Department of Linguistics
T&I Labour Market in China
By DeRong Yu
Introduction
The aim of this market research project is to provide Translation and Interpreting students who plan to work in China after graduation with proper information about the labour market there.
The information and data for the research project are mainly collected from two sources: internet and a questionnaire survey. Information from a wide range of websites related to China's translation and interpreting labor market is reviewed, which includes newspapers, translation and interpreting online magazines, translation and interpreting associations, translation and interpreting agencies and companies, China's translators' examination authority. In addition, a questionnaire was designed by the Translation and Interpreting Labor Market Research Group is sent to practicing translators and interpreters in China, previous translation and interpreting students graduated from Macquarie University and now work in China, and teachers of translation and interpreting training, and officers from Chinese translation association.
China's Translation Industry Overview
Since the end of 20th century, China has adopted an "Open Policy" to open its door to the world economically and culturally. China's economic boom became the foundation for the development of China's translation industry. Besides, the need for communication between China and the world fueled this newly emerging industry further. Now, in the 21st century, a number of unprecedented golden opportunities, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, accession of WTO, 2010 Shanghai EXPO, and 2008 World Congress of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) in Shanghai, will boost China's translation and interpreting industry to a higher position.
The future of the China's translation and interpreting industry will be prosperous. According to the financial report of Qianlong, a well-known news-report website in China, it is estimated that the translation and interpreting industry in the world yields more than US 13 billion dollars annually in which China's translation and interpreting industry generates about RMB 12 billion Yuan (US 1.5 billion dollars) which accounts for nearly 10 % of the total value of the world of the translation and interpreting industry. By the end of 2005, the predicted value of the industry as a whole will be a total US 22.7 billion dollars and the value in China will reach to RMB 20 billion Yuan (US 2.5 billion dollars). (Qianlong 2003)
A lot of positive factors such as globalization, internet, and economic development in China have led to a huge demand on translators and interpreters in various sectors. According to statistics by Translators Association of China, there are more than 60,000 full-time practicing translators and interpreters and around 500,000 professionals whose job are relevant to translation and interpreting. (xinhuanet.com, 2004)
However, the surging demand of translation market still can not be met. Many senior translators and interpreters expressed a view that although China is a "big country of translation" which produced around 94,400 translated books from 1995 to 2003 compared with 28,500 from 1978 to 1990, it is not a "powerful country" in this field as translation quality is a serious problem. Therefore, China's translation and interpreting industry has an enormous need for qualified translators and interpreters, particularly at the advanced level.
Translation Corporations and Organizations
Since 1990, tens of thousands of translation companies and agencies have been established to meet the enormous demand on translators and interpreters as well as to make profit in this burgeoning industry. After developing for a decade, these translation companies and organizations have formed particular operation modes. These corporations and organizations which are the major employers in China provide lots of job positions for competent translators and interpreters. They can be mainly categorized, in accordance with their operation modes, as follows:
State-owned Translation Organizations
State-owned Translation Organizations are run by central or local government. In government translation organizations, the translators and interpreters are engaged in the activities such as government foreign affairs, culture exchange activities and government campaign.
Large Translation Companies
Large translation companies have many company branches located all over the big cities in China with a wide client network throughout the country. They have a large number of part-time and freelance translators and interpreters and contacts and they provide various language translation services.
University-sponsored Translation Companies
The university-sponsored translation companies are established or co-established by a university. One professor or several professors in the translation and interpreting department of a university join the company as a part-time translator or interpreter, director of the projects, or they just put their names as a nominal figure of the company.
SOHO Translation Companies/Agencies
Most SOHO translation companies have only two full-time staff members (general manager and receptionist) and one part-time staff (editor) and several freelancer contacts. This kind of translation company operates as a translation broker instead of a real provider of translation service. When a company gets an order from a client, it will choose and contact freelancer translators to do it and pay them based on an agreed rate.
Localization companies
Localization companies provide translation service mainly focused on the field of IT such as software localization and website localization. They have outsourcing contracts with several multinational information technology companies to complete the localization for them.
