What is the future of a translator or interpreter in China?

Some students like to study foreign languages in colleage, and some of them become a translator or interpreter, and some of them work as a translator for a long time before they become something else. But I think in China, translators do not like position for a long period, usually for a few years. Most of the translators are specialized in a certain industry, when they learn enough about their industries, they become something else. One of my friends, Kelly, she knows fashion a lot, after being a translator for a few years, she works hard on fashion and make some money out of this fashion business.

For me, I just want to be a translator or interpreter, but I want to become more and more specialized in the electronics product business, especially in the tablet PC, cell phone and some of the industrial electronics, because this is what I learned in college and what I have been dealt with in the past few years’ working. I know the electronics business keeps changing, and there are so many competitions out there, it is not easy to make money out of it, however, I have no other choice, will just keep on working. Recently, the hottest electronics device is probably the tablet PC such as Ipad, but I think the price of tablet PC’s will drop a lot in the near future, and the capabilities of tablets will increase, many manufacturers are working on that, so I see the future of Tablet PC business is going to be very good, that was why I started www.tabletschina.com, I want to introduce some low cost tablets to foreigners. I even have a crazy idea, I think in the future, the specialized tablet PC (I would call it Dedicated Tablet) that is specific for a certain use will be popular too, one reason is that it is going to be affordable to everybody in the world, another reason is that more and more softwares are will be developed. People can afford to buy a small computer like tablet PC to handle just one thing, so I started www.DedicatedTablet.com as well.

Of course, if there is anything new in the future, I don’t care what electronics device it is going to be, I will keep an eye on that. Another hot electronic thing I guess is LED, LED is very popular now, it is widely used in the goverment projects, but I think it will also be popularly used in the consumer electronics industry soon.

What are a translator's working hours?

I am usually working for my clients less than 8 hours per day, if my client needs me for more than 8 hours, I will have to charge him/her for overtime. It usually starts from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. , one hour for the lunch.

Is there any extra cost when you hire a translator or interpreter?

Usually there is no extra cost unless the translator or interpreter need to travel a couple hours to arrive at your place, or the translator work for you over time. So the extra cost can be travel expense and over time fee.