Translation becomes one of the most demanded jobs in the US
In the recent years the industry of professional translation services has shown a rare case of consistent expansion. According to Common Sense Advisory the industry is expected to grow to around $25 billion by 2013. While in 2008, interpreters and translators held about 50,900, MyGengo Inc. now predicts a 24% rise in the quantity of translators in the US jobs. Internet as one of the most efficient tools for globalization has to be considered a strong drive in this tendency. It has totally changed the way we exchange information. Through this one infinite source of data the process of exploring and reaching any possible region of interest becomes much easier. And apparently more and more people are willing to take advantage of it.
The other reason for industry growth is Asian and Middle-East business orientation directed at the US and European markets. In this situation educated professionals can benefit from the opportunity for carrier growth that gives access to dealing with international tasks in immigration affairs, colleges and universities, banking sector, governmental establishments, manufacturing enterprises, as well as in travel and leisure industries. Moreover translators play a crucial role in the work of health care services, making substantial medical translations as the US population becomes more and more multinational.
Education in the US nowadays strives to increase the overall language skills of its citizens targeting all the possible areas from kindergarten to the university level. As a result, there is an increasing demand for both full time and private teachers, especially in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. Just for primary and secondary schools, by the end of year 2020, the US government plans to educate more than one thousand foreign language teachers.
The majority of countries around the world have established a set of requirements which have to be followed by all translators who intend to receive a license or certificate for their job to be legalized. While in contrast, in the US, translation is not listed among the officially established professions. Hence translators need no official certificates that prove their qualifications, except when applying for translation jobs in Federal courts of the US. This encourages people specializing in this area to work freelance. For instance, in 2008 US Department of Labor has recorded that 28% of translators and interpreters were self-employed.
