When assembling materials for the Philadelphia Inquirer article titled “Translating and interpreting is a growing, but uneven, industry“, the reporter Jane M. Von Bergen asked CETRA Language Solutions for a list of requests received on a single day. Here is the list (also available in the Business Section of philly.com):
2:30 a.m.: A Taiwanese company needs to code Chinese responses to a survey.
6 a.m.: An Irish medical-device company wants a price for translating a website into 10 languages, including Arabic, Japanese, and Farsi.
8 a.m.: A South Dakota state health agency must translate a brochure into Khmer.
9:20 a.m.: A law firm needs a Korean interpreter in four hours to help a family follow a trial regarding a child’s drowning.
10 a.m.: A research company needs to translate a physicians’ survey about psoriasis into French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and Italian.
10:55 a.m.: A public-relations agency needs eight American Sign Language interpreters for a one-day event in four cities, including Philadelphia.
11:15 a.m.: A video remote interpretation for Haitian Creole is needed the next day at a regional courthouse.
11:30 a.m.: A highly confidential intelligence document must be translated from Urdu into English in 12 hours. Security clearance is required.
Noon: Two Japanese interpreters are needed for market-research interviews.
1 p.m.: A market-research company has a 24-hour deadline for a review of an online survey translated into 10 languages.
1:30 p.m.: A hospital immediately needs a Zulu interpreter to help a patient and a doctor communicate in a critical behavioral-health situation.
7:45 p.m.: Interpreters in five languages are needed for a forthcoming national life-sciences conference.
11:55 p.m.: The U.S. Embassy in a French-speaking African country gives a three-day deadline to translate a 10-page document into French.
SOURCE: CETRA Language Solutions, Elkins Park
