India as the outsourcing capital
India has experienced phenomenal growth in knowledge outsourcing over the past few years. The translation industry, in particular, has seen a boom with the increasing globalization, and it continues to grow exponentially. As a result, large multinationals, corporations, and translation agencies across the world have begun to employ the services of Indian professional translators.
This article focuses on Japanese to English translation and why India is the obvious choice. The foremost reason for subscribing to Indian translation service is the unmatched combination of subject area expertise, strong command over English, and reasonable costs. It may come as a surprise that many Japanese companies and translation agencies outsource their Japanese to English translation assignments to India, especially in the IT sector. This trend is only expected to increase in the future.
Translation in IT sector
The translation industry in Japan is also seeing a big revolution. IT related material comprises the bulk of translation assignments being outsourced from Japan. To meet the demand for Japanese to English translations in the IT arena, engineers are being encouraged to master the Japanese and English languages. However, such translations in Japan are rather expensive, mainly because engineers are required to be proficient in three skill sets-technical skills plus a good command over both Japanese and English. This combination is scarce in Japan, leaving only a handful of Japanese native translators for IT.
Promotion of Japanese to English translation
With the emerging ties between India and Japan, many young graduates and IT professionals are learning Japanese to expand their career opportunities. To further this, the Indian government has announced special schemes and established numerous credible institutions to promote the Japanese language. According to a survey conducted by the Japan Foundation in 1997, India was home to 42 institutions that teach Japanese, with over 3,800 students and 180 teachers. Today, there are more than 200 institutions that teach Japanese across India (click here for list). Japanese language teaching cells are also expected to be established in the seven prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).
Why India?
With the growing popularity of Japanese in India, Indian companies are beginning to tap into the translation market by providing high quality services at reasonable costs. India has already carved a niche for itself in the global IT market and Indian engineers are reputed for their technical skills and knowledge. These skills combined with Japanese language training makes them most suitable for translating Japanese to English. In fact, many Indian IT companies provide special Japanese language training to their engineers, and some even have trained staff who handle only Japanese assignments.
Growth opportunities
Appropriate infrastructure along with policy measures implemented by the Government of India has fueled an increase in the number of Indian IT professionals who are proficient in Japanese language. Japanese language experts in India offer subject area expertise, a good command over English, and cost effectiveness, giving India the edge in Japanese to English translations.
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"I am surprised that you are very good at speaking Japanese, very proud that you are learning Japanese very well. Also, I am very proud to hear that many people are eager to learn Japanese."
—Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan, on his visit to Indian schools
India as the outsourcing capital
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