There is a dire need for foreign language expertise due to security threats scattered over the map, says a recent New York Times article. An example is the terrorist plot to blow up the World Trade Center. Clues about the impending explosion were in videotapes, manuals and notebooks on bomb making that the F.B.I had seized and in taped phone calls made by a Palestinian serving time in federal prison. But the information was in Arabic, and no one who understood the language had listened to the tapes until after the explosion.

This lack of foreign language expertise is undermining national security say law enforcement officials. The F.B.I. has a million pages and hours of intercepted conversations to translate with a backlog that’s hindering its ability to prevent and investigate some crimes.

But the FBI isn’t the only one that needs translators. Because of the Internet and global economy, there are business reports, publications and websites that need to be interpreted.

Even though immigrants know their native languages, the government has been hesitant to hire many of them because of weak English skills and difficulty getting security clearances for them. Universities aren’t filling the need either. Government figures show that last year only nine students graduated who majored in Arabic, only about 140 graduated with degrees in Chinese and only a handful in Korean.

Besides getting a degree in translation, you can learn the basics through an institution such as the American Translators Association. They are at ata@atanet.org or 703/683-6100. It also helps to have an understanding of business. Some translators specialize in particular subjects such as medicine.

So if you’re adept at learning languages, or already know foreign languages as well as English here’s a niche you might explore. Future employment looks good.

© by Andrea Kay