Has translator productivity increased? Are career translators willing to post-edit machine translation output? Do they feel translation memories are sufficiently maintained? Are interpreters increasingly working remotely? Do linguists struggle with the number of vendor portals they have to log into? Are they likely to still be working in the profession five years from now?
These and similar questions are the ones that executives and vendor managers at language service providers are pondering. But so do big buyers of language services that worry about the sustainability of the language supply chain they either contract with directly or through their agency partners. In addition, linguists may wonder how their experience compares to that of their peers around the world or where they can improve their work experience.
To address these questions, CSA Research conducted a large-scale survey of translators and interpreters in all corners of the world. Our goal was to characterize the demographics, behaviors, attitudes, and challenges of translators and interpreters to understand the present reality − and likely future − for linguists.