últimas corrientes teóricas en los estudios de traducción - Gredos ...

MICHAEL GRADE–IMPACT OF THE GROWTH OF SCI AND TECH KNOWLEDGE IN TRANSLATION
language (30%), closely followed by French (24%), then with a lower frequency by
Spanish (14%) and Italian (14%), and then Russian (6%). These five foreign languages
account for almost 90% of translation requirements in Germany. Translations from
German into English, French and Spanish tend to outweigh the reverse direction in terms
of volume because of the strong export orientation of German industry (the USA,
Germany and Japan being the three leading export nations in the world). There is one
major exception: in the computer industry, for example in the area of software
localization, the translation direction from English into German dominates, as Germany
imports more products in this sector than it exports.
In 1995, 76 percent of Germany’s translation volume was technical and scientific
in nature, as assessed by P.A. Schmitt 4 . In this context a 1995 survey on the career
choices of translation graduates from the University of Applied Sciences Cologne
(Fachhochschule Köln) yielded the disquieting result that only 3-4% of the translation
graduates become technical/scientific translators 5 . In 1989/90 the total translation
volume in the Länder of the “old” Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was on
the order of 30 million pages. The 76% proportion of technical texts would thus have
amounted to approximately 25 million pages (in 1990). In view of the annual growth rates
given above, this figure would have reached about 80 million pages by the year 2000 (not
including the Eastern federal Länder). On the basis of an average annual output of 2,000
pages per translator this would correspond to a numerical capacity of 40,000 human
technical translators. This number of full-time translators would thus be required to
handle the annual technical translation volume in (Western) Germany. As the number of
students of translation leaving the Fachhochschule Köln with a diploma degree is about
170 per year, the proportion of technical translators coming from our university is 3-4%
of 170, which is about 6 technical translators per year.
Whereas, around 1990, an estimated 2 out of 3 (69% vs. 31% according to P.A.
Schmitt 4 ) full-time translators’ positions were located in industry and commerce, the job
market has changed dramatically since then. According to a private analysis (by the
author of the present article) of a sample of translation services belonging to 35 major
German firms, as many as 55% of full-time translators’ positions in German industry have
been abolished since 1980. This would imply that the employment situation of translators
has undergone a complete inversion as compared to 10 years ago: at the present time 2
out of 3 full-time translators would be working on a free-lance basis. Only a third of
translators would remain in in-house positions in industry and commerce. A radical
example of this trend is the staff cutback enforced in the language service of a major
German electrical engineering company: staff capacity declined steeply from a level of
125 persons in 1990 to a mere 24 in 1999. The surveyed companies included, among
others, Siemens, Ruhrgas, Schloemann Siemag and Mannesmann Demag, Hoffmann-La
Roche (Basle), MAN, MTU, MBB, Boehringer Ingelheim, Schering, RWE, Cark Zeiss
(Jena), Deutsche Telekom, Bayerische Rückversicherung and Kölnische
Rückversicherung.
Manifestations and consequences of the above-described conditions in the
German translation business include the following:
a) outsourcing of translations
b) conversion of in-house translators into freelancers
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