Significance of translation in contemporary life

Poltava Korolenko National
Pedagogical University

The department of English
philology

Report

“Significance of
translation in contemporary life”

(Theory and practice of
translation)

Work by the second year student

Chevnova Yana FD-25

The professor: Lapochka V.O.

Poltava, 2010

Plan

1.
 
Introduction

2.
 
Translations
services Industry

3.
 
Translation
services market

4.
 
Importance
of translation in culture life

5.
 
Importance
of translation in business life

6.
 
Conclusion

7.
 
The
list of the sources

1.
Introduction

Translation is
mean of interlingual communication. The
importance of translating and interpreting in modern society has long been recognized. Practically not
a single contact at the international
level or even between any two foreign persons speaking different languages can be established or
maintained without the help of
translators or interpreters.

Equally important is translating and interpreting for uninterrupted functioning
of different international bodies (conferences, symposia, congresses,
etc.) to say nothing about the bodies like the E.E.C.(European
Economic Council), the I.M.F.(lnternational Monetary Fund) or the
United Nations Organization with its numerous councils, assemblies,
commissions, committees and sub-committees. These can function smoothly only thanks to
an army of translators and interpreters
representing different states and working in many different national languages.

Numerous branches of national economies too can keep up with
the up-to-date development and progress in the modern world thanks
to the everyday translating/interpreting of scientific and technical
matter covering various fields of human knowledge and activities. The latter
comprise nuclear science, exploration of outer space,
ecological environment, plastics, mining, chemistry, biology, medicine,
machine building, electronics, linguistics, etc. In the present days
translation of scientific and technical matter has become a most significant
and reliable source of obtaining all-round and up-to-date information
on the progress in various fields of science and technology in
all countries of the world.

2.
Translation Services Industry

There is a
large demand for translation services and it is growing. The translation
industry is all about communicating and the importance of translation
technology in different spheres of modern life is increasing. With increasing development
of the global market, industry, business and commerce function on an
international scale, with the growth of freedom and flexibility in terms of
exchange of products and services, it is obvious that the translation industry
is affected by these changes.

There is
increased demand for translation services in many areas such as

· 
Economic
(Free trade agreements)

· 
Ecological
(Greenpeace)

· 
Educational
(Exchange programs)

· 
Humanitarian
(Doctors ) etc.

In-spite of
the fact that the English language is important and known to many, there is the
commonly held belief that people have the right to use their own language. But
still the different languages spread across the globe should not be an obstacle
to mutual understanding. To facilitate bilateral and multilateral
relationships, linguistic problems can be solved through translation. Thus,
different aspects of modern life have led to the requirement for more efficient
methods of translation.

Industry
composition

The
translation industry is made up of many thousands of individual translators and
companies. When we talk about individual translators, they belong to a wide
variety of backgrounds. While some have actual translation training or
education, but most do not. Very often there are translators who have had
formal language training and because of this they have some exposure to
translation. There are universities and language schools who can provide such
individual translators. These are free lance translators. These individuals are
divided into three main groups-in-house translators, full time and part time
translators. There are professional translation companies who provide
translation and translation-related services in all languages. In one way or
the other the individual translators do come in contact with the translation
companies.

Thus the
industry can be divided into the following categories of translation service
providers:

· 
Language
Schools

· 
Universities

· 
In-house
translators

· 
Full
time translators

· 
Part
time translators

· 
Translation
companies

Key market
drivers

Several
factors have contributed to an increased growth in demand for translation
services in recent years:

· 
Use of
greater number of complex products, leading to increased requirement of documentation.

· 
Globalization
of markets and International trade and finance have led to increased demand of
product literature and other documents in several languages.

· 
There
is growth in the interpretation market with increased travel, in the form of business
trips, conferences, tourism.

· 
Mobility
of people, thereby leading to growth in demand for translation and
interpretation.

· 
The
expansion of new technologies, processes, applications affecting terminology.

· 
Desire
to cater to larger markets results in the need for multiple language product
versions simultaneously.

· 
Growing
of new platforms and media for communicating and publishing information.

· 
Changing
styles of product distribution and channels.

· 
Increased
presence of software in several products and information environments.

· 
Growth
in the importance of the language element in products and product
documentation.

· 
Growth
in the number of languages which must be handled in international business
operations.

The top 10
globalising sectors

· 
Aerospace

· 
Automotive

· 
Business
Services

· 
Engineering
& Electronics

· 
Financial
Services

· 
ICT
equipment

· 
Pharmaceuticals

· 
Printing
& Publishing

· 
Software
Publishing

· 
Trans-national
Organizations

3.
Translation Services Market

From
government to business to industries, translation service companies are in
great demand as effective communications with partners, employees, officials,
customers in the language of your target market becomes a necessity. As such it
is seen today that inspite of the fact that the translation industry is not an
organized industry, with a very low number of professional translators, the
translation service market is growing. The American Translation Association
(ATA), which was formed solely to help in the growth of translation and
interpreting professions, says membership has doubled in the past 10 years to
10,000 because of the growing demand for language translations and translation
market.

