Money talks to translators in China-ASEAN trade area

Chinese translators of Southeast Asian languages are earning top dollar as demand for their skills has boomed with the launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA).

"We need many more ASEAN languages translators," said Ruan Jingping, general manager of Kunming Renyida Translation and Exhibition Cooperation in Yunnan Province, which boarders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

Ruan said the CAFTA would increase demand for translation services and translators. Her company was offering more services to facilitate project contracts, international exchanges and conferences, and would probably expand to tourist and service industries.

The CAFTA, comprising the 11 member states of China, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, was launched on Jan. 1. The CAFTA area has a third of the world's people, a ninth of its GDP and the third largest trade volume after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Yunnan Province needed at least 600 ASEAN language translators each of the last two years, according to statistics from the government of Kunming, capital of Yunnan. Kunming government also required its officials aged below 50 to learn basic Vietnamese, Myanmar and Lao.

"Qualified translators of Southeast Asian languages are behind the demand," said Ruan.

To cope with the shortfall, Ruan hired students to translate, but many were not skillful enough. The company paid translators of Southeast Asian languages an average 44 U.S. dollars for every thousand words translated from Chinese, compared with 39 U.S. dollars paid to English translators.

China and ASEAN countries are making efforts to overcome language and cultural barriers. Since 2008, China has signed agreements with Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to recognize each other's academic degrees and to increase educational exchanges.

Hao Ping, China's vice education minister, said on Aug. 6 last year that more than 10 Chinese universities, including Yunnan University of Nationalities, had expanded their language courses to include languages of all ASEAN countries.

Hao said there were 34,735 students from ASEAN countries studying in China and 68,510 Chinese studying in ASEAN countries, and expected both numbers to rise above 100,000 by 2020.

Despite the global economic downturn, Yunnan-ASEAN trade volume rose 9 percent to reach 2.73 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2009. The growth encouraged language study in China and ASEAN countries.

Tao Wenjuan, a Lao translator who graduated from Yunnan University of Nationalities, said graduates majoring in ASEAN languages were in great demand in Yunnan Province.

"All the 24 students majoring in Lao found good jobs before graduating last year," said Tao. "They are now working in government bodies, big companies and translation companies."

A 20-year-old Lao student who is named Wang Zhan in Chinese and is learning the language in a vocational high school in Yunnan was encouraged by growing China-ASEAN relations.

"I want to go to college in China because it is easy to find a job in Laos if you can speak Chinese. I also wish to be a Lao translator in Yunnan," he said.