How Wix's Joseph Kovalov thinks about machine translation, transcreation and more

Listen on Spotify

Joseph Kovalov is the Tech Localization Expert at Wix, a platform that allows users to create their own customized websites.

In the localization space for 20 years, Joseph started out as a full-time translator at a small agency in the Ukraine. From there, he moved on to create his own agency with a focus on mostly Slavic languages. After 10 years, he and his family moved to Israel where Joseph continued to work as a freelance translator. Joseph soon joined Wix full-time and now works on implementing processes to improve localization efforts. Joseph joins us to talk about machine translation, transcreation, and tech-enabled workflows.

Jump into the episode
[02:40] About Joseph and his localization journey.
[05:11] The challenges of opening your own agency.
[09:25] About Joseph’s role at Wix.
[12:17] What the current localization program at Wix looks like.
[14:08] What the different localization teams and their priorities look like at Wix.
[17:00] The importance of departmental collaboration in localization.
[18:28] How localization has driven the success and growth of Wix.
[20:08] Driving traffic to the site through people directed copy over SEO.
[21:44] Measuring departmental success.
[25:20] Trans-creation: How it is being under-used and how it can be approved.
[29:27] What is trans-creation and what are the inherent complications with the process.
[33:55] What is currently encouraging in the trans-creation space and what is lacking.
[39:30] The future of localization tools.
[43:56] Demystifying machine translation.
[49:36] Countering the fear of machine translation.

Resources and links:

• Wix Website
• Smartling Website