[etni] Some Words About Interpreting

Some Words About Interpreting
The New York Times - August 8, 2007

It is high time to dethrone "plastics" as the most famous one-word career 
tip in history. On the 40th anniversary of the release of "The Graduate," in 
which Dustin Hoffman puzzled over that advice, I would urge fledgling 
entrepreneurs to consider one of the most lucrative hidden-in-plain-sight 
niches of the global economy.

Interpreters.

O.K., that may not have quite the same ring, but think about it. While 
everybody else is talking about booming international markets for 
information technology, banking, jetliners and fast-food restaurants, who 
are the mechanics who keep the machinery of world trade humming?

The people who enable speakers of English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish 
and every other language from Arabic to Zulu to understand one another, that’s 
who. As a result, a cottage industry of small and medium-size 
language-services companies is quietly flourishing in this country. Here is 
a glance at two of them:

Kathleen Diamond founded Language Learning Enterprise in Alexandria, Va., in 
1979 almost by accident. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, she had 
always been encouraged by her father, a corporate executive, to "think 
beyond the obvious possibilities," she said. But she never considered 
herself entrepreneurial material.

Au contraire, she seemed to be coasting in early adulthood along a 
predictable middle-class path, marrying, having two children and holding 
down intermittent teaching jobs.

Then, the proverbial light bulb went off. In 1979, Berlitz offered her $4.25 
an hour to teach French to students who were paying $25 each for the lesson. 
Assuming a class of 10 students, well, you do the math.

"It was that huge gap that set off something in me," she said.

(To read the whole article, go to -
http://www.etni.org/news/interpreters.htm )
 


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