A few days ago, BusinessGhana published a short but very interesting article about a new initiative implemented in Seoul, South Korea.
Due to the massive immigration of foreign women married to Korean men, the Government has decided to revise regulations to allow more housewives to work as interpreters or translators in private companies and government agencies to take advantage of their native languages and their knowledge of the Korean language.
The only requirement for these women to gain such employment is to pass a test in Korean and obtain a Level 4 in the language. The Government is considering the possibility of facilitating the process by allowing those women who qualify at Level 3 to work as “auxiliary” translators or interpreters.
In this case, the idea is to change the rules to suit people’s language level.
The situation in Ghana is the opposite, as the country encourages its people to study foreign languages for effective communication with its neighbors.
In this other article, we see the case of the African country that seeks to promote development and cooperation on the continent, increasing trade and better access to the job market for its citizens by encouraging reading and writing.
These two cases, although different, are alike in this: both want to promote the learning of foreign languages in order to survive. More and more countries are joining the industry of translation and interpretation with different needs, but with a common goal: bridge the cultural gap and break down language barriers imposed by globalization.
(Spanish version: ¿Ama de casa e intérprete a la vez?)
