Analysis of the translation market in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s recent accession to the World Trade Organization, the establishment of economic centers in many parts of the kingdom, together with the diverse and large number of sectors that have recently entered into strategic partnerships with Microsoft, have all made translation and interpretation including arabic translator a fast growing service in Saudi Arabia with excellent capabilities. for the employment of qualified translators.

International, national and local organizations, corporations, banks, government agencies, industrial enterprises, hospitals, courts, military and many other institutions that make up the global society are beginning to rely on the services of interpreters and translators to communicate with each other and with their clients. as well as conduct three-way conversations. The increased awareness and speed of delivery has also brought with it information overload (excess or pile-up) and mandated the use of translation technology (PT) in some of the leading Saudi organizations.

However, despite the highly computerized nature of the market, it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of translators working in Saudi Arabia as there is no official commercial register documenting this area. Although the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Jeddah issues a list of licensed translation agencies in the Kingdom, this list is largely inaccurate and therefore hardly reliable as a reference source. Many well-known translation agencies, such as the Universal Summit Translation Center (USTC), for example, are not listed even though they are available on the Internet; and many of the contact numbers are either omitted or incorrect. This randomness makes it difficult not only to assess the impact of machine translation (MT) and automated translation (CAT) on the work of professional translators, but also to assess the improvement in the accuracy of information about the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies.