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OCR for page 7
Number of
Government
Translators
The exact renumber of government in-house translators is impossible
to determine, although it is a simple matter to determine the num-
ber of persons in the Civil Service classification, "Translator." It
sometimes happens that the translator who decides to better his
economic situation must first contrive to secure a more prestigious
occupational title. Thus the way is open for advancement, even
though the bulk of his duties might remain the same.
The picture is further obscured by the fact that bilingual persons
in other job categories are often called upon to produce rough or
oral translations for their colleagues or superiors. This situation
is not, of course, peculiar to agencies of the U.S. Government.
Keeping in mind the indefiniteness of the number of persons
actually classified under "Translator," we give the figures obtained
from the Civil Service Commission for October 1962:
Translators and clerk-translators employed in the United States 262
Translators and clerl:-translators employed worldwide
453
(For the number of translators in each division and grade, in each
agency, and for the CSC salary schedule for 19 64, and CSC qualifica-
tion standards, see Appendix 7.)
From the data supplied by the CSC, we have figured the average
yearly salary of the federal translator (clerk-translator not included)
employed in the United States to be approximately $6,850.
When one compares this figure with the median annual salary of
government scientists ($9,000. American Science Manpower, 1962,
A Report of the National Register of Scientific and Technical Per-
sonnel, NSF 64-16, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.,
1964), it is apparent that technically trained bilingual persons would
derive more advantages from working as scientists and technologists
in their subject specialties than from serving as technical translators
in their respective fields .
Despite the fact that the average pay for government translators
7
OCR for page 8
is not as high as the average for government scientists, there
seems to be a very low rate of turnover among government trans-
lators. Indeed, the facts are that the supply exceeds the demand.
Although there is not now on hand at the U.S. Employment Service
(Washington, D.C.) a single request for a full-time translator, there
are approximately 500 translators on its rolls who desire work
(part time or full time). (For the availability of translators and
their languages, see Appendix 8.)
8
Representative terms from entire chapter:
civil service
