Business is Booming! Demand for Interpreting Services Continues to Climb

Feb 16, 2015 / by Katharine Allen & Barry S. Olsen

From Common Sense Advisory...

Article Excerpt: In CSA Research’s 2014 annual market study, we computed that the opportunity for interpreting services and technology represents 17% of the total language services market (this year’s survey is under way - click here to participate). In addition, 14% of respondents told us that on-site interpreting is their fastest-growing service.

To gauge the state of the interpreting market, CSA Research conducted a survey of buyers of interpreting services from 25 countries on whether they have seen their organization’s demand for interpreting increase for any language over the last five years. A hefty majority of 66% said that it has. We uncovered six trends that language service providers will find useful in their business planning:

Link to the full article HERE.

InterpretAmerica's Take: This report represents the first comprehensive study of the interpreting marketplace since InterpretAmerica commissioned Common Sense Advisory to conduct the first one in 2010 (See below for PDF download of the full 2010 report.) Common Sense Advisory conducts yearly reports on the translation market, but focuses less frequently on the interpreting market as a standalone segment of the overall language services industry. As such, it represents critical data for all of us working to promote the interpreting industry. The trends revealed in this new report give many of us confirmation of what we are seeing anecdotally. Overall demand and growth are up for both onsite and online delivery of interpreting services. But certain sectors of onsite interpreting, such as healthcare and legal, are facing the replacement of onsite interpreters with remote solutions. Certification efforts are starting to bear fruit as a driver of quality in hiring practices. Business, global health and natural disasters are also a more recognized force in the growth of our field. The full report is only available for purchase, but the news release, highlighted here, and the report extract. give valuable insight even for those of us who can't purchase the in-depth report.

The upcoming 5th InterpretAmerica Summit will be addressing many of the themes revealed in this report, including identifying where the new jobs are, what skills are needed to obtain them, and what cutting-edge technology trends are impacting how new services are being delivered.