Shunee Yee speaks at LocWorld33 Shenzhen about “The Future of Work”

SHENZHEN, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)– CSOFT Founder and CEO, Shunee Yee, spoke at LocWorld’s Conference on “The Future of Work: leading translation in a new era,” addressing the rise of AI and how the translation industry must adapt to maintain relevance in a changing global economy. An exclusive press conference with industry experts followed the keynote panel.

Yee started by screening Alex Garland’s Ex Machina trailer, and citing American futurist Ray Kurzweil’s prediction that artificial intelligence will completely surpass human intelligence by 2045. Joined by the Executive Vice President of the Translator’s Association of China, Professor Weihe Zhong, and Halliburton’s Country Vice President for China, David Zeng, the panel discussed how the growth of innovative technology has transformed China’s language service industry and how China’s education, resources, and policies are aligning to support its journey to the world.

“China’s language service industry took root at the intersection of the Digital Revolution and the country’s rapid economic growth,” pointed out Yee. “Because of its unique beginnings, China has an opportunity to lead the development of future language services in supporting the global economy.”

The Chairman of the LocWorld33 Program Committee, Ulrich Henes, and the Vice President of the Translator’s Association of China, Bill Chen joined the press conference following the panel to address how Chinese businesses must shift their mindset to value language and culture as a “soft power” and an integral piece of successful global execution. “In order to have a good response in a local market, country-specific communication strategies are necessary,” claimed Henes.

Chen further added, “When entering foreign markets, companies need to understand the local culture, respect the local regulations, and contribute to the local society.”

CSOFT plays a key role, as the primary localization supplier to Huawei, in localizing their products for 121 countries, including their well-received P9 smartphone, and supports Huawei’s goal of bringing local markets the “ultimate user experience.” CSOFT additionally supports 4 of China’s top 5 global companies from The BrandZ™ Report, and more than 100 Chinese brands – including Tencent, Alibaba, Midea, and Lenovo – to cross international borders with confidence.

As the press conference drew to a close, all the experts agreed that the localization industry is experiencing tremendous changes because of technological advancements, but also believe that China has been given an incredible opportunity to define the future development of language services.

“We must embrace the change, capture the opportunities, and transform. The world will be a very different place in 50 years, and we can either lose relevance or we can transform ourselves to fit our fast moving society,” concluded Zeng.