Will we ever run out of linguists?
- AI Localization Think Tank
- Jul 24
- 12 min read
“Will we ever run out of linguists?”
Submitted by Antonio Jacinto (Booking.com)
It seems as though there is no shortage of existential questions being asked, whether it’s you doing the asking in your own head while driving the kids to school, or the professionals in the language services industry (and many others besides, we should add) questioning what their place and role will be in the workplace of the future.
And so, today, the AI Localization Think Tank members attempt to answer one of the most pressing questions animating industry debate: Will we ever run out of linguists? The question immediately sparked a vivid debate in the group, so much so that we had to organize an impromptu session just to explore all the different viewpoints.
You can watch the recording featuring six Think Tank members or read their responses, along with a few others, in the rest of the article.
Marina Ilari, CEO & Translator
I do not believe we will run out of linguists, but the role of the linguist is evolving, just as it always has throughout history. My mother is a linguist, and I have witnessed firsthand how her work changed over time. From meeting clients face-to-face and mailing translations, to working with some of the first translation tools on floppy disks, and eventually taking on editing, team leadership, and project management. When I started, I thought being a linguist meant working on books or legal texts. I never imagined the breadth of roles I would later take on using my linguistic training: project management, testing, QA, consulting, and more.
Today, leading a team of 300 professionals at my company, I continue to hire linguists for a wide range of roles, including vendor and account management, QA programs, compliance, testing, consulting, audio localization, accessibility, and creative work. Even in companies implementing AI, I know first-hand that human language and culture experts are still essential, guiding strategy, curating output, and bringing depth and resonance to global content.
That said, expert linguists are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Those who bring together subject-matter expertise, cultural awareness, a keen eye for detail, creativity, and the ability to localize humor and nuance are among the most valuable professionals in our field. I do worry that fewer young people may pursue careers in translation, perceiving it as a profession at risk due to the rise of AI. But I firmly believe that the future of linguistic careers will not vanish; it will evolve, diversify, and become increasingly specialized. We will see new roles emerge that are rooted in language and culture, shaped by technological advancements, and global demands. I sincerely hope we never run out of linguists, especially those who serve as guardians of languages and cultures. The world needs them now more than ever.
Balázs Kis, Tech Guy, Linguist, Writer, Former Publisher
There is too much talk about what will happen. This instills a sense of powerlessness in the members of this community.
My short answer is: We better not run out of linguists, and we must have a list of things we can do about this.
Just today, I saw a LinkedIn post that said, “AI can replicate outputs, but it can’t replicate conviction.” I will not refer back to the author because it was promotional content, but it highlights a paradox: To cut through the AI-based gatekeeping that has replaced internet searching and actually reach your audience, you need to produce unique, human language.
You need a linguist to create it, translate it, judge it, and edit it. If we are serious about preserving human language, any language, we need to preserve the linguists, too. The first step is to identify and nurture the part of the business world that values human-created and human-curated content in at least part of its content creation process. This might be less than 1% of all the content created, but this less than 1% will be worth more than the remaining 99+%.
On a side note, I have an issue with the term “linguist.” In my world, a linguist is a scientist who studies the nature of language and the relationship between humans and language. I am a linguist in this sense (too).
But if we talk about linguists as people doing actual work in the localization profession, our existing definition is too narrow and exacerbates the powerlessness that otherwise exists in the localization industry by its nature.
If I were to define a “linguist”, I’d say it’s everyone who works with language, and I’d include all the writers and copywriters. Why? Because this is how we combat the inherent lack of power of the localization sector. Localization is a derivative activity, always exposed and submitting to the creation of original content, and, in my mind, a potential way out is to move the boundaries and occupy space on the creation side, too.
Aaron Bhugobaun, Creative Technologist
Will we run out of linguists? Their roles are simply evolving in the age of AI. Linguists are shifting their focus to post-editing and quality control. Ensuring machine translations are more accurate, culturally appropriate, and contextually sound. You can see this within the media industry. They are picking up new skills. Like audio and dialogue editing. Especially when it comes to creating synthetic voices. This is becoming more common. AI can generate language, but it takes a human expert to read, redefine, and refine it. Linguists aren't disappearing anytime soon; they're just adapting and becoming more essential.
Monica Albini, AI Researcher & Educator
The instinctive answer might be YES, especially in a world where quantity surpasses quality and where accessibility is mistaken for simplicity. Linguistic expertise may no longer seem as prestigious or in-demand as it previously was.
But that’s where the real mistake lies.
My answer is a firm NO, we will not run out of linguists. To those who claim otherwise, I would like to ask: Can you name a machine capable of handling low-resource languages, such as Kashubian? Can you name a machine that supports indigenous languages with innovative and culturally sensitive strategies for their survival? Linguists, who are skilled professionals in spotting the nuances of a language, are the ones asking vital questions right now: “How can we give minority languages equal digital presence?” or “How do we contribute to their revitalization and cultural respect?”
