Danbury court interpreters face daily challenges

Libor Jany, Staff Writer

Updated 11:47 p.m., Thursday, May 26, 2011

As one of the 50 Best Careers of 2011, this should have strong growth over the next decade

The rundown:

Pharmaceutical inserts, instruction manuals, and textbooks—these are just a few of the documents that translators rework in English or other languages. At courthouses around the country and conferences throughout the world, interpreters help people of different tongues communicate. While both interpreters and translators convert one language into another, interpreters work with the spoken word, and translators the written word. But choosing this occupation means learning more than a foreign language; you also must thoroughly understand the subject you’re communicating about. You’ll relay not only words, but complicated concepts and ideas, as well as the cultural subtleties that accompany them.

Interpreters and translators specialize in a variety of fields, including medical, judiciary, literary, or sign-language. About a quarter are self-employed, and many translators work from home.

[See a list of The 50 Best Careers of 2011.]

The outlook:

Excellent, although prospects vary by language and topical specialty. Employment of interpreters and translators is projected to increase 22 percent between 2008 and 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the Labor Department. Demand is driven by an increasingly global economy, as well as an increasingly large population of non-English speakers in the United States.

Interpreters and translators held more than 50,900 jobs in 2008—although the actual number is likely much higher because many people in this field work sporadically. Urban areas, especially Washington, D.C., New York, and cities in California, provide the most employment possibilities, especially for interpreters. Interpreters and translators of Spanish should have solid opportunities because of expected increases in the Hispanic population in the United States, and demand is also expected to be strong for interpreters and translators specializing in healthcare and law. Interpreters for the deaf should continue to have favorable employment prospects because of low supply, while conference interpreters and literary translators can expect competition because of the small number of jobs in these specialties.

Other languages in demand include Asian languages—Chinese, Korean, and Japanese—as well as Arabic, Farsi, and indigenous African languages. So, too, are European languages like French, Italian, and German.

Money:

Salary varies greatly depending on language and subject matter. Interpreters and translators who speak languages that are in high demand or underrepresented in the field often have higher earnings, as do those who communicate about complicated topics. In 2009, the median annual salary was $40,860, and the median hourly wage, $19.65. Interpreters and translators in the bottom 10 percent earned less than $22,810, while those in the top 10 percent earned more than $74,150.

Upward mobility:

Once you’ve gained enough experience, you can transition to a more difficult or prestigious assignment—like conference interpreter—or start a translation agency.

Activity level:

Low. Most translation work is done on a computer, so many translators work from home or at an office. Interpreters work in a wider variety of settings, such as schools, hospitals, courtrooms, and conference centers, and may travel for the job.

[See a list of the best creative and service careers.]

Stress level:

Moderate. Expect to work under pressure of deadlines and tight schedules. Since many interpreters and translators work on a freelance basis, your schedule may vary, with weeks of limited work interspersed with weeks of long hours.

Education and preparation:

You’ll need to be fluent in at least two languages (including your native tongue). Though some interpreters and translators grow up in a bilingual home, it’s not necessary. Some interpreters and translators need a bachelor’s degree to find work, while others complete job-specific training programs. Formal programs are available at colleges nationwide and through non-university training programs and conferences. Federal courts require certification for interpreters of certain languages, as do state and municipals courts.

Interpreters and translators benefit from strong research and analytical skills, as well as a reliable memory.

Real advice from real people about landing a job as an interpreter or translator:

Interpreters and translators should master three skills: communicating in a foreign language, writing in their native language, and developing expertise in a field like law, engineering or physics—whatever topic you want to translate. You’ll likely need a degree in that field to understand it well enough to talk or write about it, which means you should expect to have a dual major in college or at least a major and minor: one in the foreign language, the other in your specialty.

