GLOBALIZATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON TRANSLATION INDUSTRY

I have decided to write about this topic as it is growing more popular day by day.  It is also one of the reasons for the development of the world’s economy and industry. Here we will focus on the phenomenon of globalization in the content of the translation industry, because globalization is connecting people, and it goes hand in hand with the TRANSLATION INDUSTRY.

What is globalization? Merriam Webster dictionary defines it as “the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets”.

The concept of globalization has different significance to different industries. Nevertheless, business leaders and political organizations believe the idea rests on the integration of economic, political and cultural systems worldwide. Mechanism that moves globalization is raced on a complexity of factors like economic, technological, sociocultural, and political. It also persuades our own drive for personal development and the desire to explore the WORLD.

I will give you a simple example, in a short story. Our hero’s name will be Tom. Tom is the CEO of multinational technological corporation providing software solution for managing every segment of your company.

Tom wants to expand into the Asian market. This will be a complicated process, which will require software and web localization in different Asian languages, translation of his legal documentation, translating and securing international patents, trademarks, copyrights, contracts; translation of internal documentation regarding all company structure and processes, and translation of all marketing materials.

In a way, translation has become a good tool for marketing. It makes the “foreign” attractive by bringing it closer and making it familiar for the target group.

Another example is that translation in the era of globalization has helped scientists and medical workers bring their inventions to life as well as share it with the world.

Even outside of our professional lives, we see the effects of globalization in multilingual broadcasts of sporting events like soccer championships. Each of these situations illustrates the dependence that the world has for accurate language translation services in globalization.

In essence, globalization and translation mutually benefit from one another other. Anything produced in order to be disseminated to other parts of the world achieves its goal by means of translation.

The influences of globalization were deeply felt in the translation field. First of all, the demand on translation and interpreting services as a result of global changes has increased. Secondly, the institutions offering training in the translation field, namely the universities have to be prepared in order to meet this demand. They play a key role in this phase and have some responsibilities to carry out.

WHAT ARE THE HIGHEST PAYING ASIAN LANGUAGES?

Are you a business owner? Are you bilingual? or you are on your way to learn a foreign language or do you want to be a translator, if so the following article is for you.

Japanese and Chinese are the most demanding languages in the world.

After a quick research about the latest updates in the language industry market we came across a different sources pointing Japanese and Chinese, as the most demanding languages in the world.

Linguists specializing in the mentioned languages have better opportunities finding job and increasing their incomes through time, but remember you have to be bilingual!

China is an enormous country, so it should come as no surprise that there are multiple types of spoken Chinese being used — both within its borders and abroad. Simply referring to the “Chinese language” is too vague; China is home to a multitude of languages and dialects, many of which are mutually unintelligible. If you are looking for Chinese translation services, it is therefore essential that you be specific about the Chinese language or dialect you need your project.

Chinese languages – SIMPLIFIED AND TRADITIONAL

Spoken Chinese languages are among the most commonly used in the world. The best known are undoubtedly Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin is considered a native language by about two-thirds of China’s inhabitants, making it the most dominant spoken Chinese dialect, while Cantonese lays claim to approximately 55 million speakers in China alone. Both of them are divided in SIMPLIFIED AND TRADITIONAL, take into account that the traditional version is more difficult, hence better paid.

Asian Languages – why not!

Other factors that may influence your chosen language may be your location, Interests. For instance, those with business goals should have more reason to learn Chinese.

From business point of view this will be a sign that businesses are looking for growth their opportunities entering in the Chinese and Japanese markets, currently the world leading economic powers.

Translation is an essential part of communication. Regardless of your chosen language and specialization, there are jobs waiting for you.

FACTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT LANGUAGES

Did you know that: 

1 .  There are about 7,000 languages in the world.

2.  Out of all the spoken languages in the world most of them originate from Asia and Africa.

3.  The most widely spoken languages are Chinese, Spanish, English, and Hindi, in that order.

4.  44% of the world’s population speaks Mandarin as their first language.

5.  There are about 2,200 languages in Asia.

6.  Chinese is the most spoken language with the largest alphabet in the world. It belongs to the Cambodian language, Khmer and has over 50,000 characters. On the other hand, you only need to know 2,000 of those characters to be able to read the newspaper.

7.  50% of educational time in Luxembourg is devoted to learning English, German, and French.

8.  There are 13 ways to spell the ‘o’ sound in French.

9.  There is a language in Botswana that consists of mainly 5 types of clicks.

10.  There are 2,400 languages classified as being ‘endangered’.

11.  231 languages are now completely extinct.

