The world is facing economic and financial turmoil nowadays, and thus, all sectors of the economy are affected and under great stress. The translation industry is also experiencing a slightly declining volume of translation work.

The good thing is that the translation industry, or mainly translators are quite possibly one of the most flexible sectors in the world. It is in the nature of of translation industry to be somewhat independent of economic trends, whether the economic situation is in a positive state or crisis. However, when it comes to a serious global economic and financial crisis, the tense state of the general business environment doesn’t spare the translation industry, either.

So, how the economic crisis affect translators and translation agencies? Can the translation industry survive in a world of economic turmoil? If so, how?

Nowadays, we always hear bad news about the economic situation, and it seems likely that it is worsening every day. People notice that almost every minute, stock markets and small businesses are in terrible circumstances, sometimes near bankruptcy.

It is true that the translation industry focuses on more labour-intensive work than the capital and financial sector. However, in order to keep the business growing, it needs a bit of supporting presence from other industries. Hence, it only means that the translation industry has a connection or dependence on the banks or financial industry after all.

Translation is not just a luxury but a necessity. In times of economic crisis, business corporations postponed or declined to use translation services. However, due to the significance of translation for the growth and success of the business, some bigger international corporations are still engaged in using interpreting and translation services for the survival of their business. An American company that has a branch office in Spain will need to ensure that their business proposition will be understood by their clients. Thus, despite the global crisis, international corporations are trying to run smoothly by delivering correct and accurate messages to their international target audience.

However, this does not entirely mean that the translation industry is used to the negative effects of the global economic crisis. The world industries seem like connected to all sectors of the economy. Thus, if companies in other sector are in financial turmoil, their need for translation services will tend to decline one way or another.

It is probably worth pointing out that there are limited areas, for which this is not necessarily the case. One such are is legal translation services.

In times of global economic crisis, many clients are struggling to pay or cannot pay at all for the translation services that they acquire from language service providers. In addition, some language translation providers actually increase their prices in order to compensate for the financial loss of getting less business. However, this causes potential clients not to utilize the interpreting or translation services that are available. In addition, in some cases, other language translation providers decrease their rates for translation and interpreting services in order to attract clients to engage in business with them.

It is definitely true that people have no control over the economic development of the world. Therefore, the best thing to do that can help the translation industry and other sectors in order to continue the growth of their business even during global economic disaster is to build a good relationship between themselves and their clients.