Common Sense Advisory’s European Translation Market Overview

The Common Sense Advisory recently issued the results of its study concerning the European translation market. The company collected data about revenue over three years, key market verticals and regions, language pairs, service distribution, and legislative, technological, and sociopolitical factors coupled with international trade and immigration, which serve as catalysts for a boom in language services – and a proliferation of the companies that provide them.

Interestingly, small businesses tend to dominate the landscape of European suppliers. More than a quarter of language service provider (LSP) respondents reported having fewer than three permanent employees, while a third of respondents have three or more, but fewer than 10 employees. The small size of LSPs is also reflected by their revenue, as 60% of the companies reported earning less than one million euros in 2007. Only 17% had revenues between one and two million euros and only two respondents exceeded the 100 million mark. Characteristically, close to three quarters of the services provided by respondent LSPs is translation, with localization a distant second, followed by interpreting and other services.

For this and other interesting surveys, see www.commonsenseadvisory.com.

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