The translation and interpretation sector in Vietnam is currently experiencing a period of intense activity and significant growing pains. Driven by global integration and increased international cooperation, the demand for translation services has surged across diverse fields, ranging from high-stakes economic contracts and diplomatic documents to media subtitles and literature. However, the industry is struggling to meet this demand with the necessary level of professionalism and quality, leading to a host of structural and practical issues.
The Challenge of Professionalism and Expertise
The core challenge facing the industry is a fundamental lack of professionalization. Translation and interpretation are often still not recognized as highly skilled, specialized professions.
- Talent Scarcity: There is a severe shortage of high-caliber, seasoned translators and interpreters. The renowned veteran interpreters are aging out or have retired. The second and third generations of highly qualified language experts are often tied up in senior governmental or academic roles, leaving them little time for freelance work.
- Reliance on Juniors: The bulk of current interpreting work falls to recent language graduates, who, while enthusiastic, often lack the depth of experience and specialized skill sets required for complex tasks. Written translation is largely handled by a broad pool of individuals who “know a foreign language,” which contributes to inconsistent quality.
- Consequences of Amateurism: This lack of professionalism results in frequent and often severe errors, as highlighted in the source text. Mistakes range from fundamental misunderstanding of context (like confusing a company name with a common word, e.g., “Gambles” with “gambling”) to basic linguistic flaws that distort meaning (e.g., misinterpreting idioms or passive sentence structures). When these errors appear in mass media (TV, news), they negatively influence and degrade everyday public language.
Deficiencies in Knowledge and Training
The root cause of quality issues is a widespread deficit in the knowledge base and technical skills of practitioners. A competent translator needs far more than just fluency in two languages; they require a comprehensive blend of expertise:
- Linguistic Mastery: A deep understanding of the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic nuances of both languages.
- Cultural Literacy: Thorough knowledge of the customs, lifestyles, and social context of the source and target cultures.
- Specialized Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with specific industry terminology and styles (e.g., IT, finance, environmental science).
- Core Interpreting Skills: Crucial technical skills such as memory retention, idea synthesis, and public speaking are often neglected in training.
The current system of specialized language training is deemed ineffective, lacking a clear strategy to produce experts who can bridge the gap between strong foreign language skills and deep technical knowledge. Currently, individuals are often strong in one area but weak in the other (a technical expert with poor language skills, or a fluent speaker lacking domain expertise).
The Path Forward: Standardization and Recognition
To elevate the quality of services and ensure the industry can support Vietnam’s global role, the following must be prioritized:
- Professional Certification: The industry urgently needs standardization and professional certification. Like other fields that adhere to international quality guidelines (ISO, GMP), translation and interpretation must establish rigorous, formalized standards and training curricula.
- Formal Education: Interpreters and translators must undergo formal, structured, and specialized training.
User Awareness: Critically, clients and organizations hiring translators must change their perception. They need to recognize the work as a high-level professional service and demand quality. As long as users adopt the attitude of “good enough is fine,” the substandard quality that has plagued the industry since previous decades will persist, hindering Vietnam’s ability to engage effectively on the international stage.
