compare to southwest Indiana?

It’s immediately clear that, as reported by the NIMDZI, the demand for interpreting services in the midwest region, both on-site and remote, far outpace the requests for translation services. I suspect that this may be in part due to an increased accessibility to and use of machine translation, resulting from a lack of understanding the need for professional, human translators. The desire to cut costs, of course, is also always a factor. I’ve lost count of how many prospective clients have opened the conversation with “We use Google” or “Our employee speaks enough English to get by”. It’s unfortunate that “getting by” doesn't fly in other areas of a business, but that’s a discussion for another blog post. 

Although there are several small to mid-level LSPs in the state of Indiana (none of which are listed in the NIMDZI Top 100), this region of the US still clearly lacks established providers that can provide on-site interpreting services. As we see in the report, the market is demanding interpreting services and many clients are opting for on-site when feasible. I believe many of the larger LSPs will soon realize the need to outsource to smaller, local language companies to meet this demand when they fall short, rather than turning away their clients entirely.

What does this mean for Heartland?

Having thoroughly read the data from NIMDZI report and comparing it to the southwest Indiana region, our business must be adaptable to the current state of the market. If we want to grow and meet our clients’ needs at the highest level, we must realize our strong areas and utilize them where we can maximize outcomes. 

First and foremost, it’s clear that we ought to hone in on our ability to provide professional grade, on-site interpreting services. We have the advantage of a growing team of qualified interpreters ready to employ their services in the community, as opposed to larger agencies that can only offer remote interpreting in our area. 

Second, we should continue to focus on the slow onboarding of quality employees. As we found in the report, many of the most successful LSPs have found the sweet spot of 25-99 employees, which tells me that there is no rush to scale a team that may not have the same shared vision. 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there will be market growth over the coming years in the language industry. According to the NIMDZI, we can expect an average uptick of 7% in the market for the foreseeable future. Unsurprisingly, this means new opportunities not only in the industry as a whole, but specifically in the midwest as it becomes even more globalized.