THE NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE

Norwegian (Norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants.

OUR NORWEGIAN LINGUISTS
We have an extensive network of Norwegian freelance linguists who are all experienced and qualified linguists. Every freelancer who works for us must adhere to a strict code of conduct, which regulates expected quality levels and ensures confidentiality.

THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE

Persian is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan. Persian and its varieties have official-language status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. There are approximately 72 million native speakers of Persian in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and about the same number of people in other parts of the world speak Persian. UNESCO was asked to select Persian as one of its languages in 2006.

THE POLISH LANGUAGE

Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) is spoken by most of the 38 million inhabitants of Poland and is the most spoken West Slavic language. There are also native speakers of Polish in western Belarus and Ukraine, as well as in eastern Lithuania, southeastern Latvia, northern Romania, and the northeastern part of Czech Republic.

THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE

Portuguese (português  or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain) and northern Portugal from the Latin spoken by romanised Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula (namely the Gallaeci, the Lusitanians, the Celtici and the Conii) about 2000 years ago.

Today it is one of the world's major languages, ranked 4th according to number of native speakers (approximately 250 million). It is the language with the largest number of speakers in South America, spoken by nearly all of Brazil's approximately 186 million population, which amounts to over 51% of the continent's population even though it is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas.

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.