12.  One language dies about every 14 days.

13.  Eastern Siberia, Northwest Pacific Plateau of North America, And Northern Australia are hotspots for endangered languages.

14.  Esperanto is an artificial language, but is spoken by about 500,000 to 2,000,000 people, and at least 2 feature films have been done in the language.

15.  There are 24 working languages of the EU.

16.  There are 6 official UN languages.

17.   The oldest written language was believed to be written in about 4500 BC.

18.  The Bible is available in 2454 languages.

19.  South Africa has 11 official languages – the most for a single country.

20.  The pope tweets in 9 languages.

21.  The US has no official language.

22.  Learning a second language can make you smarter. A number of scientists agree that becoming polyglot can boost your brainpower. Other studies also suggest that speaking more than one language can help to slow down the aging process of the mind.

23.  Most European languages use the Latin alphabet. Some Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet.Greek, Armenian, Georgian and Yiddish have their own alphabet.

FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSLATION COSTS

Imagine that you have a text and you need someone to translate it for you. After asking yourself where to find a translator and wondering how long it will take, comes the question of cost. Do you really think that the price is your decision criteria? If yes, enclosed you can find some of the main factors that influence  translation cost.

Every market has its own rules; however, there is a universal law that works in almost any industry. This is the law of supply and demand. Usually, high demand (popular language combination) and high supply (a large number of translators) means lower translation rates, while high demand and low supply mean higher translation rates.

But since there are many other factors in the translation industry that may cause price fluctuations, this law cannot be applied to the translation market in every possible case.

hat are these factors? The list starts right here:

TRANSLATORS

Do you really need a professional translator? This answer depends on the quality and importance of your document and will determine whether or not you will hire a translator with experience or your nephew studying English to translate it for you.

DEADLINE

When do you need it? NOW; ASAP; IT’S REALLY URGENT.  The faster you need a translation done the higher the cost will be.

Nevertheless, there is an exception from this statement too. If you choose a translation agency for an extensive and urgent project, the agency may not apply the extra charge if they are able to distribute a translation between several translators (certainly provided that such distribution is possible and the deadline is realistic).

If the translation is not urgent, the quotation in most of the cases is reasonable.

SUBJECT AREA

Translation of technical, legal, medical, industrial text is not the same as translation of the text for a travel or the entertainment industry. This kind of translations requires special skills and knowledge; therefore, you should know that the price will be higher than general subject text.

VOLUME OF YOUR PROJECT

Normally agencies can give you discounts for large volumes and ongoing translation projects. Typically, more than 100 pages.  It is good to take into account that not all freelance translators offer this type of discount; it is an unwritten rule for the agencies.

 WHO IS YOUR TARGET

Your audience defines the processing stages of the translation, hence the rates.  If you need a translation of in-house documentation that do not require high quality and accuracy, translation rate for such tasks can be notably lower, especially if you have trustworthy LSP’s on an ongoing basis. In this situation, only translation is enough to get the required results.

But if you need to translate a scientific article, rates will be significantly higher than in the previous case as this kind of translation requires additional quality control, adaptation to the need of a specific audience, review of style, terminology, the entire translation process may involve several people (translator, industry expert, proofreader, technical editor, copy editor, DTP specialist, etc.).

The reasons stated above are causes higher translation costs.

DTP

With the development of technology and launching of new software, we have to be versatile.

Nowadays, most of the documentation comes in MS word, Excel; PowerPoint. However, there are many other file formats used in various industries. For example, engineers use AutoCAD software to prepare drawings, designers use CorelDraw, Photoshop, and other tools to develop their concepts.

These software tools save documents in different file formats, therefore it is important to find a translator who is familiar with that specific software and can work with certain formats. This also may cause additional charges.

Another example, of when an extra charge can be applied, includes PDF files or OCRed handwriting. In this case, your LSP would have to process and prepare documents for translation or provide DTP service after translation.

As a conclusion, we suggest you to inform yourself on all the above mentioned before choosing a company or before saying “oh it’s too expensive” as translation prices will vary.

HOW DID ENGLISH FIRST START TO BE TRANSLATED INTO CHINESE?

LET’S LEARN A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE FIRST PERSON WHO DARED TO TRANSLATE ENGLISH INTO CHINESE.

Yan Fu was a Chinese scholar and translator, most famous for introducing western ideas, including Darwin’s “natural selection”, into the eastern world in the late 19th century.

