According to an article in the Chinese Newspaper People's Daily Online, the Chinese translation market makes up 1.6 billion US Dollars "and the market is crying out for more". There are more than 60,000 registered translators and some 3,000 translation agencies.

Yet qualification remains an issue. In 2003 China introduced a national proficiency certification system. Of close to 18,000 people who took the test last year for English, French and Japanese, less than 4,000 passed.

The Chinese market of said US$ 1.6bn makes up 30% of the global market for translation services, worth above US$ 13bn.

source: People's Daily