Crash courses on sports translation is needed to meet the high demand for sports translators and interpreters during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, according to a report.

 

About 10,000 sports translators and interpreters are needed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Friday's Beijing Daily newspaper quoted a research report as saying.

 

However, the research team surveyed 15,000 professional translators and interpreters and found less than 1.3 percent of them are good at sports translation.

 

Li Yashu, vice Chairman of Translation Association of China, said language institutes and training centers have a lot to do to meet the huge demand of the Olympics.

 

"Some crash courses are needed to prepare existing translators and interpreters for the Olympic Games," said Li.

 

The value of Olympics-related translation business will reach about 700 billion yuan (US$92.2 billion), according to the research, jointly conducted by Science and Technology Translators Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Transn company, an Internet language service provider for the website of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG).

 

According to the report, China has 300,000 professional translators and interpreters, of which over one-fourth are living in Beijing. Of those in Beijing, 98.4 percent specialize in English, French, German, Russian, Korean and Japanese.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2007)