Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative Analysis - Final ...

Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative Analysis3. Canadian Translation andInterpretation Services SectorThe following section provides an overview of the current state of the translation services sector,both within Canada and internationally. It provides a synthesis of information available throughstudies and publicly available sources, and highlights recent trends in translation services.Specifically, it includes:• An industry overview;• A description of labour force and business model characteristics;• A description of services offered;• An overview of supply and demand factors;• Information regarding costs and pricing;• An overview of technology usage; and• A summary of key trends.It is important to note that information specific to Canada is less readily available thaninformation on the global market as a whole.3.1 Industry OverviewAs a result of its two official languages and the demographics of its population, Canada is aleader in the translation market. With only 0.5% of the global population, it nonethelessrepresents approximately 10% of the USD 31 billion global translation market 1 . ReflectingCanada’s official language status, it is estimated that approximately 90% of translation inCanada is between French and English 2 .As an employer, the Canadian language services industry is estimated to employ 15,000translators, interpreters, terminologists, and localization specialists in 2010 3 .As can be seen in Figure 1, while the public sector represents a significant portion (17%) of theCanadian workforce, the majority (83%) are employed with the private sector firms providingcommercial translation services 4 . This suggests that there is significant capacity within theprivate sector, however a number of considerations need to be taken into account in order tovalidate this assertion:• During our discussions with comparator organizations, they indicated their ability toincrease capacity to meet additional demand by reaching out to a network ofindependent contractors or by increasing staff compliment if demand could be assured.It is unclear whether the supply of independent contractors that is leveraged by theorganizations is in fact, the same pool of experienced translators. While each providermay believe that they have access to this surge capacity, a significant increase in demandacross the industry may absorb this capacity quickly.1Source: ATA Chronicle – American Translators Association – October 20102Source: Found in Translation – Job Postings Canada3Source: ATA Chronicle – American Translators Association – October 20104Source: Economic Assessment of the Canadian Language Industry, The Conference Board of Canada – March 2007Page 10 of 43