The formation of GoAP was the brainchild of industry opinion-leader and President of Treehouse Strategy, Steve Chu (pictured), who explained to T-UPDATE the rationale behind his thinking: “Firstly there was no single regional organisation representing the interests of the globalization and localization sector covering Asia, Oceania, and countries in the entire Asia-Pacific area that promoted and facilitated pan Asian collaboration between language companies and companies looking to expand globally.”
According to Chu, GoAP has filled a huge gap in the industry’s regional ecosystem. He continued, “With an identifiable need, we have set clear objectives of promoting the globalization of Asian companies by sharing best localization practices andpromoting the use and development of language technologies in the region, but especially in Asia. GoAP will also foster and facilitate pan Asian collaboration between language companies, but importantly between European and North American companies and international companies doing business in our region.”
Steve Chu was quick to use his wide network of industry contacts to form partnerships withWoman In Localization (W.L), the Association of Language Companies (ALC) in the US, and the Association of Language Service Providers (ALSP) in China. Women in Localization (W.L) went on to sponsored a presentation during GoAP’s inaugural conference held in Seoul, Korea last December, GALA also held a joint pre-conference networking cocktail reception at the same conference.
The EUATC’s link up with GoAP follows partnership agreements signed with Asociación Argentina de Servicios Lingüísticos (AASL), Translated In Argentina (TinA), the Association of Language Companies (ALC)and Association of Professional Translators, Interpreters and Translation Companies of Kazakhstan (APTIC). In addition, the EUATC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Moscow Translation Club (MPK) in support of its stated intention to form a Russian Association of Language Service Companies.
Commenting, Heike Leinhäuser, President of the EUATC said: “We are delighted to have formed this latest partnership with GoAP. Collaboration with organisations representing the interests of the sector across the globe is entirely in line with our agreed strategy and will add real value for our network members. We very much look forward to working with GoAP and its members.”
