Significance of translation in contemporary life

The development of both machine translation (MT) and human translation (HT) is based on demand and supply. On the one hand, there is availability of new technology and on the other, socio-political and economic need for change. Despite the advances in technology, machine translation presents only a small percentage of the market. At the beginning of the 1990s the translation market was as fol

lows:

It can be seen from the above table that only 6 million pages were translated through machine translation, whereas through human translation 450 million pages were translated which implied that MT covered only 1.3% of the total. This percentage has not changed much in recent years as well. Market analysts say that MT will remain only about 1% of an over US $10 billion translation marketplace .

According to Allied Business Intelligence, the size of the "human translation" market is around US$11.5 billion and "machine translation" US$134 million in 2007. Software localization reached US$3.4 billion in the same year. Another market segment with strong expected growth is technical documentation.

Japan Translation Market

Japanese language translation took the second position which reflected the importance of the role of Japan in technology and foreign trade. In Japanese language translation, of all fields , technology occupied two-thirds of translation volume at the end of the 1990s:

China's Translation Market

China's translation industry is a big industry and China can now claim to be a translation giant. According to the China Bibliographic Library, between 1978 and 1990, China had published 28,500 kinds of translated works, and the number grew to 94,400 between 1995 and 2003. According to the Translators Association of China, China's translation market is anywhere between US$ 1.3bn and US$ 2.5bn. China's translation industry accounted for 1.33 billion US$ annually in the later part of 1990s, and that number grew to 21 2.53 billion $ in 2005.

Global Translation Market

According to another estimate, the global translation market grosses US$13 billion annually. The Asia-Pacific region has a 30% share of this market. According to a survey by an authoritative US institution, the global translation market has reached gross US$22.7 billion by 2005. As the global reach of Internet expands, the translation market is expected to grow continuously at a staggering rate of 30 percent a year. Europe will continue to be the largest region, with 49% of the market, followed by Asia, with 39%.

The size of the language/translation services market in 2006 and beyond

According to a study made by Common Sense Advisory (CSA), the market for outsourced language services was US 8.8 billion dollars worldwide in 2005, growing at 7.5 percent per year. The CSA made these estimates based on their calculations on the total revenues of the several companies involved in the business, many translators and free lancers, and an estimate of the revenue generated by international marketing agencies, system integrators, consultants, and other service providers who help in translation and localization

4. The Importance of Culture in Translation

The definition of "culture" as given in the Concise Oxford Dictionary varies from descriptions of the "Arts" to plant and bacteria cultivation and includes a wide range of intermediary aspects. More specifically concerned with language and translation, Newmark defines culture as "the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression" (1988:94), thus acknowledging that each language group has its own culturally specific features. He further clearly states that operationally he does "not regard language as a component or feature of culture" (Newmark 1988:95) in direct opposition to the view taken by Vermeer who states that "language is part of a culture" (1989:222). According to Newmark, Vermeer's stance would imply the impossibility to translate whereas for the latter, translating the source language (SL) into a suitable form of TL is part of the translator's role in transcultural communication.

The notion of culture is essential to considering the implications for translation and, despite the differences in opinion as to whether language is part of culture or not, the two notions appear to be inseparable. Discussing the problems of correspondence in translation, Nida confers equal importance to both linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the TL and concludes that "differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the translator than do differences in language structure" (Nida, 1964:130). It is further explained that parallels in culture often provide a common understanding despite significant formal shifts in the translation. The cultural implications for translation are thus of significant importance as well as lexical concerns.

Lotman's theory states that "no language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its centre, the structure of natural language" (Lotman, 1978:211-32). Bassnett (1980: 13-14) underlines the importance of this double consideration when translating by stating that language is "the heart within the body of culture," the survival of both aspects being interdependent. Linguistic notions of transferring meaning are seen as being only part of the translation process; "a whole set of extra-linguistic criteria" must also be considered. As Bassnett further points out, "the translator must tackle the SL text in such a way that the TL version will correspond to the SL version . To attempt to impose the value system of the SL culture onto the TL culture is dangerous ground" (Bassnett, 1980:23). Thus, when translating, it is important to consider not only the lexical impact on the TL reader, but also the manner in which cultural aspects may be perceived and make translating decisions accordingly.

5. Importance Of Translation And Interpreter Services On Business Trips

In today's globalized economy, one cannot down play the significance of translation services during overseas trips. To make your business trip a success you need to communicate with your potential customers in their own language. By communicating with them in their own language, you can gain their trust and their business as well. The advent of the internet has led to an explosive growth in the level of business activity between nations. What we are seeing is a convergence of cultures and economic systems all across the globe. This means that people all over the globe will be communicating more than ever highlighting the need for translation services.

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