Spending time abroad is valuable for aspiring translators. “Master your own language. You have to be a brilliant writer in English … You translate difficult things, like pharmaceutical inserts and physics textbooks and emergency medical procedures. So that requires you develop expertise in a technical field … Consider [in-demand] languages like Chinese and Arabic and Russian, and Urdu or Pashto if [you’re] courageous. Or Korean … [But] it’s really more important to find a language you’re passionate about.” —Kevin Hendzel, spokesman for the American Translators Association

http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2010/12/06/best-careers-2011-interpretertranslator?PageNr=2

A unique new center in LAS prepares students for a booming field.

Tough economic times can be hard on recent college graduates. As Elizabeth Lowe describes it, however, there’s such a recession-defying demand for students coming out of a new, tiny center on campus that employers are calling to say, “Thank you.”

Signs of the growing need for foreign language translators and interpreters are literally on display. Behind those humorous Chinese-to-English street sign translations in China, for example—“Slip and Fall Down Carefully,” or “Do Drunken Driving”—is a serious effort by the nation to accommodate tens of millions of foreign visitors whose numbers have nearly doubled since 2001. (China has since sought to curtail prominent translation gaffes.)

Lowe, director of U of I’s new Center for Translation Studies, notes that the U.S. federal government has more than 10,000 jobs for linguists that they cannot fill, and the U.S. Department of Labor predicts a 22 percent increase in corporate translators over the next eight years.

“I’ve had people come to me from the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, from various organizations in the European Union, saying, ‘We’re so glad that you’re starting a program. We desperately need people. We can’t fill our jobs,’” Lowe says.

While part of the trend comes from increasingly globalized national and economic affairs, it’s also a matter of law. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order that requires federal agencies, and those receiving federal funds, to ensure that people who are not proficient in English can access their services. Many local and state laws require similar provisions.

Translators and interpreters are needed in security, nongovernmental organizations, courts, health care, international publishing (the Center for Translation Studies partners with Dalkey Archive Press, an independent publisher on campus), and—in a “huge” area, Lowe says—the software industry, as companies such as Microsoft adapt their products for worldwide consumption.

The U of I’s School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics, along with top administrators, created the Center for Translation Studies in 2007, making Illinois the first major research university in the country with such a program. Students who enroll in the program must be proficient in a foreign language, but they may remain in their major of choice while earning a general certificate in translation that qualifies them for more specialized programs.

Lowe says they hope to add a master’s program in interpretation (translation is text-based, and interpretation is oral).

For now the center is relatively small. Teaching duties are spread amongst Lowe, two lecturers, and a visiting professor housed in the Foreign Languages Building. Other professors may also teach courses that count toward the certificate. Roughly 50 students are enrolled in the program at any one time.

Though the program is young, Lowe can already recite success stories. One graduate landed a job with the European Union, and two others received Fulbright Grants to teach in Turkey and Austria. One is publishing her translation of a Korean novel, and another plans to become a medical interpreter. Another is teaching language in Teach for America, a highly coveted position for college grads that places them as teachers in underserved schools.

U of I senior Samantha Duckett enrolled at Illinois uncertain of her future but became focused on translation after a touch of serendipity. As a sophomore she was meeting with her academic advisor when the fax machine beeped and out came a flier for the Center for Translation Studies.

Intrigued, Duckett switched her major to international studies and is now on track to earn the translation certificate by spring 2011, with the ultimate goal of becoming a conference interpreter at the United Nations.

The Center for Translation Studies teaches a variety of languages, Duckett says, adding that the staff is networked, experienced, and teaches modern techniques. (One of her few criticisms is that the center could do more to publicize itself.) She hopes to earn a master’s degree from the center when its graduate program begins.

Even as demand blooms for translation and interpretation, the center is adjusting for challenges that already are looming in the industry. One of these is computer translation applications, which, until now, have been the source of many of the confounding and humorous translations seen on doors, street signs, and menus everywhere. The American Translators Association reports that police in London, England, used computer software to translate a sign warning pickpockets that they are being watched by undercover police. To Spanish speakers, the translation read, “The pickpockets are kept. Police of the inner deck that works in the area. In July three the pickpockets received prayers of the prison over of four years.”

