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2014 Translation Industry Trends

Jul 03, 2014

The translation and localization industry’s growth continues its climb well in 2014, staying ahead of the global economic growth forecasts at a rate of 5%. Much of this development can be attributed to the need for businesses to engage emerging local markets. Here at Morningside, we find these trends corroborated by the evolving nature of project requests.

Increasingly the BRIC countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, and China, are asserting themselves as pivotal players in today’s global economy. This geographic shift in economic activity has led to heavier involvement in international legal disputes and, consequently, a larger need for the translation industry. Matters relating to the FCPA, or Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, have increasingly called upon LSPs for translations of documents from newspaper articles to email exchanges. Intellectual Property matters in particular have felt the effects of this power shift. Brazil, Russia, Japan and China have become standard foreign filing destinations. Additionally, Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, and Ukraine are experiencing surges in patent prosecution.

Continuing beyond the BRIC, countries such as South Korea and Indonesia are beginning to challenge traditional leaders in manufacturing such as Japan and Germany. Increases in global competition have spilled over into the courtrooms, driving demands for legal translations and interpretations up.

Southeast Asia is more commonly featured as the backdrop to medical and pharmaceutical industry expansion. As more clinical trials are conducted abroad, the need for accurate, technical translations rises with it. Just last month, Morningside participated in the 2014 Drug Information Association (DIA) Conference in San Diego in response to our increased involvement in medical translations for clinical trials and regulatory work.

Domestically, the Department of Justice has pursued many White Collar and Antitrust cases which can involve multiple languages—most commonly Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. Antitrust cases in particular are responsible for a large portion of the rising demand for qualified interpreters.

Morningside continues to stay abreast of these global activities by engaging new verticals and expanding language coverage to match shifting trends. We have increased our presence in the medical field and continue to expand our partnerships in the legal industry. Furthermore, in response to shifting language trends, Morningside has increased coverage of language combinations such as Indonesian and Japanese in order to meet evolving needs.

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