#146 Google Translation Hub — Mallika Iyer on Launch, Features, and Roadmap

Google’s Head of Product, Translation AI, Mallika Iyer, joins SlatorPod to talk all about the company’s new Translation Hub.  Mallika begins with her journey from software engineer to leading all of the translation products for Google Cloud, most recently Translation Hub. She shares the motivation behind launching the hub, where they saw that overall demand for translation had increased, but budgets necessarily hadn’t.Mallika discusses the basic and advanced tiers the hub offers, with the latter including domain-specific translation, translation memory, and translation quality prediction. She explains how the hub has gained traction early on with languages of lesser diffusion in addition to the major FIGS or CCJK combinations.Mallika talks about a case study with Avery Dennison and how they rolled out Translation Hub to all their employees to improve language communication and promote an inclusive workplace culture. She expands on the different sectors the hub serves, from those with limited budgets in the public sector to those on the opposite side in retail and manufacturing. The pod rounds off with Mallika laying out the Hub’s roadmap for 2023, with plans to add more document types, improve user experience, and integrate with third-party products. Translation Hub’s ultimate goal is to make the hub more accessible with new features while keeping its simplicity.