Gianni Davico, L’industria della traduzione. Realtà e prospettive del mercato italiano, Turin, Published Sep 27, 2005, 136 pp, ISBN 888661845X.
Description
However you feel about globalization, in business we are seeing an exponential increase in the importance of communicating in languages other than our own if we want to have success in our business abroad.
As a result, the translation industry is also growing at a rapid pace, because effective communication is essential if we want to break down the barriers — both linguistic and cultural — that can divide people from different countries.
This book fills a void in the industry press by finally provided an in-depth, up-to-date report on all aspects of role played by language service providers (LSPs). It is a practical resource that busts many of the myths surrounding the translation industry and offers a clear, pragmatic account of this world based on the author’s own professional experience.
The book is a helpful tool for anyone who would like to understand this industry better, whether you are a professional translator, experienced or otherwise, or work for a language service provider, and seeks to restore some dignity to a field that is all-too-often mistreated and misunderstood.
A few reviews
This account of the Italian translation industry has chapters on the history of three translation agencies; the typology of translation companies; a description of the posts in the industry; details of translation company associations in Europe and North America; brief descriptions of the main ‘strategies’: marketing; pricing; positioning; competing and collaborating; investing and returns; localisation; a bibliography of the field, with a quaint reference to Mounin’s ‘classic’; and a glossary. Davico gives many interesting statistics (up to Feb. 2005): for example, in Italy. There are about 10 – 15,000 translators and 600 – 800 agencies. The total turnover is between 600 and 700 million euros. The ‘industry’ is relatively new, the profession regarded as secondary, and no one gets rich. Davico describes the ‘translation scene’ in a lively and pertinent way, either through schematic FAQs and As, or through chatty interviews with the real players. The book would be invaluable for anyone involved in specialised translation in Italy, but does not go beyond that.
This is the first book on the Italian translation market. High spots of the book are interviews with Rodrigo Vergara of Logos, and other players in the Italian translation industry. Also interesting is Davico’s analysis of the emerging division of the translation market between high-end and low-end, with a shrinking share of the market left in the middle. The book is very useful as an up-to-date introduction to a subject that has not been dealt with at book length before. Even though aimed at the Italian market, most of its contents and conclusions hold true for other markets as well. Among the trends examined in the book there is the continuing expansion of the translation market, which is closely linked, however, to a trend towards lower and lower rates.
