A Look to the Future

To close out the second edition of the Lyrics & Crafts Congress, a diverse group of professionals from the world of creative translation came together last May 19 for the roundtable discussion, “A Look to the Future”. Translators, subtitlers, dubbing scriptwriters, students and leaders from various associations gathered to share their thoughts on the current state of the industry.

What followed was an insightful conversation that explored topics like visibility, communication, technology and the everlasting importance of human translation.

Do people really know what translators do?

For Iris Permuy, representing ATRAE (Asociación de Traducción y Adaptación Audiovisual de España), the answer was clear: “There’s a lack of awareness, not only among the public, not only among the consumers, but even in universities”, she said. “There is an urgent need of bridging the gap between professionals and academics in this regard, because otherwise AI and machine translation in general is just a shiny new thing that everyone wants to just jump on because it's trendy and it gets funds”.

Änne Troester, a dubbing scriptwriter and co-chair of the industry association Synchronverband in Germany, agreed, adding that “the best dub is the dub you don’t notice, we've spent a hundred years trying not to get noticed”. But that invisibility, she warned, often leads to the work and the people doing it being overlooked.

Still, audiences are starting to speak up. Troester pointed to a recent case where a streaming platform had to pull an AI-dubbed series after viewers complained: “That was literally consumers that complained, so I think there's definitely an awareness”.

Charlotte Stein, representing AVÜ e. V. (Association of audiovisual translators in Germany) shared a slightly more worrying view: “People are sadly getting used to a decline in quality because you don't expect a lot when you turn on auto-generated subtitles”.

What about communication?

Next, the group discussed how well the different players in the translation process actually communicate.

Bettina Arlt, also from AVÜ, highlighted how Language Service Providers (LSPs) often act as middlemen, preventing translators from speaking directly with clients or even editors. “Sometimes they can't answer the question, then you don't hear from them for weeks.”

Andrea Ballista, representing GALA, added: “Even in our field, you don’t get the chance to decide which tools to use, even if you wanted to, because it’s the company who tells you what to do.”

Translation involves culture

Every panelist agreed that translating, especially in the artistic world, is far more than simply swapping words between languages. It’s about cultural and emotional nuance.

Troester shared a favorite anecdote: in a viral video, actor Elijah Wood meets his Italian dubbing counterpart and watches a scene from one of his films. “After three seconds, his jaw literally drops to the floor”, she recalled. “He goes to the dubbing voice and says, ‘That’s amazing, the way you have captured what I am trying to do’”. That, she said, is the heart of what translation should do: preserve the soul of a performance.

Henning Bochert, from BDÜ (Germany’s Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators) and an experienced literary and theatre translator, emphasized that audiences may not grasp the technical details, but they instinctively sense when something is off: “I share that point of view that the audience is really very keen on the quality of what they're receiving, regardless of the genre... They can very well know the quality of our work, even though they don't know exactly the mechanics of what we're doing."

Is AI a helpful tool or a risky shortcut?

The conversation eventually turned to Artificial Intelligence. Permuy made her point strongly: “I take issue with calling AI a tool because I don't think it's a tool at all, because from its basis it is built upon theft of our intellectual property”.

Bochert added: “The product that the so-called artificial intelligence produces does not have an author, it does not have a voice, which we as translation experts bring to the text.”

Ballista brought a more technical angle: “Definitely AI cannot match human quality. At the same time, the amount of content and the level of acceptance need to be rebalanced. So we need to find the level of acceptance of AI.”

Bochert wrapped up the topic adding that poor subtitling isn’t a new issue: “More often than not, subtitles have to be created extremely quickly and they are badly paid, so you can't even spend a lot of time doing them”.

What skills matter in 2025?

So what does it take to succeed as a translator today?

Permuy was clear: “You have to be a little bit of an activist to defend your rights and to defend your working conditions”.

Stein focused on language itself and emphasized the importance of staying up to date with how it evolves: "It’s not only about keeping up traditional language and linguistics that we learned at university, but it’s also adapting to the requirements of modern society”.

Advice for newcomers

The final question of the session was directed at newcomers: What advice would you give someone starting out today?

Salvador Nicolás Alcázar, from AETI (Asociación Española Universitaria de Traducción e Interpretación), emphasized curiosity, which is “another key quality because being curious drives you to explore new subjects”.

Permuy stressed the importance of financial independence: “They should diversify, because things are very uncertain at the moment. But the reasons why I think they should diversify is to be able to have a cushion in order to carefully choose what they will need to adapt to”.

Ballista ended on an encouraging note: “Machines do not really live experiences. They reproduce a résumé of something. You just should not be thinking that they understand what you feel. They seem to, but they don’t”.

Troester highlighted the importance of solidarity: “Talk with colleagues, you know, be in an association. Translating, in general, is a very lonely job”.

Adding to these insights, Ángel Ureña, also from AETI, encouraged newcomers to embrace all opportunities beyond formal education: “People must be grateful for the chance that they have when it comes to engaging with new associations of translation”.

Final thought: Human translation still matters

Although the landscape is shifting one thing came through loud and clear: the heart of translation is, and always will be, human.

As Troester put it: “If you love language and if you love cultures, it's one of the best jobs I can imagine, but you do need to be flexible.  You do need to be open to new workflows”.

And as the session closed, one thing was certain: human translation still has a future and a purpose.