THE FRENCH LANGUAGE

French (français) is today spoken in 54 countries by 76 million people as a native language, and by about 280 million people as a second or third language. Most native speakers of the language live in France, where the language originated, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. French is an official language in 31 countries and is the official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organisations.

THE GERMAN LANGUAGE

The German language (Deutsch) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. German is closely related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 100 million native speakers and by about 80 million non-native speakers, and Standard German is widely taught in schools and universities worldwide.

THE GREEK LANGUAGE

Greek (ελληνική γλώσσα) is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages (with fragmentary records in Mycenaean dating back to the 15th or 14th century BC), spoken today by 15-22 million people, mainly in Greece and Cyprus but also by minority and emigrant communities in numerous other countries.

THE HEBREW LANGUAGE

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world. In Israel, it is the de facto language of the state and the people, as well as being one of the two official languages (together with Arabic), and it is spoken by the majority of the population. As a foreign language it is studied mostly by Jews and students of Judaism and Israel, archeologists and linguists specializing in the Middle East and its civilisations and by theologians.

THE HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE

Hungarian (magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is commonly considered to be one of the most difficult languages for speakers of English to learn well.

Hungarian is spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in seven neighbouring countries. There are about 14.5 million native speakers, of whom 9.5-10 million live in modern-day Hungary.

The translation marketplace

Twenty of the largest translation and localization suppliers are located in North America and Europe. Seven are from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, two each from Switzerland and the Czech Republic, and one each from Italy, Luxembourg, Ireland, and France.

The list also includes a consortium of companies with headquarters in Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Spain. Finally, Lionbridge, SDL, STAR, and TransPerfect, are smaller players, but the amounts do not affect the rankings.

Interpretation providers tell us that their work in judicial, over-the-phone (OPI), and other forms of oral interpretation differs enough from mainline translation firms that they need to be discussed on their own merits. LanguageLine leads the U.S. interpretation market, with 2005 revenue exceeding US$140 million.

Then there is a big drop to companies turning over less than US$25 million, including Cyracom, Network Omni, LSA, and Teleinterpreters.

For nearly two decades Ireland was the Mecca of the localization industry, but both suppliers like Lionbridge and large buyers like Microsoft have been gradually transferring operations and staff out of Dublin to lower-wage production and project management centers around the world.

As the nexus of the language service industry shifts eastward and to the south, longtime players will find both new rivals and opportunities in other regions. Some North Atlantic firms will subcontract work to companies in those areas, others will compete head-to-head for business in local languages, and still others will acquire or merge with these up-and-coming firms. Within five years, we expect to see greater representation from these regions in our top 20 list.