ShareThisBy DARRELL SMITH
Monday, October 30, 2006
Monica Nainsztein remembers sitting in darkened theaters as a child in her native Buenos Aires, watching her favorite movie stars. As the images flickered on-screen, the Spanish subtitles that gave voice to the English dialogue were flashed below.
But the words she read rarely matched what she heard.
"I grew up watching movies in Argentina saying, 'Hey, that's not what they said.'"
Maybe not, but she knew what they should have said.
Two decades later, Nainsztein is still reading Spanish-language subtitles. But now she's writing them, too. As head of the Spanish Media Translations, she creates Spanish-language movie and TV subtitles used by some of Hollywood's biggest studios.
Nainsztein, 35, works from home, but her team of 13 co-translators and proofreaders is spread from Argentina to London.
"You work with people who know what they're doing, who are immersed in American culture. Sometimes you can't (only) translate, you have to think in Spanish."
Thousands of U.S. translators and interpreters unlock language for others, whether it's a business needing its technical manuals translated for foreign customers, a hospital requiring translators in its emergency room or a university working with a multilingual student body.
It's a growing field for translators and interpreters, whose numbers have increased with the demands of a multicultural world and a global business economy.
In 2004, the last year that federal statistics were available, about 31,000 individuals in the United States were listed as translators and interpreters in schools, health care, courts, airlines, telecommunication and other fields.
The actual number is estimated to be considerably higher as many in the translating and interpreting industries work part time or as freelancers, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average salary is roughly $16.30 an hour.
The industry's employment figures are expected to jump as much as 26 percent in the next eight years, according to the bureau, primarily because of the demand in the United States for foreign languages and broadened ties with foreign countries.
"There's a whole industry dedicated to this now," said Don Schinske, executive director of the California Healthcare Interpreting Association, which represents 600 medical and health care interpreters statewide.
"Between the Internet and globalization of markets," he said, "a whole industry has been built around crossing cultures and languages."
Garry Pratt of International Translation Service has seen the industry evolve firsthand. Thirty years ago, he said, the number of translation services could be ticked off on one hand, and the language palette for translators was fairly standard: Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Russian.
Today, Pratt's service is, linguistically speaking, all over the map. He's been asked to translate written words ranging from the scientific to the romantic, from Japanese chemical formulas for the University of California, Davis, to love letters for foreign sweethearts.
Among the more obscure languages that Pratt has been asked to help with was Ilocano, a language spoken in the northern Philippines. He's also been asked to provide a Samoan interpreter and someone to interpret Navajo in a recent court case.
His bread-and-butter work is translating birth certificates, diplomas and other public and academic records. Among his recent clients are Chinese students as well as Russian immigrants and French-speaking Senegalese in the area.
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Unlocking Language: The business of translations
What they do: Translators transcribe the written word into other languages, working with documents such as brochures, training manuals, movie scripts and public records. Interpreters deal with the spoken word.
Where they work: About 31,000 individuals were employed as translators and interpreters in the United States in 2004, the last year that statistics were available. The actual number is believed to be significantly higher, because many work part-time or as freelancers.
Of the 31,000, nearly one-third _ about 9,900 _ were employed in schools, colleges and universities. Other sectors were health care (primarily hospitals), government, airlines, publishing, telephone companies and interpreting/translating agencies.
What they earn: Salaried interpreters and translators had median hourly earnngs of $16.28 in May 2004. Pay rates ranged from roughly $9.70 to $27.50 per hour.
What's required: Many agencies or companies only employ those who have worked in the field for three to five years or who have a degree in translation studies, or both. Only one state, Washington, offers certification in translation services.
What's in demand: The industry is projected to increase 26 percent in the next eight years, due to the expansion of global commerce and the influx of foreign- language speakers in the United States. Demand will remain strong for translators of the so-called "PFIGS" languages (Portuguese, French, Italian, German and Spanish), as well as the principal Asian languages _ Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; California Healthcare Interpreting Association
