Will The United States Lose Translation Jobs The Same Way It Lost Skilled Labor Jobs?
It's a trend that everyone knows. Many of America's top jobs are moving offshore. Which jobs are most likely to be hit by "offshoring"?. Most industry insiders will admit that demand is solid for people with advanced linguistic skills from the following countries: Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia and China. Unfortunately, the trend that drives the demand for Chinese to English Translation services is often at the cost of workers in industrialized nations who are at risk of being replaced and having their jobs relocated to developing nations. Today, a wide range of professionals including public policy makers, economists, trade groups and academia are all addressing the offshoring trend.
What Does Offshoring Mean to The Translation Industry?
Offshoring is a type of outsourcing. According to Eiko Ito, a Portuguese to English Translation worker, "Offshoring simply means having the outsourced business functions done in another country." The most common reason given to why a company invested in offshoring is to capitalize on labor expenses. If the primary purpose isn't to reduce costs, then most companies will suggest that they are offshoring in order to be closer to new markets, be in compliance with certain regulations or even be closer to particular types of workers. But while the reasons for outsourcing sometimes vary, declines in U.S. manufacturing jobs and increases in U.S. Russian Language Translation service jobs is consistent. In addition, it's important to point out that offshoring is a decades-long trend that is driven by the expansion of international trade in goods. Since the sudden and significant growth in outsourcing began, several important changes in the business environment in the late 1990s facilitated the emergence and rapid growth of services offshoring, including the offshoring of activities with significant engineering and medical content. Some examples include Medical Translation professionals, Electrical Engineers, Aerospace Engineers and more. These changes have been made possible due to advances in information technology, an increase in the demand for certain types of technical skills, and the emergence of appropriately skilled, low-wage workforces in India, China, and elsewhere.
As we move into a new decade, the same debate will be following us as offshoring moves into the fields of engineering and medicine the same way it entered the manufacturing sector of the US economy almost 20-years ago. Thinking back almost 20-years, I remember the names of many people who publicly denounced offshoring and the results that it would have. Others counter that offshoring is a benign trend that enables U.S.-based companies and entrepreneurs to develop and market innovations more quickly and cost effectively.
Should Language Translators Be Concerned?
While it appears that domestically located language translation agencies are profiting at the expense of the American workforce, several language translation trade associations are offering different opinions. In addition, there is some fear too that a growing number of translation services may eventually be exported to markets where talent is cheap. In fact, a German Translation organization recently produced a report that argues that long-term U.S. leadership in science and engineering is now at risk. Throughout developed nations, an increasing number of workers involved in the translation and interpretation service industry are increasingly worried about further offshoring moves. If developing nations can offer workers who have strong Language Translation, Science and Engineering backgrounds then ability for the US to maintain its competitiveness will be in danger. The results will then be a deterioration of translation services within the United States.