What’s really happening is not the disappearance of the linguist, but the evolution of their role. Today’s linguist must keep pace with the times, being able to also step into roles such as project manager and AI language specialist, and adapt to tasks that extend far beyond traditional linguistic work.
Bridget Hylak, Lang Tech, Global Marketing
I’ll answer by asking a question: What do you mean by “linguists”? Many different roles and responsibilities can fall under this umbrella.
Assuming you are referring to translators and interpreters, even there we have a split. These are two very different industries that will, in my opinion, have vastly different outcomes over the short term.
Settling on “translators” as “linguists,” if they will “run out,” may very well depend on how afraid they are! And who actually “runs out”! That decision may be income-driven, age-driven, or otherwise. And that “fear factor” can be greatly enhanced or mitigated by the choices and adaptations that “linguists” make as individuals and/or CEOs.
A huge component of the perceived “hourglass running out**” involves both industry education AND stakeholder education (aka, advocacy!).**
There are currently many narratives and opinions – some educated, and some painfully not – on what linguists do and how, as well as what technologies like GenAI bring to the table.
Until everyone understands the same thing about the vital role and even the existence of the language services and language technology industries, not to mention their cultural impact and implications, it’s my opinion that there will be pockets of “linguists” everywhere. For now, at least.
Unifying that narrative (good luck there, as our industry represents people from every culture and background, with varying degrees of tech and language literacy and training), and somehow properly educating others (linguists and stakeholders) on the role, is a key component to answer this troubling question of where this story will end.
Final message? Ten years from now, we will look back on this moment in time as a defining period not just in our industry, but in the history of mankind. Give yourself the grace and the space to accept that, and to react accordingly.
If we take advocacy seriously, especially in light of tumultuous political and legislative changes, I feel we will have a much longer run.
Johan Botha , African Language Solutions Consultant, Translator
Running out of linguists entirely is unlikely. However, there’s a risk that we might lose linguists who have the deepest understanding of culture, nuance, and linguistic detail. These are skills and insights that AI and technology cannot yet authentically replicate.
In other words, the primary threat is not a general shortage of linguists. It’s the potential loss of experienced, culturally-aware linguists who may feel uncomfortable or alienated by the shift toward technology-driven methods. If these highly skilled linguists decide to leave the industry, it could significantly reduce the quality and cultural appropriateness of localization work.
This makes it essential for the industry to find ways to retain and support experienced linguists, even if they prefer traditional ways of working. Losing their expertise would have long-term consequences, undermining the effectiveness and credibility of language services in general.
Tina Shortland, Linguist, Audiovisual Translator
It sounds like a simple question, but it’s more complicated than it seems.
First of all, the definition of the term linguist has changed quite a bit in the last five to ten years. I used to call myself a subtitler or translator, but now I’m called a linguist.
My language is Norwegian. It’s what we might call a medium-sized language, with around five million speakers. In Norway, the use of English in academia has exploded over the last decade. At Norwegian universities, about half of all MA theses are now written in English, and a quarter of all university courses are taught in English. And that worries me. What happens to our language when academic knowledge is developed mostly in English? How do we create and maintain Norwegian terminology if we stop writing in Norwegian?
My work as a language expert is changing, too. I’m lucky, I haven’t had to work with machine translation yet. But many of my colleagues now work almost exclusively as post-editors. Are they still linguists? In much of Europe, translators are legally classified as authors. But recently, we’ve seen efforts by some organizations to deny post-editors those same authors’ rights.
That brings us to two big problems:
Post-editing rates are so low that people have to sacrifice quality just to make a living.
We’re feeding poor-quality language into systems that are then used by people who aren’t language experts, affecting their knowledge, their understanding, and ultimately, how they use their own language.
At this point, large language models can’t reliably translate into Norwegian, let alone write it fluently. And yet this kind of writing is what we see more and more around us. So what’s the impact on how people learn Norwegian, on language acquisition, both as a first language and as a second language?
I see myself as a custodian of my language. And I truly believe we need linguists and experts across every field, now more than ever. But if linguists are treated as expendable, it will get harder to make a living in this field. And fewer people will choose to become linguists in the first place.
The term “good enough”, which is often used to describe the quality expectations of the client, certainly doesn’t help. It sets the bar lower and lower, until true expertise is no longer valued, and quality becomes optional. But language isn’t just a tool. It’s identity, it’s culture, it’s how we think. And “good enough” simply isn’t good enough.
So, will we run out of linguists? I think there will be fewer linguists, but I also think we will ultimately need more of them.
