Brussels, 27/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - According to a study carried out for the European Commission, and published on Friday 27 November, the language industry (translation, interpreting, localising and globalising, subtitling and dubbing, language technology tools, multilingual conference organisation and language teaching) in the EU had a turnover of €8.4 billion in 2008. According to the study (the first of its kind, the Commission says), the sector's turnover is set to increase by at least 10 % annually, over the next few years, to between €16.5 billion and €20 billion by 2015. This is one of the highest growth rates in EU industry.
Features of the language market include increasing consolidation among the big players but low barriers to entry in translation and interpreting, which means there are many players and substantial competition, the Commission says in a press release. In addition, globalisation demands translation and interpreting into new languages, as well as new language-related services.
“The industry is different from what it was years ago. It has seen the rise of new fields such as subtitling, localisation and editing. So professionals working in the field need to acquire new competences. The European Commission supports the development of such competences, for instance by promoting the European Master's in Translation,” said Commissioner for Multilingualism Leonard Orban. (I.L./transl.rt)