Note: This blog entry was originally written in Japanese for our Japanese website. We used our machine translation platforms to translate the entry into English and to post-edit the output for readers outside of Japan.
According to an industry research firm, the global translation and localization market is said to be strong. In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has announced a tourism vision in the past to aim 40 million foreign visitors to Japan and consumption amount of eight trillion yen toward the originally planned 2020 Olympics. But how is the translation and localization market changing outside of tourism?
In addition, as the accuracy of machine translation (MT) utilizing AI has improved, some argue that AI will take away translators’ jobs and threaten the industry’s survival. Does that match what the market actually needs?
This post looks at where the translation industry stands today and what to expect for supply and demand.
How the translation industry works
What do you imagine when you hear the word "translation"?
Many people may think of subtitle translations for movies and documentaries, or publication translations that deal with foreign books and novels. However, the largest market is industrial translation used in business, which translates contracts, manuals, patent specifications, etc. in various languages. Companies can request the translation work to translation companies or freelance translators, or they might use MT, as mentioned earlier that the accuracy is rapidly improving, or crowdsourcing platforms.
Comparing your translation options
Freelance translators:
Working with a freelance translator, such as an acquaintance, is the most familiar option and the easiest to start. Prices are often easier to negotiate when you already know the person. The downside is that few people regularly meet new freelance translators, so finding one you trust takes effort. Capacity is also limited, which makes large volumes or multilingual projects difficult.
In-house translators:
There is also a way to train translators in-house without outsourcing the work. Compared to freelancers, in-house translators communicate easily with the rest of the company and have direct access to product and internal information. Because intent is conveyed accurately, quality tends to be stable. However, if your company doesn’t always have documents to translate, a dedicated translation staff adds cost.
Crowdsourcing platforms:
Crowdsourcing platforms offer a large, varied workforce and ample capacity, sometimes at lower cost. The trade-off is that results depend on the individual translator, so finding a good one can come down to luck. Quality can also be inconsistent, with no guarantee.
Translation companies:
Professional staff handle quality and process control, making translation companies a good fit when you need industry-standard quality or have a large-scale project. Prices are higher than with a freelancer, but you get full service, including support for updates and for applying changes after your review. In addition, since translation companies usually work with software such as Trados and memoQ, they can flexibly support various documentation including documents with complex structure.
What is in demand? How about MT?
Next, let’s look at demand in the translation industry.
English is still the most in demand. With the globalization of companies in Asian countries, the demand for languages such as Chinese and Korean is also increasing. One of the reasons is that Asia, where economic growth is remarkable, has become an attractive place as a market.
On the other hand, the rise of neural machine translation (NMT) has improved the accuracy of MT in recent years. Some may be worried that translators will no longer be needed as MT quality gets better. However, the general opinion is that the demand for professional translators will not disappear.
One IT company that sells software in more than 50 countries reports that only two percent of the content it needs translated actually gets translated. The remaining 98 percent that has not yet been translated is a huge market.
Language is an indispensable communication tool in any era and region, and translation enables us to create the documents necessary for corporate activities. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the translation industry to grow, contrary to the ranking predictions of jobs that will disappear within the next decade due to the development of artificial intelligence. As MT keeps evolving, less specialized translation that MT can handle may decline. But in highly specialized fields, and in content like literary novels that requires reading between the lines, human translation is extremely unlikely to disappear.
How to properly translate those 98% of untranslated material
Freelancers, in-house translators, crowdsourcing platforms, and translation companies. Human translation and MT. "Translation" covers a wide range of options, and quality and turnaround time differ with each.
The important thing is to select the correct translation method and contractor, i.e. who to work with, according to your budget and purpose of the translation. We tailor our proposals to each client’s needs and situation. Contact us with any questions about your project or translation services.
