Technical Translation

INDIA: AN ECONOMY IN NEED OF TRANSLATION

India is indeed one of the BRIC giants given its strong and fluid private sector, its mass labor potential, and its intellectual capital. The country has been touted as one of the great threats to US economic hegemony with its years of near double-digit GDP growth for labor and intellectual capital. An economically thriving India presents many opportunities for translators to localize content for the country’s diverse population.

But, the last couple of years have been marked by distinctly low economic performance. The notoriously inefficient government has been accused of closing up the economy while discouraging any rise in living standards, infrastructure improvements, or new investment. Annual GDP growth has declined markedly, the entire agricultural system is grossly inefficient, the rupee as dropped precipitously, and foreign investors are either shut out or unwilling to bring capital into the country. 


The government has refused to initiate real reforms to the retail sector which could have opened up foreign investment. Without foreign capital and real economic growth, the demand for foreign products and services (which require localized documentation) has stalled.

Unlike China, India is a democracy. While India has demonstrated great potential for dynamic economic change, the society is very loosely connected and resistant to unified directives like those seen in China. Until the government can attain an open market reform policy, economic growth in India will remain stagnant and the demand for localized websites and product and service information will falter.