In the last ten years, job opportunities for translators and interpreters have grown continuously in the United States, which has promoted the expansion of this professional sector. The Department of Labor attributes the cause of this growth to an increasingly diverse demography.

Translators´ salaries are very variable because of factors such as linguistic combination, specialty, influence, years of experience and even geographic location. However, the average salary is below the national average. Areas around Washington D.C. are the ones that offer the best remuneration.

Translation and interpretation are different occupations, but they have a similar goal, which is to facilitate communication and exchange of ideas between different languages, cultures and social agents (individuals, institutions, agencies, corporations, etc.). However, they present their own peculiarities and they require from their professionals the development of different skills.

The most demanded translations in the United States are English to Spanish and Spanish to English. This is because the United States is a country with a strong immigration history that has traditionally attracted immigrants from all over the world. Spanish is the second most important language in the United States, after English, of course.

According to a 2015 special report in The Economist titled America’s Hispanics from Major to Minor, the growth of the Hispanic population has been linked to the current immigration laws. Another big cause is the socio-economic and political landscape of the countries from which this population comes.

In 1953 the number of Hispanics in the United States barely reached 3 million. Between 1953 and 1970, and after changes in the laws of immigration under President Lyndon Johnson, the Hispanic population increased to 9 million. These laws allowed millions of immigrants to enter.

Hispanics in the United States is a complex group, as it is formed by immigrants from different countries. Specifically, this population comes mainly from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, from countries in Central and South America, and to a lesser extent Spain, and each migratory wave from each country is surrounded by some specific conditions.

Immigration from Mexico dates back to a stage prior to these changes in immigration laws, specifically, to a program established in 1942 known as "the bracero". This immigration program consisted of offering temporary work visas for Mexicans and was established with the objective of covering the casualties of those Americans who served military service.

This program was the beginning of the current Mexican immigration, both legal and illegal, and it was the job offer which motivated the intense wave of migration to the United States.

Puerto Rico ranks second on the list. Emigration from this country was motivated, in part, by the economic worsening of the island. The immigration tendency began in 1917, at which time the American citizenship was granted to Puerto Ricans, but it accentuated after the second world war. In 1960 this population did not reach one million inhabitants, but in 2012 there were over five million Puerto Ricans in the United States.

Emigration from Cuba, the third country on the list, was driven by the Cuban Revolution The main wave of Cubans took place between 1960 and 1970. Although most of these Cubans settled in Florida, many marched New York and they created their own communities.

Although the Spanish community is the biggest foreign one in the United States, it is not the only one. Asiatic countries like China, Japan, India and Korea also have big communities. Because of this, and also because the United States is the world´s biggest economy (per capita) and it buys and sells products from and to all over the world, translation services are highly demanded in the country.

Also, in the last few years, this demand has growth even more, as communications between different countries have made easier because of the Internet.

Which agency should you choose?
Actually, there are lots of professional translation agencies in the United States. The problem is that there are also tons of low quality ones. Here, we´ll recommend some of the top quality ones.

First of all, do you think that Google or the European Union would work with an unprofessional agency? That´s impossible! Therefore, we can guarantee you that Pangeanic (view) 9 is a top class translation agency. They have offices in Boston, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. Apart from the United States, they have offices in Valencia (headquarters), Madrid, Shanghai, Japan, Singapore and London.

Other professional translation agencies are US Translation Company, located in Salt Lake City, Poli Lingua, located in New York City and also with offices outside the United States (London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Chisinau and Gibraltar), and, last but not least, ASTA USA, with offices in the United States in San Diego, Dallas, Alexandria, New York and Cheyenne, and outside the United States in Montreal, Puerto Rico and Buenos Aires.