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Translation Nation
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jan 16, 2007 04:16pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Weekly News Magazine - TIME Magazine |
| News Date | Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:15:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By JEFFREY RESSNER
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007
Last month the U.S. Army bumped favored defense contractor L-3 Communications from a $4.6 billion contract to provide translators and interpreters in Iraq. A new venture called Global Linguistic Solutions (GLS), headed by retired Army Major General James (Spider) Marks and primarily formed to bid on the contract, landed the job. The surprise caused L-3 shares to fall nearly 6%; the company lowered its sales forecast this year by $500 million.
Winning the contract may be the easy part for GLS. Luring interpreters to Iraq is another story. Job listings posted on L-3's website read like something out of a Tom Clancy thriller. Wanted: "Arabic Linguist ... Ability to deal unobtrusively with the local populace ... Must be able to live in a harsh environment." The pay isn't mentioned, but L-3 recently offered interpreters more than $175,000 annually to work in Iraq. Linguists usually don't carry weapons and are often called on to participate in raids and other combat-related tasks. Casualty reports show that L-3's Titan Corp., the major contractor supplying interpreters to the U.S. military, had 216 employees killed in Iraq--nearly 100 more fatalities than the entire British army stationed there.
Danger is just one way that the linguistics industry--interpreters who relay live chat and translators who process documents--has changed dramatically. More benignly, the Web and the global economy have led to 7.5% annual growth in the market, now pegged as a $9.4 billion business, according to research group Common Sense Advisory. |
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