A Study Of Yangtze River Economic Belt's Translation Service From The Perspective Of Economics Of Language

With the acceleration of globalization,especially after the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative,translation service has played a vital role in eliminating language barriers and promoting political communication,cultural exchanges and trade cooperation around the world.Translation service is a direct reflection of the language economy.Previous research has focused on investigating the supply and demand in the translation market and discussing the relationship between translation industry and regional economy,which lacks the empirical investigation on translation service from the perspective of economics of language.Therefore,based on the theory of economics of language and from the aspects of value,utility,cost and benefit,the present study used the methods of online survey,interview and questionnaire to investigate 1)the status quo of translation service in the Yangtze River Economic Belt;2)experts' views on translation service in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.Results show that translation service in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has achieved rapid development as a whole with the increase of foreign exchanges,but it still encounters many problems.In terms of value,the main providers of translation service are small-and micro-sized enterprises with low registered capital,which lack market competitiveness;there exists vicious competition within the translation service market,resulting in the difficulty of increasing translation quotations;although translators' education levels are relatively high as a whole,the number of full-time employees is small;most translation service companies focus on English,Japanese,French,and German translation,lacking minority language reserves;most companies only have basic translation workflow;service types are still in the process of expanding from translation and interpretation to multi-fields like localization,language consultation,translation service talents' training,subtitling and dubbing,etc.With regard to the cost,high labor inputs constrain the development of translation service companies.From the perspective of benefit,the annual turnover of translation service companies is lower than the world average.As for the utility,the customer satisfaction level of the translation service in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is above the average;the translation service in the eastern part of the Yangtze River Economic Belt enjoys high recognition than that in the west;large translation companies are more welcomed than small companies;the languages and service types provided by translation companies sometimes do not meet the needs;the mismatch between translation service quotation and quality is the main reason for dissatisfaction.Results show that experts believe that translation service has made great contributions to the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in terms of economy,politics,culture and education.Reducing costs and increase benefits are crucial to the development of translation service.Experts mention that by hiring part-time translators,optimizing management and using technologies can effectively cut down the costs,while seizing the development opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative and entering the high-end market can improve benefits.Experts unanimously acknowledge the positive impact of customer satisfaction on the development of translation service and they hold that customer satisfaction can be enhanced by improving translation quality,time control and service attitude.Experts refer that translators are crucial to translation companies.An excellent translator should possess good character,strong translation ability,and the awareness of life-long learning.The present study explores the application scope of the economics of language,enriches the theoretical knowledge,and enables people to have a new understanding of the economic value of language.Meanwhile,it provides a new perspective for analyzing translation service,which is of practical significance for promoting the healthy development of translation service,scientifically planning the language economy,and finding new economic growth points.