The trade in translation rights can of course be affected by a change in
circumstances in the markets concerned. Countries opening up to foreign
contact may see a boom in purchasing, followed by a plateauing out when the
novelty factor has worn off – this happened in the late 1990s in central and
eastern Europe. An economic recession will see a downturn in business, as was
evident in the Far East from the mid-1990s. At the time of writing, Japan is
only just starting to emerge from the recession; Korea and Thailand were also
affected but are now recovering.