Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative Analysis - Final ...

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Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative AnalysisMachineTranslationHybridtranslation /“post-editing”Communityand “crowdsourced”translationsThe expandingpieTable 5 - Key Emerging Trends 15• Has been around for over 50 years.• Not considered sufficiently mature to provide the desired level of accuracy and reliability.• Low cost – many free services are available (e.g. Google Translate, BabelFish).• Deemed effective for many informal situations.• Technological advances have improved quality and accuracy and machine translation isincreasingly being incorporated into traditional translation processes as an enabler ofincreased efficiency.• Technological advances have improved quality and accuracy and machine translation isincreasingly being incorporated into traditional translation processes as an enabler ofincreased efficiency.• Increased demand for “post-editing” services where translators proofread and editautomated translation results.• Proliferation of volunteer-based translation sites – provides near-perfect translation at nocost.• Machine translation websites are leveraging their communities to improve the quality oftranslations via providing options for users to “contribute a better translation”.• Translation services are being demanded by a much larger group of customers.o Services are more accessible.o Users want different forms of content translated – emails, blogs, tweets.• Last decade has seen an explosion of informal content published and shared online –content not well served by traditional lines of service because of its volume, informalnature, and lower commercial value.• Increasing need from users to balance efficiency, easy integration and price.3.7.2 Services and ResourcesThe Canadian translation sector continues to face challenges. Industry fragmentation continuesto be prevalent. It would appear that the combination of low visibility for the industry andindividual choices by translators to work independently has created challenges in therecruitment of new resources to fill vacancies created by retiring translators. In terms ofworkforce demographics, the labour market appears to be transitioning year over year fromsalaried to self-employed.Given the supply and demand for translation and linguistic services, there appears to be aninsufficient level of investment in research and development to strengthen the infrastructure(tools, technology, and resource development) in Canada. This can be directly attributed to theunder-investment based upon the fragmented nature of the industry and the difficulty for small“mom-and-pop shops” to invest in the necessary tools and technology.Table 6 outlines some of the key service and resource related challenges.15Source: State of the Translation Industry - MyGengo - 2009Page 20 of 43
Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative AnalysisIndustryFragmentationLack of visibilityWorkforce ChurnInvestment inresearch anddevelopmentIndividual choicesand motivationDynamics of supplyand demand3.7.3 Translation LanguagesTable 6 - Key Industry Challenges• Estimated number of translators, interpreters, terminologists, and localizationspecialists - 15,000.• Majority of industry are small enterprises.• A large number of small contracts.• Globalization will reduce fragmentation, but not for the near-term.• Canada's language industries are largely unknown in Canada and abroad.• Low level of knowledge about employment opportunities in the field.• Approximately 1,000 new translators are needed each year to meet demand andreplace retirees.• Under-investment in research and development.• Lack of economies of scale (i.e. fragmentation) does not support the financialbenefits needed to support the investment required.• Global organizations are able to make the necessary investments in tools andtraining.• Canada risks losing its linguistic infrastructure without investment.• Low profile of industry experiences challenges in attracting talent.• Occupational profiles and education programs not widely promoted.• Predominantly influenced by the public sector as it is the major consumer oftranslation services.• Inconsistent revenue streams and complicated management requirementsattributed to government acquisition policies that are complex, has resulted in fewprivate sector suppliers to supplement in-house work performed by the governmentand a general focus of private sector suppliers on private sector demand.Internationally, there has been significant growth in multilingual translation and inlocalization 16 . The industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 7.4%. International tradeand the growth of global content, such as for websites and multimedia, remain stronglycorrelated to high-growth industry sectors and language pairs (e.g. Chinese to English). Chinesetranslators in particular are in high demand.Specific to Canada, the country’s increased diversity is increasing the demand for languagesother than French and English 17 .3.8 ConclusionThere continues to be increase in the demand for translators despite the use of automatedtranslation and increased productivity 18 of existing professionals.Both globally and in the Canadian market, demand for less common languages is increasing andwill continue to drive growth, as will demand for web and multimedia services. Suppliers faceincreased time pressures from translation service buyers.Although industry fragmentation will be the norm for years to come, industry consolidation is,and will continue to be, significant. More mid-sized and small LSPs (i.e. revenue of US$516Source: The Language Services Market: 2011 – Common Sense Advisory – May 201117Source: Found in Translation – Job Postings Canada18Source: Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters – Service Canada – December 2010Page 21 of 43
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