Every year, some 80 students enroll in the MPI’s bachelor degree in English/Chinese translation and interpretation, 60 of which are locals and 20 come from mainland China. However most of the graduates did not become translators or interpreters.
“All of them already have guaranteed jobs when they graduate, but not as translators. They are hired as bilingual workers, some in the government, but mostly in big private companies,” director of the MPI’s School of Languages and Translation, Choi Wai Hao, tells the Macau Daily Times.
Although the MPI’s objective is to train translators, Choi admits that the English translation labour market is not very big, in comparison to the Portuguese translation market.
According to professionals and observers, the problem is fast becoming critical and deserves better attention from the people in charge. The issue, they say, is not only the shortage of translators, but also a lack of quality in most cases.

Missing essentials

“The use of English language has been improving in Macau, very slowly though. We are lagging behind Hong Kong and China, because the Education sector in Macau is still not in good shape,” says Gary Ngai, former translator and interpreter, fluent in eight languages.
To a greater extent schools are to blame, he says, because they have neglected the quality of teachers and textbooks and have not made enough effort to improve English proficiency in Macau’s students.

“The quality of English in Macau is stagnating,” he remarked.
“It’s a concern, because it doesn’t comply with the general demand that is to transform Macau into an international city.”
“Taxi drivers don’t speak a word of English and that’s disturbing tourists that don’t speak Chinese,” Ngai adds, to give an example.
There are problems in the English translation business as well. “The role of English translation in Macau will be essential in the future. In the government, at this very moment, there is virtually no significant amount of English translation or [it exists] in a very limited way,” highlights Leo Stepanov, proprietor of local company Macau Translations.
Stepanov is looking forward for the use of English to grow in Macau. “That’s an element needed to make Macau an international city”. Read more.

See: Macau Daily Times