The language and translation industry is considered to be one of the fastest growing and biggest in the world. Compared to fifty years ago, the demand for translation services has quadrupled mainly because an increasing number of businesses are doing business across borders. In the past, doing business in multiple countries in different languages was something best reserved for so-called multinational, large corporations. Today, many companies conduct their communications, sales, and marketing in multiple languages.
According to the Center for Next Generation Localisation, language translation is a big business growing at 5.52% each year. When ranked amongst other businesses it stands as the 4th fastest growing in America. Inc Magazine published an article stating that the language industry is amongst the top in the world owing to growing demand.
A few facts about the worldwide translation industry as it stands today
The translation industry is currently driven by technology, and it’s as diverse as any other. A global economy requires that businesses be able to communicate and reach out in multiple languages. It is for this reason that according to a size estimate in 2016, the global language market is valued at around $40 billion. The figure is expected to increase to $45 billion by 2020. The project growth rate of 6.5/5 to 7.5% each year is expected through 2017 and 2018. On the language technology end of the spectrum, it is estimated at around $20 billion.
Opportunities for individuals and businesses in the translation industry
Common Sense Advisory which provides some of the most highly regarded industry data with data sourced from 18,000 firms across the globe indicates that there are a growing number of individuals and businesses offering translation services. The EU Directorate-General Report further substantiates the figures by the Common-Sense Advisory with its 2012 figures of 330,000 people employed as translators globally. Around 78% of the translators resided in Europe but worked as freelancers.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics, in America, there are over 3,000 businesses employing well over 60,000 language professionals. Around 50,000 work as interpreters and translators.
Knowing how to speak and write multiple languages are paying dividends to individuals who can offer their services as freelancers. However, businesses too have an advantage by offering their services to other firms and government bodies. The growing demand means that there is always a market for translators freelance or large companies.
Potential threats to the translation industry
Possibly one of the biggest threats to the translation industry is technology. While technology has helped foster the industry, machine translation has also improved significantly. Many businesses are continuing to rely on machine translation and free translation services like Google Translate. However, in all seriousness machine translation services are at least a decade away from truly being a threat to human translators. Computers are unable to understand context, grammar, idioms, sarcasm, and proverbs which render the translations inadequate for professional use. That said it still allows someone to get a faint understanding of what is being communicated.