That was the opinion discussed in the discussion "Impacts of the pandemic on the translation and interpretation industry and market: future directions" organized by the Saigon Translation and Interpretation Club under the Ho Chi Minh City Peace and Development Fund on the afternoon of August 19.
Technology is growing rapidly, bringing new opportunities
At the seminar, speakers, including translation experts, business and university representatives, commented that the Covid-19 pandemic affects all aspects of the economy but promotes digital transformation, including the translation and interpretation industry.
"The pandemic has promoted the development of technology, opened up many new job opportunities, and erased geographical boundaries in the translation and interpretation industry," said Ms. Duong Thi Hoai Chan, CEO of Chan Thien My Translation Consulting Co., Ltd.
This means that young people can work as translators and interpreters abroad without having to leave Vietnam thanks to the development of many translation technology platforms. "Therefore, students and those working in the profession must be 'master users' - that is, proficient in using new platforms," Ms. Chan shared.
Sharing the same view, Ms. Jamie Kieu Ngoc, Director of STAR Vietnam Translation Services Company, noted that students must always update new technology, not only be good at foreign languages, but also "be good at Vietnamese". "Most multinational companies prioritize 'localization' translation projects, which requires standard Vietnamese. Therefore, students must not only be good at foreign languages but also be good at Vietnamese", Ms. Ngoc noted.
Translation students must be good at Vietnamese.
According to Ms. Ngoc, university is only a place to equip knowledge and students must know how to find job opportunities for themselves. "We appreciate students in their first and second years participating in book translation. Students majoring in translation and interpretation can look for freelance opportunities," Ms. Ngoc said.
On the other hand, Ms. Ngoc assessed that the post-Covid-19 translation and interpretation market has many fluctuations in terms of personnel, standards, and service prices. Therefore, Ms. Ton Nu Thi Ninh, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Peace and Development Fund, proposed the establishment of a professional translation and interpretation association, aiming to protect the rights and enhance the expertise of those working in the profession.
Students must do internship from first year.
Also at the seminar, university representatives shared updates in translation and interpretation training programs to adapt to the development of AI and automatic machine translation technology.
Ms. Ha Thi Mai Huong, lecturer of the translation and interpretation team - French department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that in recent years, the department has applied the model of "linking training space with work space".
"This model has received positive reviews from both students and businesses. Specifically, the faculty organizes internships for students in the first year to gain insight and understanding of the field. In the following years, the faculty accepts external projects for students to participate in under the guidance of lecturers. First-year students must be given opportunities to do internships because if they wait until the third or fourth year, it will be too late," said Ms. Huong.
At the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, Deputy Head of the English Language and Literature Department, said that with the ever-changing technology trend, the school provides students with additional training in machine translation. "Nowadays, translators who do not know technology are at a disadvantage compared to those who are tech-savvy," Ms. Ngoc shared.
According to Ms. Ngoc, the current trend in translation and interpretation training focuses on "translator capacity" - that is, the ability to work in groups for a specific project, such as a lecturer and a group of students working on a book translation project. "The faculty mobilizes social resources to organize specialized seminars for students to practice direct interpretation (also known as cabin translation)," Ms. Ngoc said.
Ms. Ton Nu Thi Ninh, President of Ho Chi Minh City Peace and Development Foundation (middle), speaking at the seminar
Regarding career prospects, trainers say that graduates who do not work in the translation and interpretation field but have good skills can still succeed in other fields.
Citing the results of the school’s survey, Ms. Tran My Uyen, Deputy Head of the Foreign Language Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology, said that the majority of the school’s students who graduated from the translation and interpretation major are working in companies that are not translation companies. This shows that regardless of the profession, students with good skills can still adapt to the job.
Recently, many people have raised the question on social networks that we already have AI, Google Translate is getting more and more perfect, so what is the point of studying translation and interpretation? Experts at the seminar affirmed that AI is a powerful support tool, it cannot replace humans. "However, students cannot deny but should happily adapt to the development of AI", Ms. Uyen shared.
Ms. Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to Belgium and concurrently to the European Union (EU), also noted: "In high-level diplomatic negotiations, we need professional interpreters with in-depth understanding of many fields of politics, society, culture and the world situation because machines cannot do this."
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