A few years ago I spent a weekend with some good friends, and I was asked if I was interested in selling translation projects. As I had never heard that necessity before, I must have looked at my friend like a bedazzled horse and asked him what that exactly meant. He explained to me that there was a huge market for the translation industry and that the demand was high. A few months later I found myself in the office selling translation projects to companies from all over the world. Nearly 3 years have passed, and the translation demand has been increasing from year to year, despite the world economical crisis. So, why do companies request translation services?
When referring to document translations, there are many different types of documents that are sent for translation:
- Manuals for all sorts of products
- Legal, Medical or Real Estate contracts
- Brochures for Marketing purposes
- Surveys
- Websites and its contents
- Books and e-books
- Computer Games and cellular applications
- Employee Handbooks
- Power point presentations
- and many more
The reasons for companies to request document translations varies, however the main reason is globalization. For example, a company based in the U.S., 10 years ago used to be active only within the U.S., but now has clients world wide. This means, their marketing, sales and product material has to address their clients and therefore be presented in the native language of their clients. In addition, that same U.S. based company needs to adapt to the growing consumer within their national market, the Hispanics. As of 2011, there are over 52 million Hispanics, which accounts to about 17% of the national population and it is projected, that by the year 2050, there will be about 133 million Hispanics, accounting to 30% of the national population. This means, it would be very wise for that U.S. company to have their website in Spanish, in order to gain that demographic group.
I just wanted to give you a little insight of why translations are needed. Should you be interested in receiving a free quote for a possible translation, please click here.
