CASE STUDY · GLOBAL MULTILINGUAL PROGRAMME
20 million words across 79 language pairs
A three-year multilingual programme translating social media content for the training of a large language model, with high weekly volumes, diverse subject matter and delivery across dozens of language pairs.
- ~20M words
- 79 language pairs
- ~500 linguists
- 3 years
THE PROJECT
Large-scale multilingual content for LLM training
VIAX was asked to support a long-term programme involving the translation of large volumes of social media content across 79 language pairs. The translated material was used as part of the training data for a large language model.
The project ran for approximately three years and required a large international linguistic team, central project coordination and regular quality checks.
- ~20M
- Words translated
- 79
- Language pairs
- 3 years
- Project duration
- ~500
- Linguists involved
- 8
- Project management & QA specialists
THE CONTENT
Social media language is rarely simple
The source material included the type of language people use naturally online. It could be informal, highly local, culturally specific or difficult to interpret without context.
- 01
Idioms & informal language
Expressions and wording that could not always be translated literally.
- 02
Local jargon
Region-specific and community-specific language requiring knowledge of local usage.
- 03
News & public affairs
Content referring to current events, politics and public discussion.
- 04
Religious content
Material where terminology and cultural context required careful handling.
- 05
Poetry & creative language
Content where meaning could depend on style, rhythm or figurative language.
- 06
Mixed everyday content
Posts covering a wide range of subjects, registers and writing styles.
SCALE
Very large volumes within short delivery windows
Some language batches reached approximately 500,000 words per week. Across the programme, VIAX could be required to deliver up to 3 million translated words within a period of two to four weeks.
Volumes changed from batch to batch, so team size and project coordination had to adjust as new work arrived.
THE CHALLENGE
Scale, variation and short timelines
The difficulty came from the combination of volume, number of languages and variety of source content. The project needed enough linguistic capacity to process very large batches while keeping instructions, queries and quality review organised across the whole programme.
- 01
Many language pairs
Work had to be coordinated across dozens of language combinations within the same overall programme.
- 02
Large linguistic teams
Hundreds of translators and reviewers took part during the lifetime of the project.
- 03
Changing volumes
Weekly workloads could vary significantly between languages and batches.
- 04
Diverse source material
The content moved constantly between different subjects, tones and levels of formality.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
One coordinated multilingual workflow
Team setup
Linguistic teams were organised according to the required languages, available volume and delivery schedule.
Project instructions
Translators and reviewers worked with the instructions and reference material supplied for the programme.
Batch management
Incoming content was divided and assigned across the linguistic teams according to language and capacity.
Queries & coordination
Project managers coordinated questions, deadlines and communication across the teams.
Quality review
QA specialists supported the linguistic review and final checks required for the programme.
Delivery
Completed batches were consolidated and delivered according to the agreed project schedule.
THE TEAM
Around 500 linguists, coordinated centrally
A project of this size could not rely on a small fixed translation team. VIAX built and coordinated a large pool of linguists across the required language pairs, while a central group of project management and QA specialists handled the overall workflow.
Team size changed according to the volume and languages required for each batch.
QUALITY
Managing quality across a large programme
With many linguists working on changing batches of content, clear instructions and structured review were important throughout the project.
Project instructions
Linguists worked according to the agreed requirements for the programme.
Review
Translation review and QA were included according to the project workflow.
Queries
Unclear source wording and linguistic questions could be raised through the project team.
Consistency
Repeated project instructions and reference material helped keep the work aligned across batches.
PROJECT OUTCOME
Nearly 20 million words delivered over three years
The programme demonstrates VIAX’s ability to organise large multilingual teams and manage substantial translation volumes within demanding delivery schedules.
CLIENT REVIEW
Review from the global multilingual programme
“VIAX always delivered their work and services error free and in a timely manner.”
Confidential client
Global multilingual programme
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