Translation Services

March 9, 2011: Found in Translation

If you’ve ever been on the “Small World” ride at Disneyland or Disney World, you know how impossible it is to get the theme song out of your head. Well, today is a good time to start humming the catchy tune, because it is “a small world after all.” And that is leading to an increasing need for translation services.

As I report in my ebook, 26 Hot Businesses to Start Right Now!, Research firm AnythingResearch.com (in a report on Inc.com last year) says translation and interpretation services are already generating over $2.7 billion in revenues. And the average growth has been very strong—22 percent a year since 2004.

Translators are in demand from many industries, but today, the primary markets for these services include the federal government, health-care professionals, and businesses interested in importing and exporting, which have increased since the Obama Administration launched its National Export Initiative last March.

Even if the only language you speak is English, you can still jump on this trend. In most cases, you hire the translators; you don’t do the work yourself. And in the beginning, you can save a lot of money by hiring independent contractors to do the translating instead of employees.