Multilingualism in the private sector

Joël Sigling, AVB translations, The Netherlands

RUTU ROUNDTABLEMULTILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN IN EUROPE 6 NOVEMBER/ UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

14:40-14:50 /

#RutuRT

Economic importance of translation and mother-tongue mastery as crucial factor for success in translation industry

Rutu Roundtable, Utrecht, 6 November 2015

Joël Sigling

Director AVB TranslationsTalent Ambassador GALA

Copyright AVB Translations , 2015

Translation as the epitome of multilingualism Growing economic value of translation Growing importance of translation industry

Mastery of mother tongue key to success in translation

Contents

Multilingualism has always been considered a sign of education and style, multilingual people have always been admired

Multilingualism has always been essential to international trade.

Translation - the most tangible and enduring form of multilingualism – started 4,000 years ago, shortly after script.

Translation became key in spreading education and religion well over 2,000 years ago.

Translation: tangible, enduring multilingualism

Multilingualism ‘conducive’ to international trade for over 2,000 years

Translation became important to international trade after industrial revolution, more need for written materials.

Translation has become essential to global business since 1960s, booming since the start of the PC age in early 80s.

Translation has become a commodity since Google Translate (2006): Everyone now expects (web) content to be available in

mother tongue instantaneously, even if through machine translation

Growing economic value of translation

Commercial translation started as a craft, very time-consuming work. There were only individual translators.

With the advent of typewriters: much more content available, much more needed to be translated. Translators became agencies.

Smaller agencies became big companies when PCs and localization appeared in 1980s. Bigger agencies bought smaller agencies and became really big companies. Industry as a whole grew very fast.

Late 1990s: the internet and a content explosion. Need for translation grew even faster: industry now worth $38 billion per year, expected to reach $47 billion by 2018. Need for MT + multilingual talents!

Growing importance of translation industry

DON’T in translation industry: “I speak four languages fluently”

Saying you master several languages perfectly is a big warning flag for serious translation companies.

Any serious translation company will advertise saying “We use only native speakers of the target language”. Near-native is not nearly good enough.

Teaching children perfect command of one language (their mother tongue) is crucial for producing high-quality translators.

Mastery of mother tongue: key to success in translation industry

Telefoon: + 31 625.025.475E-mail: joel.sigling @ avb.nlAdres: Ouderkerkerlaan 50

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