While computer translations will undoubtedly improve (they are a subject in the center’s course offerings), Lowe predicts they will always lack an element that only human translators and interpreters possess. Translation and interpretation has been called an art in which you’re also conveying cultures, current events, and prevailing moods that are difficult to put into words.

Marketers in Germany created a billboard selling shaving cream that played off the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. Their pitch line, “I have a cream,” made at least one Internet site of translation bloopers, and revealed how translations need more than proper grammar and syntax to convey the right message.

“Meaning changes constantly. And knowledge is changing constantly,” Lowe says. “There’s no way that a human programmer or a group of human programmers can be feeding the computer all that data as fast as knowledge is generated. The human translator will never be replaced.”

By Dave Evensen
Winter 2011

http://www.las.illinois.edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2011/translation/

November 22, 2010|By the CNN Wire Staff

Defendants with limited English-language skills have a constitutional right to court interpreters in criminal trials, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled Monday.

The ruling came in a case involving a Mandarin Chinese speaker who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on two counts of cruelty to a child. Annie Ling, who had limited English language skills, did not understand that she had the option to plead guilty instead of going to trial and possibly facing a longer sentence, said the American Civil Liberties Union, one of two groups that filed a friend-of-the-court brief stating that denying a defendant an interpreter violates the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws.

“The court acknowledged that we don’t have two systems of justice in this country — one for English speakers and another for everyone else,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, director of the National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project at the ACLU of Georgia. “The constitutional guarantee of due process applies to everyone in this country, not just fluent English speakers.”

Ling was arrested and charged with two counts of cruelty to a child. Her children were removed from the home and placed in foster care, according to court documents. After a 2008 trial, Ling was convicted of one count of cruelty to a child, and sentenced to 15 years, with 10 to serve in prison. The conviction was appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.

The court agreed with the brief, in which the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center joined with the ACLU, that the Sixth Amendment and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment guarantee the defendant the right to an interpreter.

The Georgia Supreme Court also instructed all Georgia state courts to practice “vigilance in protecting the rights of non-English-speakers.”

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-22/justice/georgia.court.interpreters_1_court-interpreters-defendants-english?_s=PM:CRIME

The Ministry for Health and Welfare in Korea is now training professional medical interpreters and planning to implement an official licensing examination for medical interpreters.

If this interpreter testing process is formally established, it’ll be Korea’s second interpreter license exam run by a government entity.  As of today, the only government-issued interpreter license in Korea is for a tour guide/interpreter who is required to pass written/oral language exams as well as a basic Korean history exam.

Since the State of California indefinitely suspended its medical interpreter program, this certainly is a hopeful change for Koreans who are interested in medical interpreting.

For more updated info on medical interprets in Korea, please visit the following Website.

www.miko.or.kr/medical_interpreters/vision.jsp

Lost translation – In Alaska, neglecting to provide interpreters for non-English speaking Medicaid patients means some doctors are breaking the law.

By Joshua Lang
Published on Thursday, September 9, 2010

Imagine: You’re going into an operation with a significant chance of not returning to the waking world. You hardly understand the idea of cancer, let alone how doctors fix it. All you know is that it hurts. The medical staff tells you that to save your life you have to go in to surgery, but the details are fuzzy. They are going to cut what? Slice where? Take what out? Before long you’re on the gurney headed to the operating room. You are still confused. “Where am I going?” you ask. No one answers. They strap you down like a mental patient. You struggle, and to calm you down, they play foreign music, smile, and do a jig as your consciousness fades to black.

This scenario is not fiction. Nor is it legal. It happened here, in Anchorage.

