As online translation services continue to evolve, will the traditional language translation and interpretation business become obsolete – and is the industry considered recession-proof?

In these tough economic times, it’s hard to imagine an industry that can be considered recession-proof. Yet with business transactions across borders on the rise, the language translation and interpretation industry may well be one of the few to be one.

“Employment growth reflects an increasingly diverse U.S. population, which is expected to require more interpreters and translators,” according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which further projects 42 percent growth in the industry from 2010 to 2020, outpacing average growth for other occupations studied by the BLS.

“Translation is one of the few industries that has seen minimal impact from the global economic downturn,” says Nataly Kelly, who authored a story we recently posted on the top ten myths about language translation debunked.

Kelly co-authored a report last month showing that the market for outsourced language services is $33.5 billion in 2012 and has seen a compound annual growth rate of 12.17 percent. The largest segment of the market is written translation, followed by on-site interpreting and software localization.

The vast majority of these translation services are provided by small agencies and there are more than 26,000 of them throughout the world.

Alex Dupont

See Also

• More about language translation
  An accurate professional translation can save a patient's life, win a bid, or persuade a shopper to buy your product.
• More about language interpretation
  Language Interpreting is the process of translating spoken words from one language into another.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report
  Employment of interpreters and translators is expected to grow 42 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations.