How Big is the Language Market, US and Worldwide? Who are the main
companies and the main languages in demand? What are the trends for
growth? How big is the software portion of this market? Who will
dominate it in the coming years?
Where are white papers located on the subject?

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Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 29 May 2002 19:24 PDT

I'm not quite certain I follow what you mean.  Are you looking for
demand for language learning materials and software? 
Interpreters/translators?  Foreign language teachers? 
Bilingual/multilingual employees?  Percentage of speakers of a given
language, native or otherwise?  I'm not certain that "language" has a
market, per se, but certain aspects of language learning/teaching
would.

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Clarification of Question by languageexpert-ga on 30 May 2002 04:06 PDT

I'm looking for information like How much do the Japanese spend to
learn English?  How big is the market for language learning materials
and software?
For Corporate? For Government? For Consumer? THis would include
Schools, places like Berlitz and the big players who I am trying to
identify. It would not necessarily inlcude Interpreters. I would like
a breakdown in languages, but am sure English is big.
Thanks.

New Zealand has a population of around 4 million. This year there are
50,000 students from overseas countries studying in NZ tertiary
education establishments. Most of these students are from Asian
countries such as Japan and Taiwan; the majority of them are in NZ to
study English as a second language. This language "industry" is
reported to be bringing New Zealand $1 billion a year in total foreign
exchange (note: NZ $1 approximately equals US 50 cents).

The above information was obtained by a search covering articles
published in the NZ Herald over the past six months on
http://nzherald.co.nz.

Hope this is a little help to you.

LOL!   I just misread your comment, west-ga.  I thought you'd put
"note: NZ $1 billion approximately equals US 50 cents." !!!

Your question is very interesting, languageexpert-ga.  I'm a trained
Indonesian teacher, which is a popular language in schools here in
northern Australia, although more so with school administrators more
than pupils!  It is a modern language, and rated as one of the easiest
to learn.  There is a government subsidy provided to Aussie schools
that teach Asian languages, as part of the push to integrate our
country with the region.  The Australian Army is also a large
'consumer' of Indonesian language products, especially due to the
peacekeeping mission in East Timor.

Very interested in reading the answer to your question, 

araminty

This page has an overview of the Chinese software market, with some
stats on translation software (.pdf file):
http://www.tcm-mec.gc.ca/China/delegatearea/China/33139-e.pdf

Hey,

If you want to make huge money by teaching English,go to
China.Everybody there want to learn English, especially when everybody
was told they have to prepare for China's entry to the WTO.Or you may
run international schools,the school fee of which can be as high as
nearly 200 thousand yuan a year(around US$25,000).But the problem is
the business environment is extremely corrupt and the government only
allows joint ventures for educational business.

 
Good luck
Joe

Post the question again and I'll get you an answer