“I asked them, ‘What are you doing?’ And they did not respond. They put me on the surgery bed. They tied me down,” Rebecca says. “I asked them, ‘What is going on? Why are you tying me down?’ I couldn’t understand. They just started dancing and singing, playing music. I was strapped to the bed. I was scared. I guess they were trying to entertain me…”

Photo of Rebecca by Joshua Lang

It’s a disturbing scenario—for most people, intolerable. But it’s happened twice to Rebecca, a 36-year-old refugee and single mother originally from Sudan.

Many Alaska physicians are breaking the law—specifically, “Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which requires that any health care provider who receives federal funds, including funding from Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program or Medicare, to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to its health services,” says Doreena Wong, a health policy expert and lawyer at the National Health Law Program, a public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C.

“It is horrifying to watch a human being treated this way. If you look at it from the doctor’s office, they don’t want to get known for this,” says Karen Ferguson, the director of the Refugee Assistance & Immigration Services (RAIS) program in Anchorage. She has a packet of information and a stocked reserve of horrific stories—cases of doctors’ seemingly malicious abuse of refugees in ill health. Her most poignant example is Rebecca.

Although Rebecca is from Sudan and now lives in Anchorage, the majority of her life was spent in Ethiopia. When she was 13 her family fled the religious persecution of a fundamentalist Islamic government. She trekked nearly 500 miles from her home in the south to a camp near the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.

“We walked for days and days in the bush. Nothing to cook, nothing to eat—only water. Bullets flying, people taking clothes, a lot of people dying, people being killed. They were shooting at us! I wanted to go back home because it was too far. I was tired. They said, ‘We are close; Ethiopia is close.’ So I kept going. After we arrived, they took us to the camp.”

For 22 years, Rebecca lived in that camp. She found a job as an assistant to the pharmacist. She married. She had children. But shortly after her last child was born, her husband died from an infection. Survival became a daily dilemma, and with dwindling options, she applied for asylum in the United States. Numerous interviews, security checks and examinations later, her application was accepted.

On October 6, 2008, she left for America. There were a number of firsts: her first escalator, her first airplane ride, her first time in New York, and her first steps in Alaska, her new home. Rebecca describes the transition in simple terms, “Life here in America is not the same as Ethiopia. Here there are laws.” Her case manager at Catholic Social Services is Rhoda Essary, a British transplant without the accent. She described Rebecca’s transition as stoic, “at least until she began coughing up blood.”

Rebecca had been in Anchorage for a month. “The side of my body was numb. If you pinched me, I didn’t feel it,” says Rebecca. Unfortunately, the doctors never heard this. They did not find out about the numbness until it was nearly too late.

Rhoda accompanied Rebecca to a clinic at the corner of Boniface and Northern Lights. It has a sign in red plastic that reads, “Medical Clinic,” and a neon orange sign below it, “Urgent Care Walk-In.” There was one serious problem: Rebecca had possibly less than a dozen words in her English vocabulary. There are phone lines that doctors can call at any moment for an interpreter, but the clinic refused any suggestion that an interpreter was needed. If she wanted someone, they said, find a family member or a friend. But Rebecca had no friends yet, and her children were equally linguistically confused.

The clinic sent her home, diagnosed with a “touch of pneumonia,” according to Rhoda. No one from the clinic would comment on the details of the case.

Rebecca continued to cough up blood. Her symptoms worsened. Finally, she was persuaded to visit the emergency room. “They told me that I had an hour to live,” says Rebecca. Rhoda explained that she had used her cell phone this time to call an interpreter, facilitating a proper diagnosis. There was a mass in her heart—no pneumonia. Her situation too urgent to even give her a chance to call her children, Rebecca was rushed into open-heart surgery.

The urgent care clinic broke the law while treating Rebecca. Doreena Wong from the National Health Law Program explains that, “this case illustrates the serious consequences when a health care provider does not have the necessary language assistance… The suffering of the patient could have easily been avoided if an interpreter had been used, and the clinic was fortunate that the doctors caught their mistake in time to save the patient’s life. We have other cases where the patients were not so lucky.”

