How could the Brexit vote affect Language Service Providers and SME’s?
As the Brexit vote moves closer and closer, on 23rd June, 2016 millions of British, Irish and Common Wealth citizens who live in the UK as well as Britons who have lived abroad for less than 15 years will head to their polling stations and decide whether to remain in the European Union (EU) or leave the EU. A decision so simple yet so many varying factors to be considered. Now we have all seen the endless TV debates, news articles and Prime Minister Questions in the past few months and despite this there are many people who are still not decisive as to whether they will vote leave or remain.
In this post we are looking at how a Brexit or a leave vote could impact language service providers such as Translation agencies in UK or individual translators and interpreters. This can also apply to small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) who operate not only in Britain but conduct trade within the EU.
The impact on currency and tax
For translators who deal with businesses across multiple countries Britain leaving the EU will include new tax laws which could result in accounting becoming more complex especially for those who deal with their own legal affairs in the form of annual accounts.
Many translation companies in the UK trade in different currencies including the Euro and Dollar. The pound is currently the strongest of the three and will most likely continue to be, however the pound has recently fallen leading up to the Brexit vote and if it continues to drop this ultimately means higher costs for UK translation agencies.
On the other hand many leave campaigners have attributed a major benefit to the leave campaign as a benefit for businesses as Britain will not have to contribute to the EU budget which will mean an “immediate cost reduction of around €180 per person in the UK, raising the prospect of tax reductions”.
The impact on free movement and free trade
Being part of the EU has enabled many UK businesses to trade freely within the EU. This has eliminated trade barriers such as high import and export tax.
When it comes to the translation industry it is imperative that the translation is completed by a native translator in order to maintain the highest quality translations. For example if a document needs translating from English to French, the most effective way is to use a professional French translator who is a French native and has fluency in English. In such cases you find that many such linguists are French natives who have come to the UK to study and work. Another benefit related to free movement for members if the EU is that this allows British translation agencies to travel to other European countries to attend events and conferences in order to secure business.
The impact on education and language learning
Many translation companies take advantage of the use of translators and interns that come to the UK to learn the English language often on their assignments for university degrees. Voting to leave will reduce the ability to study abroad. While the UK does pay fees to the EU some sources have stated that the return universities receive is a financial profit.
Another point is that British workers lose out on a potential £48 billion a year due to not having non-English language skills and leaving the EU will only add to that as the incentives to learn other European languages reduce.
Frankly the vote leave or remain will affect different groups of people in different ways and many people will vote based on how Brexit will directly affect them in the near future. Take for example the multinational airline owners like Richard Branson who has gone as far as saying that “Brexit would be ‘worst decision Britain could ever make” whose business Virgin Airlines relies and benefits heavily on European trade or Ryan Air who heavily take advantage of the tax benefits of the less restricted trade the EU allows them to have. Clearly Brexit would be a huge blow to their business ventures. Not only that, there are languages service providers who work with these companies providing translation services who will also be negatively affected in one way or another.
Should Britain remain in the EU or leave? Let us know your thoughts below.
Image: Descrier
