How Airbnb

Grew its Reach

by 1 Billion People
in 3 Months With +
Translated.
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SUMMARY - THE CHALLENGE T R A N S L AT E D

The Challenge
• 80+ LOCALES TO EXPAND THE BUSINESS
Airbnb required to adapt the brand values to now cover
220+ countries and regions, with serious consideration
for cultural diversity.
• 30+ COMPLETELY NEW LANGUAGES
The same quality as the existing languages – which
took years – was required, including for low resources
languages.
• 1,200+ QUALIFIED LINGUISTS
To achieve the expansion in 3 months, it was required
to find and quickly train an impressive number of
professional translators. Translated’s Impact
A proven and reliable process, working with a single partner

• RAPID LINGUISTS SELECTION & TRAINING

To pinpoint the top 1% of linguists for each language from our network of
300,000+ professionals, we relied on an AI-powered ranking system, translation
tests, and a survey of Airbnb’s most critical localization elements.
Thanks to Translated’s world-class team and tools, • COPYWRITERS FOR QUALITY & CONSISTENCY
plus our innovativ/e partnership, Airbnb was able We supported language leads with copywriters to harmonize with Airbnb’s
to launch one of the largest and quickest language tone of voice faster and provide coaching to onboarded linguists. By hosting
expansions ever while keeping the whole project leads and copywriters at our offices, we got the same commitment as in-house
cost-effective and achieving a remarkable ROI. workers and maintained scalability.
Salvo Giammarresi - Airbnb Head of Localization • REAL-TIME VISIBILITY OVER TRANSLATORS AND KPIs
We built a platform offering Airbnb real-time and direct communication with
the linguists, as well as access to all materials and insight into relevant KPIs,

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including financial projections, quality performance, and linguist profiles.
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SUMMARY - THE SOLUTION T R A N S L AT E D

• Ranking of 300,000+ translators based based on performance,

expertise in relevant subject areas, and the lowest number of
errors detected by reviewers - all performed by our proprietary
AI software trained on 20+ years of data.
• A translation test was carried out by the top 1% of translators
and evaluated by Translated’s community managers. Three QA
evaluations of the test were performed by other translators,
considering only the two most similar results to avoid judgment
bias.
• Survey on Airbnb’s most critical localization aspects.

We ended up with a team of more than 1,200 qualified linguists.

Driving Success with

To ensure the required quality and consistency while working with
so many freelancers, we brought in professional copywriters to

a Process Ensuring
support the language leads. The copywriters were responsible
for rapidly aligning with Airbnb’s tone of voice and coaching the

Quality and Consistency

linguists on creating content that resonates with Airbnb’s vision.
We hosted the language leads and copywriters (62 people
in total) at our offices in Rome for the duration of the project to
provide the same level of engagement and commitment as an
To globally scale its business in 2019, Airbnb asked Translated to in-house localization team while maintaining the scalability of the
localize approximately 1 million words (website and app) into 31 new system. They took ownership of training the remote linguists and
languages in just 3 months, including some low-resource languages. coordinated their work.
To ensure the same quality and consistency in this new expansion, Our project managers used a proprietary collaborative
we co-designed a three-step process with Airbnb that focused on platform with an analytics dashboard shared with Airbnb to provide
branding, efficiency, and engagement. real-time access and full transparency into the production process
and quality metrics, and to directly connect Airbnb with the
We designed a hyper-scalable selection system, which relied on freelancers. The platform was also used to exchange information
multiple data points to identify the top 1% of linguists for each about the jobs and training materials, as well as to facilitate the

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language, consisting of: required in-context Language Quality Assurance upon completion.
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THE TEAM T R A N S L AT E D

Working with
1,200+ Linguists
When launching in a new country, translation alone is not
sufficient. Language is pervasive and embedded in many elements
of a product and the way its users engage with it. Working with
over 1,200 remote linguists required additional measures to
ensure quality and consistency. For this reason, we developed an
innovative approach to language expansion designed around
the user. This allowed us to carefully adapt Airbnb’s values to the
cultures of the target countries, ensuring the most efficient and
appropriate communication possible.