Other Companies
Besides working for the above translation companies or organizations as a part-time or full-time employee, there are lots of other companies which are suitable for junior translators or interpreters to find a translation job in China. Firstly, export and import trade companies have many positions for translators and interpreters. Secondly, multinational corporations and joint venture companies have a separate translation department where they need translators to translate different kinds of business documents for cross-national communication. Thirdly, permanent foreign organizations in China such as embassies also need a large number of interpreters as well as translators to assist their officers.
Freelancer
Freelancer is another way to work as a translator or interpreter. However, freelance work is not recommended for a beginner as it requires a firm and wide network for obtaining translation and interpreting tasks.
How to Find a Translation or Interpreting Job
The above job positions may be obtained through the following ways:
Newspaper
It is the traditional media that publishes vacant job positions for translators and interpreters.
Job Position Website
In China, it is one of the most popular ways for the translator or interpreter to look for a job position. Thousands of translation and interpreting positions are released daily.
Translation Company Website
When you type "Translation Company", in a search engine on the internet, an incredibly long list will appear and will display thousands of translation company websites. However, a wide selection may also be a wrong selection as translation companies are different in scale, strength and reputation. A deliberate evaluation should be done before contacting the companies. After that, translators and interpreters can apply for an appropriate job.
Local Translation Association
Local translation associations may not offer jobs directly, but their network with translation companies is a useful resource for translators and interpreters.
Friends, Classmates and Teachers
In China, the relationship network is effective but often being ignored. Friends, classmates and teachers who are involved in the field of translation and interpreting could provide information about job positions for both in-house as well as freelance translators and interpreters.
Qualification for Translators and Interpreters in China
China Aptitude Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI)
On January 24th, 2005, the official document No. 10 released by General Office of the National Ministry of Personnel, provided that starting from 2005, the China Aptitude Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI) would be held nationwide twice a year, in May and November. Since then, the CATTI is the only test which identifies qualification and ability of translators and interpreters in China. The translation and interpreting test authorized by local government or university such as the test for the Certificate of Foreign Language Interpretation authorized by Shanghai government and the test for the Certificate of English Translation and Interpretation organized by Beijing Foreign Studies University will be replaced by CATTI.
Although the CATTI is introduced nationwide and is issued officially by China's National Ministry of Personnel, it is a not a requisite certificate that practicing translators and interpreters in China must have at the moment. However, there is a trend that the certificate of CATTI will be the identification card of translators and interpreters in near future.
Requisite Qualification for a Translation or Interpreting Job
According to the feedback obtained form the questionnaire and the job descriptions found on job websites, the requisite qualification for an non-English major applicant is the certificate of College English Test Band Six (CET-6) and for an English major applicant is the certificate of Test of English for English Major Band Eight (TEM-8). It is the basic requirement for applying for a translation job.
Candidates with these qualifications can apply for a translator position and then sit a translation test (often called written test in China) which is designed by translation companies themselves for testing translating ability. Then, a translation company chooses appropriate translators based on the test result of candidates and the requirement of the company.
The qualification for an interpreter is much higher than a translator in China. Interpreter candidates can sit the second-round interpreting test (oral test) only after they pass the first-round translation test. There is a common view in China that a qualified interpreter must be an excellent translator.
In most cases, a certificate is not a guarantee for a translation or an interpreting job. Instead it is only the basic requirement in applying for a job. In order to get a job, the translator and the interpreter must have solid translating skills and ability and must pass the test organized by employers.
