Industry Life Cycle Theory And Specialized Training Of Interpreters

The language services sector in China has witnessed a rapid growth in the past decades,generating over 30 billion RMB worth of value each year since 2010 and growing at a double-digit rate.Yet,the number of entities and service providers engaged in this sector is growing even faster.According to the industry lifecycle theory,every industry/sector has a four-stage lifecycle:introduction,growth,maturity and decline.It is necessary to adopt strategies appropriate for the specific stage to enjoy optimal development.This paper applies this internationally well-recognized theory of industry development and adopts the Pearl curve fitting method to analyze the statistics collected from the Chinese language services market,mainly the official data released by Translators Association of China(TAC)in the previous years and other authoritatively published data concerning the language services market of China,trying to identify the exact stage of its lifecycle where this industry is experiencing so as to adopt appropriate strategies to promote its sound growth.Results of the data analysis show that the language services market in China is now at the maturity stage/decline stage and so is the interpreting niche of the market.The paper thus proposes that professional interpreters would find it necessary to specialize in specific fields so as to survive and excel.Interpreting training in the coming years,therefore,should be heterogeneous to satisfy diversified needs of the market.It may also consider to launch specialized refresher courses for practicing interpreters to be more adaptive to the demands of the language services market.The paper further looks into the released data of the interpreting niche market,trying to have more in-depth knowledge about detailed needs of the market so as to guide the professional development of interpreters and set-up of adequate interpreter training programs.However,as there is only limited data available,the author then conducts a qualitative study of the interpreting niche market,interviewing three representatives of the practicing interpreters,i.e.very experienced(more than 10 years of experience in interpretation),experienced(more than 5 years of experience in interpretation)and novice interpreters(no practical experience in interpretation)on their experience and observation of the current interpreting niche market.Results of the interviews corroborate the findings of the above-mentioned data analysis and reaffirm the necessity for professional interpreters to specialize in fields such as finance,law,IT and healthcare.Interpreter training programs are thus also suggested to diversify their training syllabi and provide specialized interpreting courses in these fields for both interpreting learners and practicing professionals.