I was inspired to write this blog post by a visit to a print company. One of the directors talked to me about the main problem of their particular industry: the inability to attract and hire young and dynamic people. Here are five reasons why this doesn’t seem to be an issue for the translation industry.
1. Continuous demand for translation
We live in a multilingual reality that is highly dependent on translation in order to ensure communication. Statistics from GALA (Globalization And Localization Association) show that the worldwide language services market annually grows at a rate of 5.52%.
2. Diversity & technology
The image of translators as lonely human beings that spend their days translating enormous amounts of words on paper sheets in dark rooms is completely wrong. The translation industry is really diverse and very technology-driven. A translator is not just someone who speaks a foreign language; he/she is also familiar with CAT technology, makes optimal use of translation memories, terminology glossaries and reference material and follows the instructions from clients. A translator produces fluent translations that beautifully render the meaning of the source text in the target language.
3. New developments
The translation industry is constantly evolving. Existing technologies like CAT tools and project management platforms become more and more comprehensive and there are quite some interesting new research areas. Machine translation (MT) manifests itself as the most obvious example of such a research area. Automation of workflows and integration of various resources are new key principles in modern translation.
4. Strong interest from academics
Translation plays a prominent role in the academic world too thanks to its growth, its diversity and its technological developments. Apart from traditional studies in linguistics, there are very interesting courses in specialized translation, like University of Leuven’s Postgraduate Programme. This particular course is designed for people who want to learn about localization, technology and industry trends and aims to prepare its participants for a career in translation.
5. Job opportunities
Qualified translators are obviously key players in successful translation projects, but let’s not forget about other crucial actors like localization engineers, developers, project managers and sales people. Many translation companies seek to expand their team with competent people for all these different positions in order to increase the quality of their products. This leads to a wide offer of interesting job opportunities.
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