Rate of Pay for Translation and Interpreting Services
As the rate of translation and interpreting service is not regulated by the government or translation associations, it varies in different translation companies, which depends on the scale, reputation and location of a company. Based on the translation and interpreting rate collected from translation companies' websites, the following table summaries these rates:
1. Translation (Rate: ? Yuan per A Thousand Chinese Characters)
| Language | English |
Japanese/Korean | German/French/Russian | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | English to Chinese | Chinese to English | Japanese/Korean to Chinese | Chinese to Japanese/Korean | Foreign Language to Chinese | Chinese to Foreign Language |
| General | ?120-150 | ?160-190 | ?130-170 | ?160-200 | ?210-260 | ?250-300 |
| (Aus $) | ($ 20-25) | ($ 26-31) | ($ 21-28) | ($ 26-33) | ($ 35-43) | ($ 41-50) |
| Specialized | ?150-180 | ?190-220 | ?160-190 | ?190-230 | 250-300 | 300-350 |
| (Aus $) | ($ 25-30) | ($ 31-36) | ($ 26-31) | ($ 26-38) | ($ 41-50) | ($ 50-58) |
The translation service is charged according to the difficulty of translating articles, which can be divided into two categories, general translation (business documents, general documents e.g.) and a specialized translation which requires particular professional background knowledge (technical manual, medicine instruction e.g.). Also, the rate of translation from Chinese to English is higher than that from English to Chinese, and can reach from about RMB 160 to 190 Yuan (Aus 26-31 dollars). The charge of specialized translation is higher than general translation in both directions as the difficulty of the translation is different. Compared to the rate of translation in other languages translation, Translation into English is lower than translation other languages especially some languages which are not quite popular in China such as French and Russian. The major reason is that English is a compulsory second language for most university graduates, while other languages are just selective courses to them.
2. Consecutive Interpreting (Rate: ? Yuan per interpreter per day: 8 hours)
| Language Category | English | Japanese, Korean, German, French, Russian |
|---|---|---|
| General Activities (e.g. exhibition or tour) | ? 400-600 | ? 500-1000 |
| (Aus $) | $ 66-100 | $ 83-166 |
| Technology Exchange Activities or Business Meeting |
? 800-1200 | ? 900-1500 |
| (Aus $) | $ 133-200 | $ 150-250 |
| Medium-Sized Conference | ? 1600-2500 | ? 1800-3000 |
| (Aus $) | $ 266-416 | $ 300-500 |
| International Conference | ? 2500-4000 | ? 3000-5000 |
| (Aus $) | $ 416-666 | $ 500-833 |
The table illustrates that the rate increases dramatically with the increasing difficulty of interpreting tasks. The highest rate of RMB 2500-4000 Yuan (Aus 416-666 dollars) is given the interpreting for interpreting formal international conference, which requires interpreters that have an advanced level of interpreting skills and abilities.
3. Simultaneous Interpreting (Rate: ?Yuan per interpreter per day: 8 hours)
| Language | English | Japanese, Korean, German, French, Russian | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate | Per Hour | Per Day | Per Hour | Per Day |
| RMB | ? 1000-1200 | ? 6000-8000 | ? 1200-1400 | ? 7000-9600 |
| (Aus $) | $ 166-200 | $ 1000-1333 | $ 200-233 | $ 1166-1600 |
The rate for simultaneous Interpreting is unbelievably high. A simultaneous interpreter who works for an hour can earn around RMB 1000-1200 Yuan which almost equals the salary of a factory worker working for a month.
However, many senior simultaneous interpreters say that the rate for simultaneous interpreting can not really reflect the facts behind it. Simultaneous interpreting is a difficult job with extremely high requirements. Simultaneous conference interpreting is done by two or three interpreters working as a team. An interpreter must have a rest every 30 minutes and is replaced by another one because simultaneous interpreting job is requires not only advanced interpreting skills and abilities but also absolutely high attention, endurance and physical strength to support it.
The salary for a translator or an interpreter is relatively high in China, an interpreter's earnings in particular, compared to other professions. According to a report on a job website, the income for a full-time translator in a translation company is the basic salary of RMB 2000-5000 Yuan for 50,000 Chinese characters plus bonus (60 Yuan for a thousand Chinese characters after completing the 50,000 characters) per month. The salary for a simultaneous interpreter is about RMB 4000 Yuan per day. (HR.COM.CN 2005).
