Challenges in the 21st Century

Dr. Kevin Lin
Chief Interpreter of the British Foreign Office

Professional translators and interpreters (English/Chinese) in the UK face five major threats:

1. threat to our profession from low entry barrier
2. threat to our core value – quality is absolute in our belief but relative in reality
3. threat created by ourselves - translators doing the work they shouldn’t be doing and interpreters not doing what they should do
4. threat to our livelihood – cheaper labour in China
5. threat to our ability to survive/thrive in the new environment - theory falling behind practice, training falling behind needs in the field

Each threat will be analyzed and discussed with examples taken from real assignments and where possible, backed up by statistics. The paper will draw heavily upon author’s experience in recent years as the Chief Interpreter (Chinese) of the British Government and from his experience in the training of translators and interpreters in both UK and China. The conclusion will be that the biggest challenge is to change ourselves in this changed world.

Although the focus of this paper is on English and Chinese, issues discussed have a much wider resonance.