Vol/51 No/2 2012APRIL/MAYTheLinguist11FEATURESWeber, who has interpreted at seven Games,including those in Los Angeles (1984), SaltLake City (2002) and Beijing (2008). ProfessorWeber has been working with the LanguageService team to assess both the languagesupport and the number of interpretersneeded. 'LOCOG has regular meetings withthe Chief Interpreter and internal departmentsto review the language support requirementsto ensure the services scoped for areaccurate', says the LOCOG spokesperson.Race to translateEnglish and French are the official languagesof the IOC, so official documents have to beproduced in both languages, as do theLondon 2012 website and signage within theOlympic Park and venues. 'Publicationsrequiring translation are identified on a masterpublications list. We have defined eachpublication by its audience, so that anythingto Athletes, Technical Officials and OlympicFamily is marked as "for translation",' saysthe spokesperson. The publicationstranslation team is led by a TranslationManager, but most of the translation work isdone via an external agency.This is also true of the website: 'We don'thave a staff website translator (although ourTranslation Manager helps out with urgentrequirements and oversees quality). We usean external agency who did the initialtranslation and delivers ongoing translationson a rolling basis.' Although the website isavailable in English and French only,information is available in other languages viathe websites of the Authorised TicketResellers, NOCs and NPCs for each country. Team workLOCOG is working with stakeholders, such asthe Greater London Authority (GLA), VisitBritain and Transport for London (TfL), tomake sure all front-facing staff receive'Games training' and know where to turn tofor information. The Wayfinding and Signageteams are also working with TfL and the GLAto make sure there is 'a coordinated andintegrated wayfinding system, which will carryour spectators from the start of their journeyall the way through to the venues', saysLOCOG. Signs in certain spaces will bewritten in the two official languages, so theyare using globally recognisable pictogramsand icons in order to cater to visitors whospeak other languages. Finally, it will be the London 2012volunteers who guide spectators through thevenues and deal with their queries in theOlympics Park. 'London is a multicultural cityand, via the Games Maker application, wehave been very lucky in finding a lot ofvolunteers with extensive language skills,'says the spokesperson. It will fall largely onthese local volunteers to make sure that allvisitors have a good experience, no matterwhat languages they speak.It will fall largely onvolunteers to ensureall visitors have a goodexperience, whatevertheir languagesON TRACKRiders try out the BMX course at theVelodrome in August 2011 (right);and an artist's impression of Bridge FO6 in the Olympic Park (left) Team sends key documents in French andSpanish to the NOCs/NPCs; and theAuthorised Ticket Resellers for each countrydisseminate further information, althoughthey are responsible for the translations.LOCOG itself has multilingual staff whocan communicate effectively withinternational teams and stakeholders in therun-up to the Games, and members of itsNOC team speak a wide range of languages.Multilingual roles include Russian, Arabic andFrench-speaking Accreditation Coordinators. Information relayThe Language Service will provideinterpreting to 'internal Functional Areas andsome accredited clients only'. A pool of 75professional interpreters will work on the pressconferences, while volunteer interpreters willprovide interpretation for the national teamsand media in the Main Press Centre (MPC),Olympic Village and, on competition days, atvenues. Where no interpreter is available for aparticular language, there will be a telephoneinterpreting service. 'The interpreting requirements for thestadiums have been assessed in closecooperation with the key internal teams(Press Operations and Sport), since thelanguages required varies from venue tovenue or, in other words, from sport to sport,'says LOCOG. This process will continue untilJune, when the Continental QualificationTournaments come to a close and the worldknows exactly which teams will be competingfor each sport. Only then can the interpretingrequirements be finalised. The role of Chief Interpreter was advertisedin June 2010 and the contract was awarded,in January 2011, to Olympic veteran Wilhelm© LOCOG

12 TheLinguistAPRIL/MAY www.iol.org.ukFEATURESJohn Gardam, Udo Jorg and Christine Pocockreport on the results of the long-awaited CIOL/ITI 2011Rates and Salaries Survey for translators and interpretersPlans to carry out a joint ITI/CIOL Rates andSalaries Survey had been afoot for manyyears. Eventually, in the spring of 2010, aWorking Group (WG) was set up by bothCouncils and tasked with design andimplementation of the project. After a greatdeal of work, the online survey went live inAugust 2011 and, by the closing date of 8 October 2011, more than 1,750 responseshad been submitted. This figure isconsiderably higher than anything achievedin previous surveys of either institute andlooks good even by international comparison. As this is the first joint survey, comparingresults with previous surveys might beproblematic, as this time the survey coveragewas much larger and it might be difficult toevaluate whether significant changes are dueto market developments or differences in thesurvey population; in other words, onewould not necessarily be comparing like withlike. This needs to be borne in mindwhenever comparisons are made with the2001 ITI or the 1999 IoL survey. It is also the first time that such a surveywas open to linguists who are not membersof either ITI or CIOL. As they could not bemore than £40,000. 474 (43%) reportedincome of less than £20,000. The top earners turned out to be translators ratherthan interpreters. Fig. 1: Freelance translators/interpreters,distribution of annual gross income (£) inrespondents' most recent tax year (for a moredetailed analysis see the Master Report). Of the 1,337 who responded to thequestion about translation workload, 44%reported that their translation workload hadincreased compared with five years ago, 30%reported a decrease and 26% no change.The situation was worse for the 510interpreters who responded, where thecorresponding figures were 29% (increase),45% (decrease) and 26% (no change).Of the 1,428 who submitted a response tothe question about working for translationcompanies/agencies, more than 80% saidthey did so on a regular basis. When asked to compare their current rateswith rates charged five years ago, 42% of the1,431 respondents said they were higher,38% indicated that their rates have remainedthe same and 10% reported lower rates; theremaining 10% had ticked 'not applicable',indicating that they had entered theprofession fairly recently.About a third of 1,420 freelancers have a website. In response to a question Your rates revealedspecifically targeted in the pre-surveyadvertising, it is not surprising that they onlymake up 3% of all responses received. The joint survey is considerably morecomprehensive and complex than previoussurveys and this has resulted in a wealth ofdata, which has been published in a verydetailed Master Report (30+ pages), availablefree of charge to members of both institutes.CIOL members have received a copy of thedetailed survey report via email. In this summary report we will focus onsome key findings and hope this will inspirereaders to have a closer look at the fullMaster Report.General90% of respondents were between 30 and 69years of age, with more than half falling intothe 40-59 age bracket. Of the total numberof respondents, just over two-thirds werewomen. English was the mother tongue ofmore than half of the respondents and justunder three-quarters were based in the UK.86% of respondents (interpreters andtranslators) were working on a freelance basisand the median for years of experienceranged from 8 to 13 years (part-time/full-time). In light of the above-mentioned agedistribution, this seems rather low. 1,100 freelance respondents providedfigures on their gross annual income. 35%were part-time freelancers with a mediangross income from translating/interpreting of£8,000. The median annual gross income forthose who reported being full-time translatorsor interpreters was in the region of £31,000. 137 of the freelance translators andinterpreters (just over 12%) reported incomesof more than £50,000, and 232 (21%), of Most interpreters willhave had to cope withlower rates, withoutthe benefit of a tool toboost productivityup to £9,999£10,000-£19,999£20,000-£29,999£30,000-£39,999£40,000-£49,999£50,000and overGross annual income of freelance interpreters/translators