EU Language Industry
'worth 8.4 bn Euros'

Europe's €8.4bn language industry is set to grow by 10% annually over the next few years after having recorded one of the highest growth rates of any EU industrial sector despite the economic crisis.

According to a European Commission-backed study the size of the EU language industry, the first of its kind, found that the bloc's language sector recorded turnover is €8.4 bn in 2008.

"The language industry seems to be less affected by the financial crisis than other industry sectors," it found. Putting the growth down to the fact that "the industry is different from what it was years ago," Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban said "the rise of new fields such as subtitling, localisation and editing" had shown that European language professionals "need to acquire new competences".

For more:
http://www.euractiv.com/...

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Obama White House calls for Machine Translation

Automatic, highly accurate and real-time translation between the major languages of the world issued a "Strategy for American Innovation"

In September, the Executive Office of the President and National Economic Council issued its “Strategy for American Innovation.” Among the recommendations was a call for “automatic, highly accurate and real-time translation between the major languages of the world — greatly lowering the barriers to international commerce and collaboration.” In other words, machine translation (MT) has captured somebody’s attention in the President’s inner circle.

Having an American President cite an advanced language technology as one of the enablers to improve “our quality of life and establish the foundation for the industries and jobs of the future” is not that common an occurrence. So, even though we found this recommendation as the very last bullet in a dense thicket of dozens of other initiatives in a 22-page policy paper, it reinforces our contention that the current administration understands the importance of language both abroad and at home, to both improve the ability of American businesses to engage with foreign buyers and of the U.S. government to better understand the thinking of its partners on the world stage.

For more:
http://www.globalwatchtower.com

See for a Summary:
http://www.whitehouse.gov