Introducing
the Copywriter
We put together a team for each language, composed of a
linguist, responsible for the translation output, and a copywriter,
who focused on interpreting the intrinsic meaning of the source
and not only ensured that the translations conveyed the same
values as the original content, but also sounded natural and
resonated in terms of cultural diversity. These “Creative Duos”
then took on the responsibility of coaching linguists to guarantee
brand consistency.

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T EC H N O LO GY S TAC K T R A N S L AT E D

T-Rank
CUSTOM AI-BASED TALENT SCOUT

Customizable proprietary software based on artificial intelligence with 20+ years of training.
It ranks translators on over 30 factors, including resume, performance, and expertise in
relevant subject areas.

A Comprehensive, ModernMT
Cutting-Edge CLOSEST-TO-HUMAN MACHINE TRANSLATION

Technology Stack Award-winning adaptive machine translation. ModernMT improves from human corrections
and adapts to the context of the document. It ensures increased productivity and helps
translators use the most appropriate terminology.

We used proprietary tools to

source the best translators and MateCat
copywriters, allowing our linguists CAT TOOL FOR PERFORMANCE

to be more productive and

MateCat allows users to translate more words per hour and simplifies project management,
focused on the more creative side especially for rush tasks. It also allows for shared translation memories (TMs), glossaries, and offers

of language. We also relied on up to 20% more matches by relying on the largest existing TM in the world (12+ billion words).

our custom platform to monitor

progress and share data with TranslationOS
FULL-STACK ENTERPRISE LOCALIZATION PLATFORM
Airbnb in real-time.
A hyper-scalable translation platform, directly connecting clients with translators.
Customizable dashboards give access to all relevant KPIs, including financial projections,

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quality performance, and linguist profiles.
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T EC H N O LO GY S TAC K T R A N S L AT E D

The Hybrid
Vendor Model:
An Easily
Scalable Team
of Engaged
Freelancers
To overcome the limitations of
traditional vendor models, we
On-site and ongoing training
We created a unique experience for language leads and copywriters, who often work
defined a new model based remotely, by hosting them at our offices and bringing together people from many different
on an automated and backgrounds and cultures. We ran a high-touch training session on Airbnb’s style guides,
after which they took responsibility for providing ongoing training to translators. Our project
highly-scalable selection system, managers continued to monitor the performance of linguists and offered additional training
combined with high-touch, when required.

on-site training.
A platform to keep workers connected
We enhanced the sense of belonging to a team of 1,200+ remote linguists by organizing the
work on a platform allowing real-time communication between Airbnb and us. Through the
platform, we provided shared TMs, glossaries, and training materials.

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BENEFITS T R A N S L AT E D

More time to work

Benefits with the internal team
of a Single Thanks to our innovative approach, our clients save the time and

Global Partner
money required to manage and align multiple vendors and can focus on
working more with designers, engineers and PMs in their internal team.

The same provider for Optimized costs

both translation and technology for remarkable ROI
We rank 300,000+ linguists for each project with AI-powered By leveraging our new hybrid model (leading in-house team plus

software and custom tests. We develop localization tools that freelancers around the world) and already having all the

include the closest-to-human MT offering. Our product team is ready technology required, we optimize costs and allow clients

to implement any custom solution. to add as many locales as they want.

Joint team working

on shared goals
We co-design the entire localization process with our clients, acting
as a partner. We start from the client’s goals and provide market
and brand analysis to identify the best locales to target in order to
maximize ROI.

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CO N TAC T S T R A N S L AT E D

Adaptable Localization
Solutions for Growing
Businesses
We partner with growing brands and co-design the best localization
solution around their needs. We provide them with the most
effective localization services by combining the best translators
in all languages with MT that learns from corrections and adapts
to the context.

We Are Ready
to Find a Solution
for Your Localization Needs!

Schedule a call

Hello, I’m Claudia

Translated Head of Business
Development
claudia@translated.com

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