Interview with Jeff Wood (Part 2)

This is the second of a three-part interview with Jeff Wood about the translation and interpretation profession. In this part, Jeff took time to discuss language trends, where the work is, and how it is being done.

The major languages in the translation and interpretation industry today are Chinese and Japanese, the former due to the explosive industrial and economic growth in China, the latter primarily a result of Japan’s ongoing success in the automotive and consumer electronics fields. Demand for these languages is also strong because the number of people who master them is small. The writing systems alone require many years of study, and the necessary “in-country” time is longer because the cultures and societies are far removed from American or European culture and society.

Next comes German, which remains an important language because of its pre-eminent position in the European Union and its continued success in industry. Demand for German is proportionally greater than French because there are fewer professionals going after the jobs, whereas there are a lot of professional French translators and interpreters competing for the available jobs. The decline in available professionals for German may lead to many opportunities, especially as older professionals retire. Other European languages do remain important because of particular industries or international activities, but they all lag behind German in terms of job opportunities.

Arabic, Korean, and the other languages involved in the War on Terror are and will remain important in the U.S. intelligence community, and may become important as the countries where they are used become more integrated into the international community. Increased business, tourism, and the effects of globalization, should they reach these countries, will create greater demand for translators or interpreters. But that is in the future, and doesn't look likely any time soon.

Russian is a peculiar language, according to Jeff Wood. During the Cold War, it was extremely important to the U.S. government, but offered few opportunities outside the intelligence and military communities. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Russian demand has oscillated between the private and public sectors, and will likely do so for the next 15 to 20 years. The International Space Station creates an ongoing demand for Russian translators and interpreters in Houston, and I know one interpreter who commutes from the Seattle area to Houston every month to work with Russians there.

Technology, as we all know, is playing an increasingly important role in the translation process, and is starting to appear in the interpretation process as well. Most linguists, according to Jeff Wood, have a minimal technical background, instead being language or liberal arts majors. Many are technophobic and will have to learn to use technologies such as machine-assisted translation tools, and even machine translation software. The next generation of translators and interpreters may be more comfortable and have more interest in technology, but that remains to be seen.

The technology itself is evolving rapidly, between mergers and strategic partnerships among diverse members of the CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) industry, and new technologies such as voice-input and interpretation-assistants. But certain trends are apparent to all. Jeff Wood confirms what many have noticed: Trados is losing ground in the translation industry. Other, less-expensive tools are available and are being adopted.

Further, new markets are opening within the MAT/CAT world. For instance, translation memories have become a brokered commodity, with Web sites offering to host your memories for rent or sale to others. How this will play out remains to be seen, since there are many unanswered questions regarding intellectual property rights, accuracy of translation memory content, and liability for errors resulting from use of a brokered translation memory.

So if you are just starting out, the language of choice is Chinese. If you are well-established in your career, you need only stay on top of the emerging technologies and maintain your language skills, though if you want to add another language, Chinese should be given priority. Finally, we will all have to keep an eye on machine translation, which will start to place pressure on the lower portion of the industry over the next ten years as the technology becomes able to take over simple translation tasks currently performed by people. In other words, if you want to last in this profession, you need top-notch skills, and you have to maintain them.