Translation from Chinese into other languages will continue to heat up.

By the end of 2013, translations from Chinese into other languages accounted for more than half of the business at 64 percent of domestic translation companies, according to the recently released Report on Translation Services in China 2014. Since 2011, translations from Chinese have outgrown those into Chinese for three consecutive years.

“The shift of dominance in translation from Western culture to Chinese culture indicates China’s enhanced ability to ‘go global,’” said Zhou Mingwei, director-general of the China International Publishing Group and president of the China Academy of Translation (CAT), which was founded in July 2014.
 

Zhou attributed the phenomenon to four reasons.

First, owing to China’s rapid development, the country has substantially enriched its resources and strength showing itself to the international community and conducting external exchanges.
 

Second, the increasing connectivity between China and the world has drawn unprecedented attention.
Third, since reform and opening-up, China has encouraged information outflow by various means, considerably raising the country’s awareness and ability to introduce itself to the world.

Fourth, development of the market economy has effectively powered and vitalized the growth of businesses, including translation companies, with translations and external exchanges promoted through more flexible, effective mechanisms and systems.

Qiu Ming, vice-president of the Translators Association of China, attributed the fast development of translations from Chinese into other languages to China’s “going-out” strategy.
 

CAT Vice-President Huang Youyi echoed Qiu’s view, saying that the strategy will boost translations of the field that has gone out. As some sectors have fostered advantages, translations into other languages naturally become predominant, Huang said.
 

With the advancement of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, or Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, translations from Chinese into other languages will continue to be in strong demand, Huang added.
 

The report found that translation companies mainly provide services for the energy sector, scientific research, technology services enterprises and industries such as finance, manufacturing and information technology. This suggests extensive demands in China’s translation services market and bright prospects for the industries involved, experts said.