Translation
demand for few languages

Some languages
which were in great demand for translation in 1991 (the trend which is
continuing even today) is shown below:

As seen above
English dominates the market.

Market of
MT and HT

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 follows:

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.

Some agencies
bundle translation and travel services for their clients. This means that the
customers can avail of translation service right from the time they embark on
foreign territory. Many organizations find the translation and travel services
bundle quite valuable, as their executives do not feel lost in a foreign land.
These agencies ensure that the visitor is picked up from the airport and taken
to the hotel room. He or she does not need to involve him in the hassle of
booking a taxi or finding a hotel room in a country where the natives do not
speak the same language as he does. These operators design the visitor's
itinerary in consultation with the clients and arrange for domestic travel if
desired by the visitor. If needed, they also accompany the visitor during
factory visits or for client meetings. If there are some contracts to be signed
then these agencies also perform the document translation work and explain the
nuances of the contract.

If a visitor
desires to visit trade fairs, exhibitions or places of historical importance
then these agencies provide personal interpreters during these visits also. All
these services ensure that the visitor utilizes his time productively during a
business trip and make his investment worthwhile. By availing these translation
and interpreter services during overseas trips you can prove to your clients
that you are serious about their business and are willing to go that extra mile
to serve them better than competition.

For
professional translation services in Europe, visit Goihata. Goihata provides
one of the best professional and technical Japanese Translator and Spanish to
English Translations

6.
Conclusion

The work of
translation agencies is essential in a lot of different areas. Not only do they
translate a variety of technical texts for small and middle sized companies
from one language to another; even international trades and the global economy
depend on the support of translation agencies in order to ensure fluent communication
between the trading partners and to facilitate trade and commercial relations
and the exchange of goods easier. By translating product descriptions, order
lists and other important documents, fatal misunderstandings and therefore
delays in delivery of products can be avoided.

Professional
translators specialize in a certain field that they cover for their translation
agency, such as technical, legal or financial translations. With this specific
knowledge they are able to translate a wide range of texts accurately.

Translation
agencies experience a growing demand for translations of texts from cultural
institutions and media-related companies like marketing agencies or PR
departments. International marketing campaigns or advertising slogans not only
have to be translated, but also localized in order to adapt them for a foreign
market. In these cases it’s important that the documents are not translated
word for word, but rather in a way that carries the message from one language
(and thus, one cultural background) to the other. But also in industry and in
industrial chemistry, the work performed by a translation agency is gaining
importance. Even in medicine there is a variety of medical texts that has to be
translated to make them accessible worldwide and distribute medical
innovations. Internet and telecommunications is another huge source of revenue
for language service providers. For example, software localization is a crucial
business for software companies: new applications have to be localized so they
are presented in the target country’s language and suitable for local
peculiarities such as different keyboard layouts.

As
globalization moves forward and it is important to communicate to customers in
the whole world, the demand for professional translations grows. Translation
agencies will always play an important role in the provision of language
services.

7.
The list of the sources

1) 
Ilko,
V. Korunets. 2003. Theory and practice of translation. – Vinnutza: Nova Knyha,
pp.13-15.

2) 
Bassnett,
S. 1991. Translation studies. London: Routledge.

3) 
Lotman,
J., Uspensky, B. 1978. “On the semiotic mechanism of culture”, New Literary
History, pp. 211-232.

4) 
Nida,
E. 1964. “Plinciples of Correspondence”. In Veniti, L. The translation studies reader.
London: Routledge.

5) 
Guennadi,
E. Miram, Velentina, V. Daineko, Lyubov, A. Taranukha, Maryna, V. Gryschenko,
Oleksandr, M. Gon. 2003. Basic translation (основи перекладу). – Kyiv: Elga
Nika-Center.

6) 
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Importance-Of-Translation/224095

7) 
http://ezinearticles.com/?Importance-Of-Translation-And-Interpreter-Services-On-Business-Trips&id=1174850

8) 
www.wallstreetstocks.net/the-importance-of-translation-services-to-different-fields-of-industry

9) 
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_T._Smith

10) 
http://textronics.com/translationtheimportanceofculture.html

11) 
http://www.translation-services-usa.com/blog/2009/08/the-importance-of-translation/

12) 
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/the-importance-of-translation-services-1830749.html

13) 
http://www.thelanguagetranslation.com/services-industry.html