by Shane Grevin
This past week, I extended a business trip into some much enjoyed family time. The work was in Los Angeles and that meant Disneyland for the weekend.
While on one of the most popular kids rides in the park, I got to thinking… Is it a Small World after all? It seemed that everything I saw/heard/spoke about on this trip had at least a hint of international flavor.
The Australian Open tennis tournament finals were played on the men’s side between a Brit and a Swede. On the women’s side, an American bested a recently out-of-retirement mom from Belgium. I had a meeting to discuss a major international website with an individual who grew up in India. I met him through a former college buddy who has never left the State of California.
I drove a Japanese designed, US assembled automobile on the eight hour drive to get to Southern California. To pass the time, my kids played video games manufactured in Taiwan, watched Spanish language videos on a Korean TV/DVD player, and drew with pencils and markers from China. Not to mention I sat in on a conference call hosted in the UK on a phone manufactured by a Finnish company and a headset from the US.
Several nations worldwide continued their response to and support with the devastation in Haiti. A US based company is taking the blame for Toyota’s sticking accelerator problem. I read an article that stated the hospital of the future will have language support for all of its records, patients and equipment. At Disney, I heard 14 languages being spoken by park visitors and several of the instructions at the rides were in multiple languages.
Thinking about the above it hit me… Whether it’s sports being played, autos driven, children entertained, devastation felt, or ailments treated, it did not matter where the end user and the provider were from. The experience transcends geography or nationalism and that is what a language provider should strive to do for you. When it comes to our clients, vendors and colleagues, that is our mission, and yes, this is a Small World after all.
I really liked the personal aspect of this topic leading into the business angle.
So what are the actual effects of globalization on the translation business? Many people do keep their grumpy mood after the crisis and hide behind a “globalization is going to let us loose our jobs” attitude. But instead, the translation business will increase instead of decreasing as a result of globalization. The fear of being outsourced is unnecessary as well as especially technical texts need a professional technical translation to meet international standards. Customers will therefore look for highly specialized translators. Low-cost translation won’t work in the long run.