An Early Look at the Language Industry in 2021

The 1st of January 2021 has come and gone, ending the Brexit transitional period. The UK has now finalised our departure from the EU and we can start to see early signs of what this might mean for the language industry.

Survey Data

Back in December, ATC ran a survey asking businesses if they felt ready for Brexit. They found that only 39% of businesses in the industry felt ready, with almost 11% saying they did not feel ready.

Then after January 1^st, ATC ran a another survey that revealed slightly more positive results. When asked about their first impressions of business in 2021, almost 48% of businesses said that the first impression looked “promising”. Which is more than the number who felt prepared for Brexit. It also found that less than 20% said that business “looked disappointing”. While the rest were unsure or thought it was too early to say.

These results could be considered quite surprising, considering all the country was going through in January. Not only had the Brexit transitional period only just ended, but four days later the country entered its third national lockdown.

Over the last year, the lockdowns and social distancing measures, which have been used to limit the spread of the Coronavirus, have affected just about every business. The 2020 European Language Industry Survey, looked at what this meant for the language industry and found that face to face interpreters were doing more remote work. An observation reflected in what we have seen at Translate UK. They also found that interpreters were taking on more translation work, which is also done remotely.

Language companies provide services predominantly to other businesses, so the affect of the lockdowns on any given language provider will vary according to their clients. Courts have stayed open for this third lockdown, in contrast to the first lockdown in March. This has had a positive effect for many companies who provide court interpreters much like we do at Translate UK.

The ATC’s January survey asked about both the effect of Brexit and Coronavirus on the language industry. One of the most interesting findings was the responses to how businesses were doing right now. While 50% reported that their business was either “still severely affected” or “affected but recovering”, the other 50% reported that it was “business as usual” or that their “business is doing better than expected”. This revealed an even split between positive and negative responses.

Language Industry Globally

Overall, the language industry has been booming over the last decade. The market size more than doubled between 2009 and 2019 going from $23.5 billion to $49.6 billion. Back in 2018 it was predicted that by 2021 the market size would have grown to $56.2 billion. This prediction of course, did not know that 2020 would see a pandemic spread across the globe. But while the actual figures for this year are not yet known, it does bode well for the industry that it was on an upward trajectory beforehand.

In Europe we have the 2020 European Language Industry Survey, which also surveyed the impact on the language industry by country, which varied greatly. The language industry in the United Kingdom was one of the least affected countries, with only Germany reporting better results. Interestingly, the survey found no significant connection between the severity of the virus in a country and the impact on the language industry.

Brexit Changes

In our previous article on Brexit, we discussed some of the effects it may have on the language industry. Some of these changed will take a long time to see, while others are much clearer now then they were in November.

As of January 1^st, free movement has ended, which means to immigrate to the UK, EU citizens must now follow the same route as every other country. For most people in the language industry a Skilled Worker Visa would be most appropriate, which ATC ran a webinar on this earlier this month.

Unfortunately, it is too late to attend ATC’s Skilled Worker webinar, but there is still time to attend CIOL’s GDPR and Data Protection webinar. GDPR is an EU regulation, causing some confusion over whether it still applies. GDPR does still apply. This is because the UK incorporated GDPR into UK law through the 2018 Data Protection Act. So even though EU regulations do not still apply, GDPR does because it’s part of the UK law. It is possible that the UK GDPR laws may come to differ from the EU regulations in the future, but for the moment they are essentially the same. See their website for further details, or join the CIOL webinar to see how this applies specifically to translators.

Since November, we have also had specific guidance around international trade and travel with the EU. You can find guidance on the government website for selling services and travelling for business in different countries. You can also find out what changes may affect your business specifically. It is also worth mentioning that in the EU-UK trade and Cooperation agreement specifically includes translation and interpretation as a permitted activity for short-term business visits (p.770-p.771).

Language Industry Coronavirus Support

If you are one of the 50% of businesses in the language industry are either still affected or still recovering from the effects of last year, we recommend you check out ATC’s resources on coronavirus support for small businesses. You can also find resources on ITI‘s coronavirus advice and support page if you are an ITI member.

For our own clients and suppliers, please see our Coronavirus letters, or get in touch to discuss any specific needs or concerns.