Dr. Jim Billman from the urgent care clinic Rebecca first visited said he had no idea that the provision of an interpreter was required: “If we are breaking the law, I am sure the owner would like to know about it.” Interestingly, the nurse at the front desk explained she knew it was required. The owner was unavailable for comment.

Dr. Thomas Hunt from Providence Hospital describes Rebecca’s care at the clinic as “significantly substandard.” He comments that the diagnosis was flat “wrong.”

These are not isolated incidents. Rhoda Essary and Karen Ferguson have an unsettling number of stories similar to Rebecca’s—refugees that experienced a misdiagnosis or unacceptable care because of miscommunication. They have a list of 20 different “problem” providers, including small clinics and wealthy private practices. There are dentists, ophthalmologists, urologists, internists, surgeons and others.

This list gives an impression of malfeasance. However, meeting with the doctors themselves gives an entirely different impression.

Dr. William Bergeron, for example, is one of these “problem providers.” He specializes in oral and maxillofacial (jaws and face) care at Oral Surgery Associates of Alaska on the border of Fairview and South Addition. He is, in fact, the only oral surgeon in Anchorage that accepts Medicaid patients. He does not have to; he does it because, without him, there would be no one else.

“Refugees are great. Very pleasant and very appreciative,” maintains Dr. Bergeron. The problem is, of course, funding. “The fees for interpreters are expensive and you don’t even know what you get.” Dr. Bergeron agrees that interpreters increase the quality of care. He just doesn’t know how to make it work in his business.

Medicaid in Alaska reimburses physicians for medical services but not for interpreters. It’s simple. An interpreter can cost between $40 to $120 per hour. If you are being paid $150 for a visit, it doesn’t make sense to pay $100 for an interpreter.

Curiously, the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center in Fairview provides interpreters for any and every client who needs it. According to Joan Fisher, its director, they accommodate “over 21 different languages.” How? It turns out that with the special designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Fisher can bill the federal government for interpretation services. It’s no secret formula. Find the money and find interpreters. Alaska physicians are not malicious; they’re practical.

Thus one encounters the common “friends and family” solution—the free solution—a pernicious panacea, where the responsibility for finding an interpreter is passed on to the patient, who is recommended to enlist the help of a multilingual friend or family member. Of the nine providers interviewed for this article, eight said that they depend on friends and family for their patients with limited English.

Think about this: If you are a mother, and you have a son who is moderately bilingual, would you want him to interpret for you at your next appointment at the OB/GYN? If you are a father, and you have a daughter who is bilingual, would you want your daughter to interpret at your next prostate exam? Would you want your friend or family member to be the first to know that you have cancer?

In the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Department of Justice writes, “It is inappropriate to ask family members or other companions to interpret for a person who is deaf or hard of hearing. Family members may be unable to interpret accurately in the emotional situation that often exists in a medical emergency.” Are the Sudanese refugee and the deaf individual different in this respect?

If something goes wrong and the physician used a family member deemed inappropriate (such as a minor) as an interpreter, the provider is liable. The Health Law Program studied a cohort of malpractice cases and found that nearly three percent of all cases arose from such problems, costing doctors millions. There are other opportunity costs also. Dr. Bergeron admits, “Not having an interpreter costs me time in trying to properly explain procedures.”

Doreena Wong from the Health Law Program comments that “larger providers save money with interpreters.” For this reason, hospitals generally have systematic methods for interpretation needs. The problem is with small to medium private practices.

“The solution is simple,” says Barbara Richards, the regional director of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. If Alaska requests it, the federal government will provide the majority of the funding necessary to reimburse Alaska physicians for interpreters. Thirteen states have already implemented similar programs, including Washington, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Maine and Utah.

Would he offer interpretation service to his patients if he was reimbursed for it? Dr. Bergeron replies without hesitation, “I certainly would.” All of the 20 “problem” doctors interviewed for this article agreed that if they were reimbursed they would at least try out the interpretation service.

