There is demand for multilingual or bilingual jobs in Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, French, Chinese and German languages. Today a person knowing two or more languages is in demand for any mix of languages. A person in a bilingual job receives wages that are greater by 5% to 20% or sometimes even more depending upon the language specialization.
To find bilingual jobs you will have to take a systematic approach. You should first define the fields you want to work in keeping in mind your education, experience and the language skills of that country. Pinpoint some potential employers. There are many online bilingual job sites where you can search and find jobs suiting to your skills and qualifications. You should maintain a network with other bilingual speakers.
An interpreter is also a bilingual job. The interpretation is done in two ways: consecutive and simultaneous. In Consecutive interpretation the interpreter begins only when the speaker has spoken sentences or a group of words. In simultaneous interpretation, the interpreters listen and speak (or sign in case of sign language) at the same time. Bilingual jobs of translators include more than merely replacing a word with its equivalent in another language. While translating, the translators have to keep in mind that the cultural references, colloquialisms, slangs and other expressions are not translated literally. Today most translation jobs are done online and from home.
The internet provides advance search capabilities through online dictionaries and glossaries. Bilingual jobs are available in many subject areas. Some of the important fields of bilingual jobs are Conference Interpreters, a Guide or escort interpreter, Judiciary interpreters and translators, Literary translators, Localization translators, Medical interpreters and translators and Sign language interpreters.
There were 41,000 bilingual jobs of interpreters and translators in the year 2006 in the US. This number may be higher if sporadic workers are also added to it. These bilingual professionals are required in varieties of industries and fields like public and private educational institutions (schools, colleges and universities), health care and social assistance, hospitals, Federal, State and local courts, publishing companies, telephone companies, translating & interpreting agencies, airlines, and self-employed or freelancers.
It is estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that there is expected to be a much faster than average growth in the employment of interpreters and translators and the job prospects will vary
depending upon their specialty.