Monday, December 10, 2012

RUSSIA: BEARING THE BURDEN

Brazil, India, and China have seen huge population increases with a lot of educated workers scrambling for high end jobs. Russia, on the other hand, experienced serious declines in population and industrial activity after the Cold War. While industrialization is on the rise in Brazil, India, and China...is Russia mired in the inefficient industries of the Soviet era? If so, what does this mean for the future of industry, employment, and imports for the country? What does this mean for technical translators who have a professional interest in transforming Phonetic English into Cyrillic Russian?
If petroleum IS king in the former USSR, then what of its infrastructure? While China has dazzled the rest of the World with its miraculous rags-to-riches story (evidenced in large part by improvements in the country's infrastructure), Russia hasn't yet developed an effective logistical plan to realize a real competitive advantage. Or has it?


Russia does have a wide range of invaluable assets. Mining and agriculture have proven to be boons for the nation; along with the intellectual capital associated with nuclear technology, broad university research, and advanced 
space programs. Real gains could be realized in electronics, agricultural commodities, the automotive industry, and telecommunications. The combination of intellectual capital and labor can be harnessed with the right initiatives; leading to solid economic growth and a demand for imported goods and services...and new opportunities for professional technical translators.

Until Russia can realize a level of economic growth comparable to that of the other BRIC countries, the variety of opportunities for English-to-Russian technical translators will be limited. Real and sustainable economic gains are needed for the expansion of international trade...and an higher demand for technical translations.
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