It is a fact that the translation market is not heavily affected by recessions. However, it is a very fragmented market, with spot number 1 claimed by military contractors and the Top 100 firms ranging from $427M down to $4M according to studies by Common Sense Advisory, a translation industry think tank which estimated the size of the industry to be $33.5 billion in 2012. According to a report by IbisWorld, translation services are expected keep on growing and reach $37 billion in 2018. The United States represents the largest single market for translation services. Europe is a close second and Asia is the largest growth area. Currently, business is generated from the government and private industries alike.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, the translation industry is expected to grow by 42% between 2010 – 2020. The most important reason for this growth is globalization. Machine translation and other computer assisted translation software will learn and get better and better in future resulting in better translation services and efficiencies. Higher efficiencies will be based on
the translators side, resulting in faster and more reliable translations. Companies applying machine translation technology efficiently will be clear winners.
companies paying less in the future for the same amount of translation work. More content will be able to be published at the same cost or cheaper cost.