FairLoc first launched in April 2024, but since then a lot has happened. The industry has continued to change at breakneck speed. AI and machine translation have gotten better and grown more prevalent, but we’ve also seen more recognition from clients about what happens when humans are removed from the equation. As for us here at FairLoc, we’ve had lots of great interactions with translators, agencies and clients alike – and we’ve learnt a lot.
That’s why we’re now launching FairLoc 2.0.
The idea is the same. FairLoc is still a certification scheme for human translations. But we’ve made some changes. Our ambition with this is to make FairLoc even simpler and better, so that hopefully it can succeed in its mission to protect the wonderful translation industry we all know and love – before it’s too late.
We truly believe that the FairLoc mission is more important now than it ever has been, and so we hope you’ll read on, learn more, and consider supporting us in this next phase of FairLoc.
What’s Changed?
All of the changes we’ve made are designed to make FairLoc simpler. Here’s the gist:
- It’s now simpler than ever. Freelancers and translation agencies can sign up as FairLoc Ambassadors and begin issuing stamps immediately.
- Stamps are issued on a per-document basis, giving more flexibility to both agencies and their clients. Different workflows can be combined, while still allowing FairLoc to incentivise and celebrate the human approach.
A More Flexible Solution
Flexibility is at the heart of our redesign. By making stamps specific to a particular text or project rather than an entire company, we’ve made it possible for translation providers and their clients to celebrate human translation wherever it’s chosen, without closing the door to alternative solutions when they suit. In practice, this means a client could order a human translation for, say, a blog post, and get the FairLoc Stamp for that project. But this would not prevent them from choosing MTPE for another project with a tighter budget or shorter deadline in the future.
Ultimately, our hope is that by making FairLoc more flexible, we can increase the appeal of the FairLoc brand and help it spread far and wide. The more agencies and freelancers become FairLoc Ambassadors, the more the stamp will be seen, and the more successful it will become at making a virtue of the human approach.
Targeting Agencies, Not Clients
When we started FairLoc, our original idea was to target end clients and try to start a groundswell through them. If they could be convinced of the value of the human approach, they could create an organic demand for human solutions and change the industry from the bottom up. In retrospect, we might have been a little naïve. We found that clients were not as interested in these conversations as we had hoped, and they felt that a human-only caveat was too restrictive. We may also have underestimated their enthusiasm for AI – and the challenge posed by how difficult it is to see a direct link between inauthentic AI text and its negative outcomes down the line.
With FairLoc 2.0, the aim now is to ask translation agencies and freelancers to help us bring about change. After all, they should have a much bigger incentive than anyone else to save this industry. If they don’t, they might just get swallowed up by tech companies and soon cease to exist. Plus, they are already in contact with their clients and better positioned to communicate the virtues of both FairLoc and the human approach. We believe that the conversation around the importance of human creativity is one that needs to be had, and the fact that it hasn’t been happening already is a big part of how we ended up where we are in the first place.
Our hope now is that the FairLoc brand can serve as a platform and a springboard for these conversations. Clients can use it as a way to frame, introduce and elevate their human translation solutions, providing clients with a different understanding of human localisation and an added incentive to choose it. The FairLoc Badge on their website can be used to generate intrigue, while branding human translation services as FairLoc translations can help to distinguish this option and boost its appeal.
What Next?
If you’re a freelancer or the representative of a translation agency, you can sign up as a FairLoc Ambassador for free for the first three months. After that, it will cost you only €2 a month.
With so much flexibility and at such a low price, what excuse could you possibly have for not signing up and doing your bit to protect the future of our industry?
In return, you’ll get:
- The ability to display the FairLoc Badge on your website and in emails. This marks you out as a conscientious, responsible translation provider and will boost your profile among both vendors and clients.
- The ability to issue FairLoc Stamps to your clients when they order qualifying services. This will help you incentivise human translation, offer more value to your clients, and give you a new way to approach important conversations about what we lose when humans are removed from the process.
- Access to our FairLoc Discord Community. Meet and network with like-minded linguists and actively get involved in conversations about the future of our industry and the challenges we face.
Take a look around our website for more information, or send an email to contact@fairloc.com with any questions you may have. We’d be very glad to set up a chat and talk through any concerns, queries, feedback or ideas you may have!
And whatever you take away from this, please remember:
The localisation industry is still under a lot of pressure. Tech companies that do not understand the crucial role of human insight, culture and creativity are attempting to take over, and they’re forcing many of us to offer sub-standard solutions in order to protect our positions. Clients notice the difference, but they don’t understand the intricacies of languages they can’t read, and often they are lured in by low prices and impressive turnaround times. This is not an easy battle for us to win, but we have to try. Our livelihoods are at stake.