Amazing Facts about Translation Industry

The more you work in the translation industry, the more you discover funny things about Languages….

here are some Amazing facts I want to share with you:


1. The Man Who Speaks 50 Languages
Prof. Alexander Arguelles, the Man who speaks 50 languages

The 54 years old Prof. Alexander Arguelles. An American linguist who can read about three dozen languages, speak, translate and teach most of them.
He said once "If I were kidnapped tomorrow and dropped in an unknown region, I think there are only a few very remote areas I'd struggle to make myself understood."


2. The Most Spoken language in The World
the Most Spoken Language in the world

Unlike what you might think, Mandarin - one of Chinese Language Group- is the most spoken language in the world with 845 million speakers.
At present, there are more than 6909 distinct languages on Earth. Nevertheless, most people Speaks only 25 languages.
It is difficult for you to learn some languages according to your mother tongue. For example, if your mother tongue is English, it may be difficult to learn Mandarin, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.


3. The Most Three Authors Their Works Were Translated
The Most Three Authors Their Works Were Translated

UNESCO has established a database which contains all translated books all over the world.
According to its data, the next three authors are considered the most important ones whose works have been translated:
• Agatha Christie: 7233 translated books.
• Jules Verne: 4751 translated books.
• William Shakespeare: 4293 translated books.


4. The Most Electronically-Used Languages in The World
The Most Electronically-Used Languages in The World

The English language is the most used language on the internet.
About 52% of content is in English while the second half is in other languages.
• English languages have about 948608782 users, which is 26.3%.
• The Chinese language has about 751985224 users, which is 20.8%.
• Spanish (277125947 users online), equivalent to 7.7%.
• Arabic language (168426690 users online), equivalent to 4.7%.
• Portuguese (15,455,606 users online), equivalent to 4.3%.
• Japanese language (115111595 users online) equivalent to 3.2%.
• Malaysian language (109400982 users online) equivalent to 3%.
• Russian language (103,476,691 users on the Internet), equivalent to 2.9%.
• French language (102171481 online), equivalent to 2.8%.
• German (83825134 users online) or 2.3%. The most used languages on the internet according to a study published in 2017 are: • English 51.6% • Russian language 6.6% • Japanese language 5.6% • German 5.6% • Spanish 5.1%
• French 4.1% • Portuguese 2.6%
• Italian 2.3% • Chinese language 2%
• Polish language 1.7%


5. The Size of Translation Market is 40 billion $ in 2016
The Size of Translation Market

If you are an investor looking for the best market to invest. I guess the translation industry is one of the best choices.
According to Globalization & Localization Association (GALA), the market size of translation is about 40 billion $ in 2016 and it may increase to 45 billion $ in 2020.
The expected annual growth rate is from 6.5% to 7.5% until 2018.


6. The Most Translated Document
The Most Translated Document in the world

According to Guinness World Records, the 6 papers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Is the most translated document in the world.
It was translated into 370 languages. When the bible is the most translated book in history.As it has been translated into 2883 languages.



7. The Most Amazing Statistics about Translation
The Most Amazing Statistics about Translation

• The word "translate" is originally Latin and it means to move or change.
• About 78% of the books have been translated into English and French within the first decade of the 21st century.
• Although there is no similarity between Arabic and English, the punctuations of the two languages are very similar.
• French, German and English, are among the most translated languages.