Cover not available
Article published In:
The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 5:2 (2018) ► pp.95–113

Common risks in the translation industry

A sequential exploratory study

 | Khatam University
 | University of Science Malaysia
The present research aimed at identifying and categorizing the common risks in the operations of translation companies. It further investigated the maturity level of translation companies in terms of risk management and their attitudes toward the application of a comprehensive risk management framework into their activities. The study had two phases of qualitative and quantitative research. During the qualitative phase, a total of 400 translation projects were observed in four translation companies and further based on the results of the qualitative phase, three questionnaires were developed and sent to 226 translation companies around the world. The researchers identified 44 risk candidates in the operation of translation companies and statistically grouped them into six risk categories. The results further indicated that translation company managers hardly know what risk management is about, while they demonstrated a significant interest in the application of a risk management framework into their activities.
Keywords: translation industry, risk management, maturity level, risk candidate, attitude
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Risk management and translation
  • 3.Why risk management?
  • 4.Research objectives
  • 5.Research design
    • 5.1The preparation phase
    • 5.2Phase one: The qualitative phase
    • 5.3Phase two: The quantitative phase
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Demographic data
    • 6.2Common risks in the operation of translation companies
    • 6.3Risk categories in the operations of translation companies
    • 6.4Attitudes of the respondents towards the application of a comprehensive risk management framework in their companies: Data from the qualitative phase
    • 6.5Maturity level of translation companies
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 21 January 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.00012.vae
References (21)
References
Akbari, Mahmoud. 2009. “Risk Management in Translation.” In The Sustainability of the Translation Field, by Hasuria Che Omar, Haslina Haroon, and Aniswal Abd. Ghani, 509–518. Kula Lumpur: Malaysian Translators Association.Google Scholar
Canfora, Carmen and Ottmann, Angelika. 2016. Who’s Afraid of Translation Risks? Paper presented at the 8th EST Congress. Aarhust, 15–17 September 2016.
Creswell, John W. 2003. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage PublicationsGoogle Scholar
DePalma, Donald A., Hélène Pielmeier, Robert G. Stewart, and Stephen Henderson. 2015. The Language Services Market: 2015. An Annual Review of the Translation, Localization, and Interpreting Services Industry. Cambridge, MA: Common Sense Advisory, Inc.Google Scholar
Dörnyei, Zoltan. 2007. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dunne, Elena S. 2013. Project Risk Management: Developing a Risk Framework for Translation Projects. Unpublished PhD thesis: Kent State University.Google Scholar
Fisher, Ronald A. 1925. Statistical Methods for Research Workers. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.Google Scholar
Gouadec, Daniel. 2007. Translation as a Profession. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jimenez-Crespo, Miguel A. 2013. Translation and Web Localization. New York-London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jutte, Bart. 2009. Project Risk Management Handbook. India: Mantaba Publishing.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nataly and Stewart, Robert G. 2010. The Language Services Market: 2010. An Annual Review of the Translation, Localization, and Interpreting Services Industry. Lowell, MA: Common Sense Advisory, Inc.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelly, Nataly, DePalma, Donald A. and Stewart, Robert G. 2012. The Language Services Market: 2012. An Annual Review of the Translation, Localization, and Interpreting Services Industry. Lowell, MA: Common Sense Advisory, Inc.Google Scholar
Lammers, Mark. 2011. “Risk Management in Localization.” In Translation and Localization Project Management: The Art of the Possible by Dunne, Keiran J. and Elena Dunne, 211–232. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, Geoff. 2005. Research Methods in Management. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.Google Scholar
Nimdzi Insights LLC. 2018. The Size and State of the Language Services Industry Including Ranking of Top 100 LSPs by Revenue. [URL]
O’Hagan, Minako. 2006. “Training for Localization.” In Translation Technology and Its Teaching by Antony Pym, Bram Starink and Alexander Perekrestenko, 39–43. Tarragona, Spain: Servei de Publicacions.Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony and Matsushita, Kayo. 2018. “Risk Mitigation in Translator Decisions.” Across Languages and Cultures 19 (1): 1–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 2008. “On Toury’s Laws of How Translators Translate.” In Beyond Descriptive Translation Studies: Investigations in Homage to Gideon Toury, by Anthony Pym, Miriam Schlesinger and Daniel Simeoni, 311–328. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015. “Translating as Risk Management.” Journal of Pragmatics 851: 67–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rinsche, Adriana and Portera-Zanotti, Nadia. 2009. Study on the Size of The Language Industry in the EU. Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission. United Kingdom: Language Technology Center.Google Scholar
Stoeller, Willem. 2003. Risky Business! Risk Management for Localization Project Managers. [URL]
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

O’Hagan, Minako, Julie McDonough Dolmaya & Hendrik J. Kockaert
2019. Pandemic, localization and change of guard. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 6:2 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.