How Many Translators are There in the World?
How Many Translators are There in the World?
It became clear pretty early on in the history of the world that humans cannot live on their own. Despite being self-sufficient, they need others for interpersonal relations. Emotional connections are something we have always needed. It is basic human nature not to want to live in an isolated way. That’s why when someone stops talking to everyone around them, we know instantly that there is something wrong with them or they are going through tough times. In the beginning, humans mostly came together for mutual benefits. They needed manpower to protect themselves from animals and together they could get away from threats of all kinds.
As time went on, the communities we formed had new purposes too. For instance, giving people a sense of belonging in the group helped keep communities together. With the progress of time, communities turned into nations and pieces of lands turned into countries. A lot of countries fought for their independence because they were different from their rulers and they wanted to be with people that shared their cultural values and not someone they can’t relate to. Today, every nation has its unique characteristics that differentiate it from other people. But even after making countries and building nations, our need to create groups with people who shared our interests didn’t go away.
As more and more disciplines of study became important and people’s interests in them increased, there was a new opportunity in front of the experts of those fields. They could join together the people from their field and create a large group that supported each other and helped each other get through tough problems. For instance, scientists all across the world take inspiration from each other’s work and when they are at a standstill, they contact those who have already studied relevant problems successfully and get their advice to resolve their own issues.
But unlike nations, there is no country where scientists live together and make decisions for mutual benefits. There is, however, their profession and love for science that unites them and creates a bond between them that can withstand boundaries of space and time. They publish their work in science journals to help their fellow scientists, attend conferences to share their researches with each other, but they also keep on working in their field so they will always have more to teach each other. No one can deny that the working together of such groups have benefitted the human race enormously. Without each other’s help, scientists would not have been able to make remarkable discoveries, find cures, and push the human race into the future.
Such groups exist in every field of the world. If you are a doctor, you will be a part of one doctor’s association or another. There are also subgroups among such groups like a neurosurgeons’ association. Almost every field demands its followers to keep on learning if they want to improve their skills and become good at what they do. But when it comes to the written word and fields like translations, the requirement for learning is more than anywhere else.
It is impossible to connect all 640,000 translators of the world through a conference or any other group activity but it is imperative for the success of all of them that the expert among them keep sharing their knowledge and experience with the new people of the field. A large number of these translators work as freelancers and they need the guidance of others more than anyone else. Those that work with translation agencies can get guidance from their colleagues. They also manage to get work easily with the help of the agency they work with.
Establishing yourself as a freelancer is difficult. Working with an agency, on the other hand, has many benefits. You can choose your own work timings and also get to work regularly, if you want to. There are a few language combinations that are not in demand that much and if you are a translator, it may be impossible for you to find work for that combination, but that’s also something an agency can help you with if you decide to work with them.
