Did you know that more than 7100 languages are spoken currently around the world? It shouldn’t be surprising then to see the importance and continuous growth of translation services worldwide.
We thought we’d share with you 9 fun facts about translation, which would hopefully give you better insight into the translation and language services industry.
By the way! If you count only 8 fun facts about translation in this blog piece, then please count again!
LINGUIBEX
Top Five Target Languages
The top 5 targeted languages in the translation sector are: English, French, German, Italian and Russian. This means that these languages, and the certified translators proficient in them, have a higher demand in the translation industry.
Translators translate up to 520.000 words a year
Professional translators usually translate about 250 words an hour. This entails that a full-time translator is able to translate 520.000 words a year! Can you imagine that?
The 5 most widely spoken languages in the world
The top 5 most spoken languages in the world are: Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, and Arabic.
Since the 3rd Century BC!
The translation profession has existed for more than 2.000 years! The oldest recorded translation is deemed to be the translation of the Old Testament into Greek, which dates back to the 3rd century BC.
The Most Translated Authors
According to UNESCO, the top 3 most translated authors throughout history are Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and William Shakespeare.
A Town for Translators
The Translation Association of China reports that there are more than 300,000 certified translators in the world, which would be enough to populate a whole town!
Billions of Dollars’ Worth Industry!
A recent market study reported that the global language services market reached a value of US$ 62.6 Billion in 2021, with translation occupying half the pie chart. The language services industry is expected to reach US$ 96.1 billion by 2027, which means more and more need for translation and language services!
40% of Living Languages are endangered
Even though there are 7151 languages as of 2022, about 40% of these languages are endangered. Some of those languages are still spoken by as little as 1000 people. A certified translation services provider should work with all language pairs, including the endangered ones.
When people hear the word “consulting,” they often think of Harvard MBAs advising enterprise businesses on corporate strategy.
If you have other interesting facts about translation you would like to share with us, then please share them in the comment section below!