As we enter an age of unprecedented intercultural communication, the promise of translation and interpretation as professions stands nearly unrivalled.[1] But what will it take to be a language professional in these uncharted waters?
As our professional literature including this publication amply informs us, linguists will have to adjust to the changing landscape and proactively seize new opportunities. Tried and true skill as translators or interpreters simply will not suffice. The most obvious changes are technological, from computer assisted translation (CAT) tools, machine translation (MT), video remote interpreting, to smart phone apps. But there is also constant regulatory change, such as the efforts of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) to institutionalize accreditation of interpreter training programs, translation companies’ growing promotion of and adherence to official quality standards, and ongoing efforts of the ATA to promote translator and interpreter certification.[2]
Our profession is being taken more and more seriously, thanks in part to organizations such as the ATA and its local chapters. This development has spurred the creation and expansion of translation and interpreting programs throughout the country. In New York City, New York University and Hunter College are rapidly expanding their curricula for the language professions—good news for quality standards.
The burgeoning of our field is not occurring in a vacuum. As Jay Marciano of Lionbridge Technologies stated at the 2013 ATA Annual Conference in San Diego, the volume of media, information, and words is expanding prodigiously. He argues that this portends huge opportunity for linguists and language service providers. It also implies more work, and linguists will have to adapt their routines to meet the demands of the market.
Translators will have to take advantage of the opportunities that this new reality will bring, such as exploiting the growing market for translating tweets and other rapidly produced data.[3] Translators will have to be able to understand the workings of machine translation and how it can apply to their specific market segment. Can we use it in our work? How do we reliably calculate a reasonable rate based on this structurally divergent translation process? The same goes for the growing capabilities of CAT, in terminology bases and hybrid use with MT, among others.
That linguists will have to come up to speed with the latest technology and prepare themselves for rising professional standards will mean that they will have to invest in further education. Yet, it is not always clear what investments will pay off, since one will have to choose from a wide array of course offerings, and success in the field also involves intangible skills such as business savvy, marketing, and solid negotiation.
The investment in further education will be an investment of both time and money and will entail an increased burden: you can count on having to do more night classes in addition to your day job. As you implement the new technologies, you will need to reckon on starting out at a slower pace as you come up to speed. And this temporary reduction in productivity will have to be financed somehow.
One can take heart in the fact that the new opportunities can mean better pay, but only for the cream of the crop who have come up to speed with the technology, sharpened their skills with the right continuing education, employed the most astute and aggressive business practices, and in some cases had the luck to be in the right place at the right time.
For the rest of us, the picture will look dimmer. As most translation agencies will tell you, their clients are demanding lower rates. By extension, they are paying translators less too. So we are working harder and struggling harder than ever. And, miraculously, the innovative technological aids at times seem to translate into lower pay. Many in the field have championed the pursuit of specialization to raise quality and rates. But cultivating a specialty also implies a further investment of time and money and more risk ventured. As mentioned, one cannot be sure ahead of time that it is all going to pay off.
My impression is that many translators who have found it hard to survive in the field have founded an agency or become interpreters. But this does not negate the fact that somebody is always going to be the smallest fish in the food chain. What happens to translators—even if they are excellent—when they are hired by these newly founded agencies? What about governments and not-for-profit entities that hire many interpreters but must cut their budgets wherever they can? And the wage-earning linguist faces inflation that has been over 25 percent during the last ten-year period.[4]
Of course, most competent linguists have other skills. Some of them may opt for a career change. Yet, as no one will deny, the need for capable translators and interpreters is growing. Does this mean that a crisis in the translation industry is looming? Will there come a time in the not-so-distant future when critical documents that need to be reliably translated simply cannot be because there are not enough professionally practicing linguists?
And will the result be that medical protocols will either not be translated or will be translated incompetently? And that suspects will be set free because their constitutionally mandated right to be assisted by an interpreter in a criminal proceeding against them cannot be honored? And that businesses will lose billions of dollars because adequate translation of marketing materials cannot take place (one need only recall the bungled ad campaign of the Swedish vacuum-cleaner company: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux”). Poor translation and interpreting are already causing havoc.[5]
Of course things do not have to be so bad. Rising standards, technical innovation, and new opportunity are essentially positive phenomena. The problem is that the industry’s current configuration is ill-suited to convert these positive developments into better served clients and more prosperous linguists.
A first step to channeling these changes into better work and better pay is for linguists to work more with direct clients. This change will foster increased specialization and higher-quality products in addition to superior remuneration. A foreseeable impediment is that our clients will prefer one-stop shopping and individual linguists will not always be able to respond to their needs. The initial outlay necessary to prepare for such engagements is also likely to be substantial. So it will be crucial for linguists to collaborate with one another to take on the full cycle of translation and interpreting projects, from marketing, project management, the range of research tasks, translation or interpreting, and quality control, to accounting.
Agencies will maintain a prominent place in the industry. While translation companies often play an important role in matching clients with linguists and ensuring quality work, I do not think it is healthy for agencies to dominate the market.
Since education is crucial to the quality of our work, we obviously must embrace it. I do not believe, however, that we as individuals should necessarily bear the entire burden of the costs involved in transitioning to a better functioning language services market. Additional funding will have to come from elsewhere, perhaps in some cases from philanthropy, but unavoidably from government entities. After all, we are providing a public service. And many other vital industries in our country have been aided by government incentives to become or stay self-sustaining. The computer, oil, and automotive industries are just a few. Such government intervention will benefit society as a whole and, more fundamentally, boost economic activity. Conversely, society as a whole will suffer without it.
There is more work to be done than ever. Skilled translators and interpreters should not have to struggle to survive. If we as professionals proactively seek to better our lot, we should be able to do so. There is plenty of money in this industry and plenty more to be made. It is our responsibility to educate government, industry, and the public to take our profession more seriously and allocate resources accordingly.
Originally published in The Gotham Translator.
[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, “Interpreters and Translators,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition. Available at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/interpreters-and-translators.htm (Visited January 18, 2013). The report states, “Employment of interpreters and translators is expected to grow 42 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations.”
[2] “ATA Board Meeting Summary,” ATA Committee Reports 2011-2012. Available at http://www.atanet.org/aboutus/committees_annual_report.pdf (Visited January 18, 2013). The ATA Board is currently investigating the feasibility of an ATA interpreter certification exam.
[3] Adam Ostrow, “Twitter is Still Growing Rapidly,” Mashable. February 10, 2010. Available at http://mashable.com/2010/02/10/twitter-tweet-volume/ (Visited January 18, 2013). From July 2008 to January 2010 the number of tweets per month rose from well under 200 million to over 1.2 billion. It may sound absurd to cite this as an opportunity for translators, but it illustrates the exponential increase in translatable material by virtue of the digital revolution occurring in our midst.
[4] Inflationdata.com, “Cumulative Inflation by Decade Since 1913,” Available at http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation/DecadeInflation.asp. (Visited January 18, 2013).
[5] Gail Price-Wise, “Language, Culture, And Medical Tragedy: The Case Of Willie Ramirez,” Health Affairs Blog. November 19, 2008. Available at http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2008/11/19/language-culture-and-medical-tragedy-the-case-of-willie-ramirez/ (Visited January 18, 2013). The report cites the case of a man becoming quadriplegic due to a misunderstanding that arose with the intermediation of a non-professional interpreter. This is just one case that occurred in 1980, but anyone who has been around long enough to see what goes down in the field knows that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Leonard Morin 