According to Karen Ferguson at RAIS, there are about 1,000 Southern Sudanese refugees, between 5,000 and 6,000 Hmong refugees, about 100-plus Somali refugees, maybe 50 Iraqi refugees, 100 Bhutanese refugees and about 500 former Soviet Union refugees. There are also various asylees from Gambia and South America, entrants from Cuba and refugees from African countries such as Togo and Congo.

Anchorage is home to an increasingly diverse population. Over 94 languages are spoken in the Anchorage School District. The demand for interpreters is significant, but still manageable. If Washington and Hawaii can do it, so can Alaska.

Dr. Thomas Hunt from Providence Hospital points out the common sense behind the law: “It is a basic diagnostic tool.” Would you deny refugees the access to X-rays? Being able to communicate with your physician to explain what is wrong is fundamental, a basic tool of physicians.

Communication is the difference between a physician and a veterinarian.

Rebecca lived through the encounter with the heart tumor but the pain never went away. Five months later she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In her second surgery the physicians removed her ovaries and danced to western music to assuage her confusion.

Ever since that first episode she has been attending English class three times a week and church twice weekly. She can understand basic greetings; she can even fill out government forms when needed. Her progress is impressive but limited. The pain has still not gone away, but you wouldn’t know from her honest smile and the way in which she describes her experience in the United States.

She says, “I am alive, so thank God. I thank God for coming to the United States. I love my new home.” The pain does not deter her from Bible study, nor does it prevent her from taking care of her children.

Like many refugees, she demonstrates all of the best qualities of Alaskans. She is a survivalist, fiercely independent, honest, hard working and hospitable. She survived the Sudanese bush. She has raised a beautiful family by herself, and still makes time for schooling and church. When you enter Rebecca’s home, she immediately places a cold Pepsi on a cork coaster in front of your seat.

The process to solve situations like Rebecca’s is easy. Either the Alaska Legislature or the state director of Health & Human Services would need to recommend that interpretation services be included in the state Medicaid budget. Because law requires it, the federal government would immediately approve the expense. The state would cover a minority of the cost. Doctors would then be able to bill for interpreters.

Doctors want access to interpreters. Refugees need it. The law requires it. All the state needs to do is suggest it. In one of the most culturally diverse states in the nation, it only makes sense.

How large is the interpretation industry?

By Adam Wooten, Elanex General Manager (US)
Originally posted on Adam’s blog, T&I Business in February 2006.

The entire translation and interpretation industry has heard of Common Sense Advisory‘s list of the Top 20 Translation Companies, which is also the most timely resource for projections and estimates of translation and localization industry size ($9.46 billion in 2006). Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to find such information on the interpretation industry. Does such information exist? If so, where is it available?

Due to the nature of translation and interpretation, information on the interpretation industry is difficult to extract from most language industry research. This is particularly evident in Common Sense Advisory’s “Top 20” list of companies ranging from $377.1 million to $17.2 million in revenues. The report ranks Lionbridge and Titan (soon to be part of L-3 Communications) as the top two translation companies, both of which generate unspecified millions in revenues from interpretation services; however, the same report excludes the telephone interpretation giant Language Line, Inc., which generated $145.0 million in 2004 and therefore could be ranked 4th.

When questioned by T&I Business about Language Line’s absence from the rankings, Renato Beninatto, COO of Common Sense Advisory, noted that “in the case of all the Top 20 companies, interpretation represents less than 30% of their business, the formula being the inverse in the case of OPI [Over-the-phone Interpretation] companies.” Beninatto also noted that Language Line and NetworkOmni, the 2nd largest OPI firm, are often viewed differently by both buyers and other language companies Clearly, there are valid reasons both for and against distinguishing the interpretation industry from the translation industry in market reports, but that leaves us with very little information on the interpretation market and its key players.