On 8, January, 1854, Yan Fu was born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. In his early years, his father greatly encouraged him to obtain a high education and prepare for the Imperial examination. However, the death of his father in 1866 caused an abrupt change to these plans. A year later, Yan Fu entered the Fujian Arsenal Academy in Fuzhou, a Western school where he studied a variety of subjects including English, arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, astrology and navigation. This was a turning point in Yan Fu’s life as he was able to experience first-hand contact with Western science, thus inspiring the enthusiasm that carried him through the rest of his career.

HIS OWN UNDERSTANDING AND TRANSLATION THEORY

Yan stated in the introduction of his translation of Evolution and Ethics that “there are three difficulties in translation: faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance”. He did not set them as general standards for translation and did not say that they were independent of each other. However, since the publication of that work, the phrase “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance” has been attributed to Yan Fu as a standard for any good translation and has become a cliché in Chinese academic circles, giving rise to numerous debates and theses.

WORKS AND CONTRIBUTION

Yan Fu was one of the most influential scholars of his generation. He worked to introduce Western social, economic and political ideas into the Eastern world. Previous translation efforts had been focused mainly on religion and technology.

In 1895 he published Zhibao 直報, a Chinese newspaper founded in Tianjin by Constantin von Hannecken (1854-1925), which contains several of his most famous essays:

• Lun shi bian zhi ji 論世變之亟 (On the Speed of World Change)
• Yuan qiang 原強 (On the Origin of Strength)
• Pi Han 辟韓 (In Refutation of Han Yu)
• Jiuwang jue lun 救亡決論 (On our Salvation)

Yan Fu’s later works include:

• Evolution and Ethics Thomas Henry Huxley as Tianyan lun 天演論 (On Evolution) 1896-1898
• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith as Yuan fu 原富 (On Wealth) 1901
• The Study of Sociology by Herbert Spencer as Qunxue yiyan 群學肄言 (A Study of Sociology) 1903
• On Liberty by John Stuart Mill as Qunji quanjie lun 群己權界論 (On the Boundary between the Self and the Group) 1903
• A System of Logic by John Stuart Mill as Mule mingxue 穆勒名學 (Mill’s Logic) 1903
• A History of Politics by Edward Jenks as Shehui tongquan 社會通詮 (A Full Account of Society) 1903
• The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu as Fayi 法意 (The Meaning of the Laws) 1904-1909
• Primer of Logic by William Stanley Jevons as Mingxue qianshuo 名學淺說 (An Outline of Logic) 1909

That was the beginning of translation from English into Chinese – An unknown experience for its time.

Tips to Avoid Post-holiday Burnouts

With holiday season around the corner, we are all looking forward to time off to relax and rejuvenate. However, coming back to the office post break could be a toll for both our physical and mental health. It is not uncommon to feel exhausted and unmotivated after a break from work.  To dissipate these feelings, check out some of these tips below to avoid the post-holiday burnout this season!      

1. Eliminate burdens:

While the holidays are a time to wind down and relax, spare some time to take care of personal business at home. Prior to the start of the holiday, avoid over scheduling upon your return. Do not inflate other’s expectation of what you can deliver. Overestimating your capabilities would only lead to a let-down for all parties involved. 

2. Reset internal clock:

For most, it is incredibly difficult to snap back into work mode immediately. In order to avoid missing your dreaded morning alarm on the first day of work post-holiday, consider going easy on your schedule on the last few days of your holiday break. Adjust your bedtime hours to your usual work week schedule to ease your internal clock for an easier transition; this is especially important if you have traveled abroad during your holiday!

3. Ease back into things:

Upon returning to the office, it is important to prioritize your tasks and schedule accordingly. It is also helpful to take regular breaks throughout the day. Continuous working could in fact result in less productivity as exhaustion can hinder our judgment and perspective.  

Japan's Lesson of Responsibility

More than two decades ago, schools in Japan began carrying unicycles under the request of the Ministry. While one might confuse an elementary school playground with an amateur circus, it is in fact the country’s effort in instilling a sense of independence and responsibility in children. 

In an educations system where there are virtually no janitors, students are taught to be self-sufficient from a young age. Similarly with unicycles, students are responsible for tire maintenance and stowing away unicycles after use. Children receive almost no formal instructions and are left to learn on their own. A blend of fun and grit, kids are encouraged to take on challenges despite rocky paths to success.  It is said that the government hopes to replicate realities of modern life through training, promoting confidence and independence in their young citizens.

Consistently ranked as one of the best education system in the world, it seems like this unique method of teaching is sure paying off.