French Translation Services in the UK
The language service provider (LSP) industry is growing rapidly as globalisation continues to create new market opportunities worldwide. The translation industry trends are revealing a growing, but also more competitive, market. These market forces are requiring translation agencies to provide a wide range of comprehensive services, including even more native language speakers to meet the demand for projects involving unique language combinations.
Language Services Provider (LSP) Industry Data in the United Kingdom
As the second largest language services market in the world, the industry in the United Kingdom follows the global trends. The language and translation services industry in the UK reached £35 billion in 2018 and the outlook remains strong.
According to the Association of Translation Companies’ (ATC) language industry report, there are 1,200 language service companies that provide diverse language services to the UK’s private and public sectors. The report states, “Their revenues contribute £1.2 billion per annum to the economy and provide employment for over 12,000 staff. The added value language service companies generate for the UK’s economy through the growth of international trade far surpasses the numerical data.”
Unfortunately, the report also noted there has been a decline in foreign language learning in the UK. Therefore, the demand for native speaker and professionally trained translators has increased to serve the growing market. The ATC report also included the results from a recent survey conducted by the Institute of Directors’ (IoD) Going Global Trends in Trade. IoD surveyed their members to determine the average number of markets served. The survey instructions were clear that the entire European Union (EU) was to be considered as one market. Shockingly, only 10% did business in only one market. Proving the trend of increased globalisation, 44% of the survey respondents sell in 2-5 markets and 30% sell to over 11 markets.
Providing information and content in the native languages of these international markets provides a competitive edge. Beyond that, savvy consumers with their plethora of choices often expect personalised service in today’s competitive marketplace. Translating your content into the most commonly spoken languages in your key markets is a wise business investment.
How Important is French Translation in the UK?
There are many reasons to offer your product or service offerings to French speakers. French is spoken by about 136 million people. It is the official language of more than 22 countries and a total of approximately 250 million speak it as either a first or second language.
As one of the most popular languages in the world, French is spoken by people on nearly every continent. As with most modern languages, different regions and countries greatly influence the way in which the French language is spoken. In fact, the French language is also written in quite a number of different ways. One of the most remarkable differences, however, is seen in the written French language in the Canadian province of Quebec when compared to standard French.
This is exactly why localisation services need to be considered to effectively reach target audiences. As with all translation projects, it is critical to only entrust your content translation to qualified professional translators that are native speakers of the target language.
Determining which languages to translate content into is a challenge for many organisations.
Many now agree that the need to have French translation expertise on hand is key to remaining competitive and properly serving an ever diversifying customer base.
Renaissance Translations has extensive translation expertise in over 120 languages. A comprehensive suite of services is available including proofreading, transcreation and subtitling. Let’s discuss your French language project goals today!