Within the interpretation industry, the OPI market has seen an enormous amount of growth in recent years, so more information is available on this segment. Language Line’s 2004 SEC filings are a wonderful source of information on the OPI market. In one filing, Language Line pegs the potential OPI market at greater than $1 billion and the served OPI market at less than $200 million (based on the fact that it claims to hold 75% market share), which differs from the $300 million to $400 million estimate made by George Ulmer, owner of NetworkOmni, in the April 2004 issue of Los Angeles Magazine.

Language Line lists its most significant U.S. competitors as NetworkOmni, Tele-Interpreters, Bowne (now Lionbridge), and Pacific Interpreters, none of which were estimated to have generated more than $15 million in revenues in 2003. Language Line also estimated that Language Line, Ltd. (which Language Line, Inc. has since acquired), of the UK, generated $8 million and CanTalk, of Canada, generated $2 million in 2003. Language Line also provides internal information that may be very representative of the industry (considering Language Line’s self-declared 75% market share) and useful for competing in the market. This representative information includes language usage by billed minutes, customer distribution by industry, and an average annual increase in billed minutes of 21% from 1998 to 2003. All this information is vital to executives at small OPI firms who wish to identify competitors, languages to staff, industries to target, and growth expectations.

Unfortunately, information comparable to that already mentioned does not appear to be available for the interpretation market as a whole. T&I Business has informally asked many language executives how large they believe the interpretation market to be, and most have “guesstimated” it to be approximately 10% of the translation market – whatever that is. Applying that percentage to Common Sense Advisory’s numbers, that would put the US interpretation market at $397 million and the world interpretation market at $946 million in 2006. Until a market research firm accepts the challenge to tackle the interpreting industry, these are the some of the only estimates available.

Opportunities abound for translators

As the global economy shrinks, the demand for translation – written communication – and interpretation – spoken communication – jobs is exploding. (Istockphoto.com)

By Elaine Varelas, boston.com
May 18, 2008

Q. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Net looking for a job as an interpreter in America. I’m an English graduate, I’ve been a journalist for 23 years in radio, TV, and print journalism. Would you please help me?
more stories like this

A. This is a great question about a fast-growing industry. As the global economy shrinks, the demand for language services is exploding. There are opportunities in translation, which is written communication, and interpretation, which is spoken. It is important to note the differences in these two services when you look at your job options. Fortunately, no matter where you are located, you can find work as a linguist.

To better understand the opportunities, I consulted Wendy Pease of Rapport International, a language services firm based in Sudbury that offers translation and interpretation services.

“There are many ways to provide linguistic services in either full-time employment or contract work through agencies, global companies, and providers of community services,” she said.

“Full-time jobs are found via regular job-search avenues like networking and using online job boards. If you’re looking for contract work, it takes effort on the individual’s part to connect with the organizations that hire and market themselves. By sending an e-mail blast or telephoning the targeted agencies, you may have luck. Make sure to explain your language pair (fluent knowledge in your native language) and the specific languages and areas where you have expertise. Rarely will we hire anyone who says that they ‘translate anything.’ ”

Even if you are monolingual, there are a number of other positions available in this industry, such as sales and project management. Detail-oriented project managers with an understanding of translation management software such as SDL Trados are in demand now. As the industry grows, support positions in finance and IT will see an increase in demand, too. To work in this industry, you must be passionate about working with people from a variety of backgrounds.

The language services industry is highly fragmented, and experts expect to see consolidation over the next decade. There are a few large companies and thousands of small agencies just in the United States. Many firms were started by translators or interpreters who started offering services in languages other than the original one that they provided. This is a great time to tap into a budding industry.

The Difference between Translation and Interpretation

Written  by Adam Wooten ,  May 2010

If you are an author, reporter, or journalist of some type, you have probably been referred to this page because someone wants to politely explain to you the difference between translation and interpretation. There is no need to take offense. This is just an effort to educate many people who have previously been unaware. Not everyone outside the language industry knows the difference, but here is a basic principle you need to understand if you want to maintain credibility and appear as if you know what you are talking about.

