TRAVOD’s Take on How Vast the Translation Industry is?

How vast could the translation industry be? What are the different trends being followed in the translation industry? And what are the most commonly translated languages? These are a number of questions that TRAVOD has tried to address in this post.

Well, translation industry has been constantly evolving. There was a time when the translation industry was run by laborers who used to spend hours translating word for word. Today, a big part of the translation industry relies on the use of technology. This worries many people, however. The first worrying thought that comes to mind is, that perhaps one day translators will have no jobs left if automated machine work takes over. But that is not going to happen, not anytime soon at least. This is because even if technology replaces a big part of the human work involved in the translation business, there are still a lot of minor details that only the human mind is capable of understanding. This is because language is a very complex communication tool, and translating a text from one language into another simply does not work by replacing the vocabulary in the text. So we cannot really expect artificial intelligence to be handling the entire translation industry at any point in future if we choose to adopt a realistic approach. Another good news is that the translation demands are constantly increasing. With more and more companies going global every year, the translation industry is a nice spot to begin a potentially profitable business. Consider LinkedIn, which recently pushed itself into China. Similarly, the popularity of social websites such as Twitter and Facebook is constantly on the rise. With more and more users joining from different regions of the world, these global businesses cannot survive without localization. Not only will a global company have to deal with its customers in a language they understand, but will also have to communicate efficiently with employees belonging to different regions of the world. For instance, translation from English to German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, and vice versa will always remain high in demand. The nature of this industry, makes it recession proof. This is because even during big economic downturns, this industry will always have room for employees.

What are the different types of translation services?

There are a range of different translation services that are provide in the translation industry. Translation industry includes several different companies that provide translation of written material, or provide an interpretation of a particular service from one language into another. Some companies even translate one language into a sign language for those who are hearing impaired. Now one might wonder what type of written material is translated by the companies. Well, the written material could include any sort of paper-based or digital document. These can range from legal documents, to academic work. Along with that, these companies also provide translation of websites and software. Translation of websites, is what we call ‘localization’. Localization of a website does not only involve translation of the text, but it also accounts for all the keyword trends in a particular region along with linguistic traits and the culture.

There are a number of different translation companies that provide that above mentioned, or similar translation services. For instance, TRAVOD has made its name among the biggest giants in the translation industry not so long ago. Within a short period of time, this translation company developed its reputation as one of the most reliable service out there. So considering the wide range of options included in the translation services, starting a new business in this industry could be promising.

Growth of the Translation industry

As we have mentioned before, that translation industry is one of the few industries that are majorly recession proof. Reports by IbisWorld suggest that the translation industry is expected to grow more. In fact, by the end of 2018 it will be more or less an industry worth $37 billion. While Asia is the place where this industry seems to be growing the fastest, it has already matured in the United States with Europe being the second home.

Moreover, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics suggests that this industry will see a growth of +42% between 2010 and 2020. The main factor for this rapid growth, is globalization of businesses of course. Another reason is the advancement in technology that is slowly allowing accurate translations. This allows the work to be done faster than ever, and more efficiently.

Technical Translation Services

Currently, there are a great number of manufacturing change going on in the world. As economy of various countries improve, higher exports and better trade means that there will be greater need of technical translation services.

Medical Translation Services

Normally, industries that are relatively smaller find it easier to grow on an international level. Currently, medical industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Canada, Latin America, and Europe. On the other hand, growth rate of the medicine industry is over 15% in Asia-Pacific. Considering this rapid growth, medical translation companies can also expect to see a boom in their growth over the coming years.

Machinery Translation

While on one hand, industrial rise and globalization is quite promising for the translation industry, an improvement in translation technology is endangering the man-power involved in this industry. With better and more efficient computerized software, the need for freelance translators might be reduced. However, the overall translation business does provide promising profits either way.

However, only few big translation companies realize the fact that complex language interpretations cannot be handled by a computer. So most analysts safely claim that better translation technology will simply make the process more efficient without reducing the man-power involved. Those in this business, know very well that a machine with artificial intelligence can still not achieve that level of linguistic logic that a human mind possesses.

So even though technological advancement in software and computer tools pose a threat to the translating man-power in this industry, it is a rather small and insignificant one.