Challenges defined our industry in 2023 and 2024, as the development of new technology tools fuelled a growing sense of uncertainty.
Both machine translation (MT) and artificial intelligence (AI) are here to stay, according to the 2023 and 2024 Nimdzi 100 rankings, which showed that MT and postediting accounted for 74.21% of the market in 2023 but rose to 83.3% in 2024.
So, are we out of a job? The short answer is ‘no’. The Nimdzi 100 also showed that language services grew from a $67.9 billion industry in 2023 to around $72.7 billion in 2024. There are definitely work opportunities, we just need to adapt to new market needs.
For those of us with years of experience, updating our working methods is an achievable goal. But what about new generations who are focused on postediting and AI and who are barely aware that large, hardback dictionaries, such as Black’s, even exist?
Those professionals with more experience are therefore playing a key role in providing practical, applicable, and close mentoring to junior colleagues, and the strengthening of professional ethics has become foundational to promoting best practices. Mentoring is appealing because it can lead to a symbiotic collaboration: while senior colleagues can learn about the diversity of AI and where it can be used, junior colleagues can learn how to use it well. As the Roman philosopher Seneca said, ‘by teaching, we learn.’
With this vision in mind, the leadership at the Colegio de Traductores e Intérpretes de Chile (COTICH) have focused part of its work on strengthening collaboration with various institutions that train translators and interpreters, to share experiences on the new demands of our clients, as well as professional ethics and management, entering the labour market, good practices, the current market, and possible future scenarios.
We have worked with both students (in lectures and in-person classes) and with faculty members as external consultants to help analyse curricula and advise on how to adapt courses to bridge the gap with today’s market needs.
At COTICH, we would like to encourage our sister associations to join in this wonderful work so that more experienced professionals can be more open to the world of new technologies, while allowing the next generation to have the best of both worlds: a traditional educational foundation and the practical and relevant advice of their more experienced colleagues.
Katherinne Cádiz, Chair, COTICH