Comments on: How are language service providers affected by COVID-19? https://languageonthemove.com/how-are-language-service-providers-affected-by-covid-19/ Multilingualism, Intercultural communication, Consumerism, Globalization, Gender & Identity, Migration & Social Justice, Language & Tourism Thu, 26 Nov 2020 21:57:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 By: Alex Grey https://languageonthemove.com/how-are-language-service-providers-affected-by-covid-19/#comment-72370 Fri, 08 May 2020 06:37:12 +0000 https://www.languageonthemove.com/?p=22403#comment-72370 Thank you for the detailed and fascinating portrait of how the language services industry is or has been affected. I have two questions.
(1) What are the main models of employment in China’s LSPs? (Are the workers freelancers, people who have permanent contracts etc?) The variable impacts of coronavirus on different types of workers would be interesting to know more about.
(2) This question relates to the role of English as a lingua franca in foreign businesses/trade in China. You’ve shown the enormous impact especially on LSPs that offer English-language services. I can see why you say that these are “easily impacted by the strict restrictions imposed on China by English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia” (I agree). However, if “more than 90% of Chinese LSPs are providing English-related services”, the LSP industry is probably not only servicing customers who are first-language English speakers. So aren’t these LSPs also easily, and highly, impacted by the restrictions on nationals from all countries, not just from English speaking countries? Surely with the global shutdown that has now ensued, it is not only “English-speaking nations” who may cancel deals with the language service firms in China, and so the recovery should also address the wider variety of nations/customers who use English as an international lingua franca.

Looking forward to reading more of your work coming out of this great survey!

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