Translation is Written & Interpretation is Spoken

It is really very simple. Translation is written. Interpretation is spoken. Translators work with written language. Interpreters deal with spoken language. That’s it! There is nothing more to it!

Still, many reporters and journalists get this wrong on a daily basis. I will not cite any examples here because I am not looking to embarrass anyone, but examples can be found easily with a quick Google search.

Authoritative References on the Difference

Trust me. You can take my word for it since I’ve worked as both a translator and an interpreter, and I’ve managed both translators and interpreters. If that is not enough to make you believe me, then check out a few of these authoritative references:

Although interpretation and translation have much in common, the practice of each profession differs in the same way that written language differs from spoken… Interpreters must be good public speakers who are adept at grasping meaning and solving complex linguistic problems quickly, whereas translators must be able to conduct thorough and meticulous research and produce accurate, camera-ready documents while adhering to tight deadlines.
Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, & Language Education
Monterey Institute of International Studies

Translation refers to the rendering of written materials into a different language…. Interpretation refers to the relaying of spoken words, such as lectures or conversations, into another language….
Center for Language Study
Yale University

Translators work with the written word…. Interpreters work with the spoken word….
American Translators Association

Interpreters deal with spoken words, translators with written words.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Even Wikipedia recognizes that many people attempt to use the word “translation” to refer to both; however, “interpretation and translation are not synonymous.”

Maintain Journalistic Credibility when Reporting on Language Services

I hope by now you get it and you think I’m beating a dead horse. If you find this repetitive and are almost ready to click away from this page, that is a good thing. Unfortunately, after all the evidence above has been presented, there are still some incredibly stubborn people who bury their heads in the sand and insist the two words are interchangeable. Sometimes these people will become very defensive and attack the person correcting them. I once had a reporter tell me he would not pay any attention to my suggestion because I had omitted a serial comma from my email. Please don’t be one of those people. It will only embarrass you.

Imagine how embarrassing it would be for a reporter to confuse “libel” with “slander,” when there is such a clear difference: libel is written, and slander is spoken. Or imagine how silly it would sound if a reporter referred to how a pair of political candidates demonstrated what great writers they were as they spoke impromptu in a recent debate. Clearly speakers speak and writers write, and it is just plain wrong to think that the words for speaking and writing are interchangeable.

• Writing vs  Speaking
• Authors vs  Orators
• Translation vs Interpretation
• Translators vs Interpreters

Journalists and reporters can maintain or lose credibility depending on how well they convey their understanding of the differences between the following: U.S. House and Senate; libel and slander; civil court and criminal court; speaking and writing; translation and interpretation; and more…

The Nicole Kidman Example

For one final example, remember Hollywood’s 2005 film starring Nicole Kidman. Hollywood does not always get it right, but it did in this particular case. The film is correctly called The Interpreter, NOT The Translator, because Kidman’s character works as a U.N. interpreter and deals with the spoken word, NOT the written word.

A simple illustration was created by interpreters Johanna Parker and Sam Pinilla while they were pursuing graduate studies in translation and interpretation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. It was distributed to moviegoers in the Language Capital of the World when the The Interpreter was released in 2005. In a very simplified “see-Jane-run” style with stick figures, the illustration read: “Why isn’t this movie called˜The Translator?’ See Nicole. See Nicole listen. See Nicole interpret. See Lydia. See Lydia read. See Lydia translate. Got it?”

Thank You for Writing about Translation & Interpretation

So, after kicking this dead horse a few more times, I hope you are convinced enough to use the words translation and interpretation correctly in the future. No one was insulting you by directing you to this link. This is merely an effort to educate journalists and reporters. Greater understanding will benefit everyone, and anyone reporting on this topic will be taken much more seriously if he or she uses these terms correctly.

Thank you for taking the time to write about or report on translation or interpretation. And thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about these two professions and their differences.