This compares very favourably with other jobs. According to statistics of China's Statistic Bureau, in 2004 in China, the average monthly salary for farmers is RMB 539 Yuan (AUS 89 dollars) and for workers in towns is RMB1335 Yuan (Aus 222 dollars) (snweb.com 2005) and for workers in big cities in Beijing for instance, is RMB 2362 Yuan (Aus $389) (xinhuanet.com 2005).
Translation Associations: Translators Association of China
The Translators Association of China (TAC), the only national translation and interpreting organization in China, plays a crucial role in the development of the translation and interpreting profession and industry. The Translators Association of China was founded in 1982 by organizations and companies related to translation and interpreting throughout the country. It joined the International Federation of Translators (FIT) in 1987 and a number of its representatives have been elected Council Members of FIT. The department responsible for the Translators Association of China is the China's Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Administration. (Tac-online.org.cn 2005)
In order to solve problems that include poor quality, non-standardized prices and lack of specialized labor division which have influenced the development of translation market, the Translators Association of China works to lead a campaign which calls for standardization of China's translation industry. As it is an organization which does not have real power to regulate the market, the Translators Association of China can only suggest and urge the relevant authorities to take actions. In November 2003, the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the Code of Translation Services which was drafted by Translators Association of China. The Code of Translation Service which provides objective criteria on translation services was effective in June 2004. In addition, from 2005, the China Aptitude Test for Translators and Interpreters is co-organized by the National Ministry of Personnel, the Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Administration and the Translators Association of China.
Translation and Interpreting Education in China
In China, the training of translation and interpreting began a long time ago from 1862, according to Jianzhong Xu who wrote "Training Translators in China." (Jianzhong Xu, 2005). Nowadays, most universities have foreign language departments for English and other languages education. Beside this, there are seven universities which have established an independent Institute of Translation and Interpretation for training translators and interpreters. Below is a list of these institutes along with their contact details:
Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation, Shanghai International Studies University http://giit.shisu.edu.cn/ Address: 550 Dalian Xilu, Shanghai 200083 Tel.: (+8621) 6561.0046
Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Beijing Foreign Studies University http://www.bfsu.edu.cn Address: P.O.box 16, No. 2. Xisanhuan Beilu, Beijing, Postal Code 100081 Tel: 86.10.68966386. Fax: 86.10.68453007 E-mail: sti@bfsu.edu.cn
School of Interpreting and Translation Studies, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies http://secwww.gdufs.edu.cn/sits/ Address: Guangzhou 510421 Tel: 86.20.6627595 ext. 743. Fax: 6627367
Sichuan International Studies University, Postgraduate Faculty http://202.115.32.34/waiwen/index.htm Address: Shapingba, Chongqing, 400031 Tel.: +86 23 6538 5296
Tianjin Normal University. Foreign Languages Department
Address: Tianjin 300074 Tel: 86.22.3345024 ext. 501. Fax: 86.22.3358489
Xiamen University. Foreign Languages Department
Address: Xiamen. Fujian
Tel: 86.592.2086380
China Foreign Affairs University
http://www.cfau.edu.cn/ Address: 24 Zhanlan Road, West District, Beijing 100037 Tel.: 86-10-68323896. Fax: 86-10-68323896
Conclusion
In conclusion, China's translation and interpreting industry is still in its infancy but with a prosperous future as China's booming economy and cultural exchange have a surging demand for qualified translators and interpreters especially at an advanced level. The translation companies and organizations which are the major employers of translators and interpreters are different in scale, reputation and operating mode. There are various kinds of ways to find an appropriate translating and interpreting job. The certification of the China Aptitude Test for Translators and Interpreters is going to be the identification of translators and interpreters. However, it is the basic requirement of applying for the job. The only way to get a job is to pass the test organized by employers through applying translation and interpreting skills and abilities. Compared with other professions, translating and interpreting is a well-paid job in China. Translators Association of China is the only national translation association in China, which is engaged in assisting authorities to regulate the translation and interpreting market. There are seven universities which have established independent translation and interpreting institutions for educating translators and interpreters of the next generation in China.
References
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