By day, Chen Jing is a customs declarations clerk at a Shanghai-based shipping company. After hours, she moonlights as a translator, working on everything from academic thesis abstracts to contracts to product descriptions.

At first, Chen took on the extra work, because like all those who majored in English in college, she was expected to be able of doing professional translations. But gradually, her translation services became an additional source of income, just as it has for several hundreds of thousands of other part-time translators and interpreters in China.

In addition to these amateurs, the country has 35,000 professional translators and interpreters. According to the Translators Association of China (TAC), there are more than 3,000 translation service agencies in China, 800 of which are Beijing-based. The translation industry reaped nearly 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) in revenue last year.

Yet, myriad problems such as varying degrees of quality, a low threshold for entering the profession, a lack of work contracts, a dearth of large, reputable translation agencies and weak professional oversight have prevented the industry from advancing in China.

Work with dignity

Transn (Beijing) Information Technology Co. Ltd., a Beijing-based linguistic services provider, conducted an online survey of translators and interpreters in China last year, shedding light on the living conditions and basic information of translators in the country.

Of all the 14,600 valid responses, 62 percent were English majors, 28 percent were science, engineering and technology majors and only 2 percent had degrees in translation. The majority of them, 62 percent, obtained a bachelor's degree, and 18 percent had a master's degree.

The online survey also showed that 65 percent of participants said they translated to "make a living" and were not proud of their profession. About 69 percent said they worked part-time translators or interpreters.

The Chinese clients of translation services generally assume that if a person can speak and write two languages, they can interpret or translate. And this low threshold for the profession contributes to its quality problems.

"Translators who don't have degrees in translation or any other relative certificates compete with professional translators by charging super low rates and promising clients unreasonable deadlines," said Geng Jiazhen, who obtained a master's degree in translation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in 2005 and is now working as a full-time translator for the Representative Office of the United Nations Children's Fund in Beijing. "As a result, they can't guarantee translation quality. Their behaviors damage the ‘translator image' and disturb the market."

"The problem isn't exactly all the client's fault though," said Nancy Tsai, a freelance interpreter and translator in Beijing. "Many people do not understand the specialized training that is needed for translation and interpretation." Tsai obtained a master's degree in translation and interpretation from MIIS in 2006.

"Compared with the rising demands for professional interpreters, there are few professional interpreting schools in the world," Tsai said. It was not until last year that universities in China widely began to offer master's degree courses in translation. There are even fewer colleges that offer interpretation training on the Chinese mainland.

Tsai said she rarely works for local Chinese clients because of the low rates.

"The professional interpreting community therefore has a responsibility to educate the client in the professional aspects of the trade," she said. "Otherwise, everyone in the profession will likely suffer the fate of becoming blue-collar intellectuals."

No contract guarantees

Another threat to the large quantities of freelance translators and interpreters is that they often work without contracts.