Translation industry should be regulated

"October 01, 2010

I agree that regulation kills competition and limits profits in a profit-driven economy. If I were to sell anything, I would rather set my own prices and conditions based on the laws of supply and demand. The translation industry is a slightly more technical, thus a more complicated business.

In today's world, only international organizations take translation seriously. While international organizations like the UN, OECD or NATO hire translators according to strict rules and process translation strictly, most countries are more lenient. As a result, anyone can translate, anywhere, at any time and the results are usually poor quality of translation.

(...)

Translators should be certified through examinations and should work in registered business settings. Minimum and maximum rates should be set to protect translators and their clients. Companies should not be allowed to resort to crowdourcing. The use of machine translation, which does horrible translations, should be banned. Finally, translators and their clients should be bound by legal contracts and translators should be paid on time.

By Akli Hadid, a former student in Korea now residing in Algeria.
He can be reached at [hadid.akli@gmail.com]"

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