The NY Times ran an article on its website recently proclaiming that interpreting is one of the hottest new careers going.

 While everybody else is talking about booming international markets for information technology, banking, jetliners and fast-food restaurants, who are the mechanics who keep the machinery of world trade humming? The people who enable speakers of English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and every other language from Arabic to Zulu to understand one another, that’s who. As a result, a cottage industry of small and medium-size language-services companies is quietly flourishing in this country.