Yota Georgakopoulou, Translator, Consultant
Language shapes our reality. It extends beyond communication; it shapes the way we think, feel, and understand the world around us, as well as the way we understand ourselves. People much wiser than I have written profound essays on this topic, so I will not even try to replicate this or repeat any of the great answers my fellow Think Tank members have provided to the question of whether we will ever run out of linguists.
I once delivered a speech called “I’m a translator, what’s your superpower?” and still identify as a translator, even though my work over the past two and a half decades has taken me through management, research, and consultancy roles. And even though I do not translate for a living anymore, ‘words’ are still a core part of my work and what makes me good at it.
Language is our greatest opportunity to live in a better world. So I believe and hope that we will never run out of people who want to study and work with it.
Stavroula Sokoli, Translator, Researcher, Educator
It's a seemingly straight-forward question, and the answer is complex: I’d like to say “no, it’s hard for me to imagine that”, but as an academic I’ll answer “it depends”. It’s hard to imagine that we’ll run out of people with profound language skills who can produce high quality work. But what we might run out of is jobs that know what to do with them. We run the risk of undervaluing talent, not a shortage of talent.
The term "linguist" in the localization industry extends beyond the academic study of language, and it encompasses a wide range of language professionals, including translators, reviewers, and multilingual specialists. Not all of the freelancers in the gig economy are highly skilled or trained. Some of the tasks they used to do are already being done by machines. The localization industry is split into two worlds. On one side, you have this idea of “translation out of the wall,” like electricity. You just plug in and get it. This is driven by AI. For high volume, low risk work, machines have taken over. In that world, the human role is becoming about post-editing, or just managing the machines. It demands less of what makes a linguist special. But on the other side, you have everything else: films that need to make you feel something, marketing that needs to persuade, legal documents where every word matters, diplomacy where a mistake can cause a crisis. In that world, you need a human mind, a person who feels, understands and can work with words.
And here's the paradox. In the age of AI, those human skills are becoming more valuable, not less. You might have heard the NVIDIA CEO talk about “the revenge of the English majors.” His point is that knowing how to communicate with precision and clarity, how to talk to these new AI systems, is becoming a critical skill. And linguists are better at that than coders. So, what does this mean for the profession? For those equipped, it means moving up the chain, focusing on the high-stakes work. For some, it means becoming the person who can bridge the gap between human meaning and machine processing. This kind of work requires mental strength and is not for everybody.
It also means we need to get better at sales: Selling our value. Most linguists I know are not good at sales, we like to think our intrinsic value is self-evident. If we can help society understand that communication is more than just moving data from point A to point B (like electricity), and that translation is not replacing words, then skilled language professionals stand a chance. The problem is, we don't have the same collective power as doctors and lawyers. We don't have strong professional bodies or regulatory control. That makes proving our value harder, but not impossible. It’s a question not just for our industry, but for society as a whole. If we believe that true meaning, cultural understanding, and human connection are worth investing in, then linguists will find their place in this new world.
So, whether we run out of linguists depends on the value we place on them. It's up to us to make sure we don't lose the kind of world that needs them.
Marina Pantcheva, Theoretical Linguist, Linguistic AI Services
After all these insights from the Think Tank members, let me simply summarize the main ideas they shared.
We are not likely to run out of linguists. But their role is changing in response to technological change. The very definition of ‘linguist’ changes, too. This term, once preserved for scholars of language, has become broader. It now includes translators, interpreters, subtitlers, post-editors, and even writers and copywriters. More or less, anyone working with language.
Similarly, the task portfolio has grown. Linguists now do quality assurance, post-editing, consulting, content creation, data curation, and even synthetic voice editing. Their ability to work across disciplines has expanded the very definition of what it means to be a linguist today.
However, this evolution brings challenges. AI is taking over linguistic tasks, creating a real risk that we may lose the most experienced and culturally knowledgeable professionals — those with a deep understanding of syntax, morphology, nuance, context, history, and the identity of language. These are not skills that AI can replicate. So, even though AI and automation have taken a big share of how language services are delivered, the need for human expertise remains strong.
Even in the age of AI, true linguists with deep knowledge of language are needed now more than ever: not just as translators or post-editors, but as custodians of language, identity, and culture. Their role is shifting; we will probably need fewer of them, but their value will only grow. The challenge lies in recognizing the value they bring, maintaining fair working conditions, and educating the future generations of linguists.
This development isn’t unique to language and AI. A parallel comes from carpentry. Even in a world full of cheap mass-produced IKEA furniture, skilled carpenters continue to thrive. People still buy handcrafted furniture for its beauty, uniqueness, quality, and durability.
In the same way, true linguistic craftsmanship will always have a place even in a world of mass-produced machine translations.
About the Series
As part of the "Ask the Think Tank" series, members answer reader's questions to help foster knowledge sharing and become a resource when you don't know where to turn. To submit your own question, click here.
