“It is the beginning of August and with this comes the possibility to look back at half of 2018.”

With going into the second half of 2018 it is a convenient moment for assessment of the trends and expectations for the Q1 and Q2 of 2018. The following trends and analyses are based on our real experience and observations from the first half of the year.  This year we have decided to share our experience with you and thus we can show what we know about the market. For instance, how the market for Asian languages has developed, what are the most popular trends, languages, and services currently on the market for these languages.

The analysis below includes a short summary of the current economic situation in Asia, the specifics of the market and why the translation industry is needed. By sharing this information with our readers and partners, we believe we might help you in the decision whether you need your business in Asia, if you need the Asian languages translations and which to choose among so many.

The information is based on our own research and information and if necessary, we can send it by e-mail upon request.

INTRODUCTION

We all know that 60% of the world’s population is concentrated in Asia. It is also common knowledge that major companies and businesses created a trend in the near past by expanding and branching out in Asia. It is almost becoming a must-have to own a location in the East and to start trading with at least one country among the TOP 5 global powers from the region – China, Japan, India, Indonesia, and South Korea.

Despite the facts that the region is often economically unstable and that there are deviations along with big political dependency of the trade and country economies, Asia offers a vast number of markets with a huge number of consumers for virtually any kind of business.

These markets are even more specific and difficult due to the fact that there is a big language contrast between the East and the West. Here is where the translation industry steps in and closes the gap.

Being established as a company that is exclusively specialized in Asian languages, 1-StopAsia has been on the front lines of this business for 20 years. We have been part of the ups and downs of the market and have even participated in the development of the whole translation industry when it comes to the Asian languages translations.

Today we want to share this knowledge with you.

INFORMATION AND STRUCTURE

For better understanding and presentation of the information, the analysis has been divided into four chapters – each referring to a separate part of the translation of Asian languages.

We have followed the trends for most popular Asian Target languages (TL), Asian Source languages (SL), as well as summarized the information for various regions and spheres.

In order to be accurate, we have not classified these languages in a statistical list because various companies in the business have various strengths and the top languages in each company from the industry are different.

CHAPTER I – TARGET LANGUAGES

Asian languages as Target Languages

The previous year (2017) has been marked by the stable growth of the main Asian languages in the translation industry. When we talk about main Asian languages, we refer to the most widely spoken languages in the Far East.

As the interest for these continues to grow and businesses have taken steps towards establishing offices in Asia, the languages that cover the largest economies in that region are respectively showing an increasing demand for translation and localization.

As expected at the top of the list of the most translated Target Languages according to our research for 2017 are Korean (KO), Thai (TH), Chinese Simplified (C_M), Japanese (JA) and Vietnamese (VI).

The same trend of stable growth has been observed and through Q1 and Q2 of 2018, as well. So again among the most translated languages for this period are Korean (KO), Thai (TH), Chinese Simplified (C_M), Japanese (JA) and Vietnamese (VI).

At the bottom of the list can also be found the not so popular, considered even exotic languages like Indonesian (IN), Cambodian (Khmer/ KM) and Tagalog (Filipino/FIL).

This is Part 1 of Trends in Asian translations summary till July 2018. The second one will be released next Tuesday – 14 August 2018.