• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026

2

Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup

3

Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI

1

Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026

2

Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup

3

Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI
TechDigital business

Why DuPont hires linguists

By
Heather Clancy
Heather Clancy
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Heather Clancy
Heather Clancy
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 27, 2015, 6:00 AM ET
Courtesy of DuPont
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

It’s tough enough to keep a marketing message consistent in just one language. Imagine trying to do so across more than 1,200 distinct websites and mobile applications.

That’s roughly the number of digital properties that Fortune 500 chemicals company DuPont (DD) was struggling to update prior to streamlining its Internet presence to a more manageable 52 sites, a process it started about two years ago.

Its original intentions were sound—prioritize the needs of the local culture, regardless of where potential DuPont customers happens to be. After all, cultural sensitivity is an absolute must when establishing a global digital presence, so DuPont encouraged in-country teams to prioritize as they saw fit to appeal to the local market. “There are language nuances that you can’t ignore, image considerations that you can’t ignore,” said Sandra Van Wormer, digital marketing director at DuPont.

The resulting tangle of different sites created to accommodate those considerations, however, made rolling out global marketing campaigns incredibly challenging, Van Wormer said.

The solution? Adopt a new system that centralizes the process of updating and distributing content, and that optimizes how pages, videos, white papers and other messages are displayed to site visitors. The company now bakes language translation into the process, so marketing managers can concentrate mostly on minor customizations rather than hiring linguists themselves. This approach cuts the amount of time it takes to roll out multinational campaign in half on average, according to the company.

“We recently delivered new messaging for one of our brands to seven countries, in their local languages, within two weeks. The old system wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Van Wormer said.

DuPont’s new system combines management software from digital marketing company Adobe (ADBE) and Lionbridge Technologies (LIOX), which specializes in translation services.

Aside from speeding digital marketing rollouts, DuPont’s investment has had a positive effect on response rates from potential customers. For some business-to-business campaigns, the marketing team has recorded an 80% increase in prospect inquiries, Van Wormer said.

Lionbridge uses more than 100,000 certified linguists to help more than 800 companies handle their translation needs. Last year, it approached $500 million in revenue, and in mid-July, it was ranked as the world’s largest translation agency. Businesses spent an estimated $37 billion on outsourced translation services and technologies last year. Projections call for $47 billion in revenue by 2018.

“All service providers use a crowdsourcing model to map the right level of translator to the right job,” said Clint Poole, vice president of global marketing for Lionbridge, which hails from Waltham, Mass.

Traditionally, Lionbridge’s services are used for digital marketing projects such as the DuPont one described above. Increasingly, they’re playing a role in near real-time interpretation of comments, tips, and other feedback left on Web support forums. The idea is not only to answer questions or address complaints more quickly, but also to share the tenor of this commentary across regional offices.

“Agents can now be located anywhere in the world, helping serve a customer in any language,” Poole said.

Follow Heather Clancy on Twitter at @greentechlady or via her RSS feed. And please subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

About the Author
By Heather Clancy
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Vietnam has to find $200 billion to fund its ambitious growth agenda. Techcombank’s CEO thinks that has to come from overseas
BankingAsia Agenda
Vietnam has to find $200 billion to fund its ambitious growth agenda. Techcombank’s CEO thinks that has to come from overseas
By Angelica AngJune 16, 2026
1 hour ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaking into a microphone.
NewslettersEye on AI
Decision on Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos models means the U.S. has a licensing regime for frontier AI—it just doesn’t want to admit it
By Jeremy KahnJune 16, 2026
2 hours ago
Exclusive: PayPal winds down venture arm as fintech giant restructures under new CEO
Startups & VenturePayPal Holdings
Exclusive: PayPal winds down venture arm as fintech giant restructures under new CEO
By Ben WeissJune 16, 2026
2 hours ago
‘Making China the elephant in the room’: The G7 confronts its reliance on U.S. AI and Chinese energy supply chains, experts say
EuropeAnthropic
‘Making China the elephant in the room’: The G7 confronts its reliance on U.S. AI and Chinese energy supply chains, experts say
By Mia OsmonbekovJune 16, 2026
3 hours ago
elon musk poses while wearing a suit
AISpaceX
SpaceX’ surging stock paid for the $60 billion Cursor acquisition in just a few hours of trading—and it reveals Elon Musk’s new power
By Lily Mae LazarusJune 16, 2026
5 hours ago
CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk
InvestingSpaceX
SpaceX just surpassed Amazon’s market cap, overtaking the 31-year-old company on day three of public trading
By Eva RoytburgJune 16, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 15, 2026
1 day ago
Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup
Success
Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup
By Preston ForeJune 15, 2026
1 day ago
Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI
Big Tech
Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI
By Tristan BoveJune 15, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, June 15, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, June 15, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 15, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of June 16, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 16, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 16, 2026
10 hours ago
Current price of gold as of June 15, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of June 15, 2026
By Danny BakstJune 15, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.