Translation as an entrepreneurship and an Effective Factor in Small Businesses Growth: Evidence from the Field of Saudi Translation

This study focuses on the importance of translation as a growing industry sector in Saudi society. It aims at investigating the reality of translation sector as an entrepreneurship, and the role of AI in translation in Saudi Arabia. Using the descriptive approach, this study investigates translation market and its rapid growth, influenced by several factors such as rising need for language translation services, increasing AI adoption, and growing awareness of the benefits of digital translation. This growth is impacted by development in technology and government initiatives promoting digitalization in all sectors. Saudi translation market size was valued at USD 1.5 billion in 2022 and is estimated to register a Compound Annual Growth Rate CAGR of 22.8% between 2023 and 2032. Based on the established fact that entrepreneurship is more than business projects; translation industry becomes an opportunity to find one’s passion that shapes the economic position and identity and participates in national income. Choosing translation as an entrepreneurship/industry includes an analysis of the concept as a self-employment sector, a soft skills development, and a micro economic participant which will also have implications on new pedagogical approach in improving the sector of translation. The study finds that Saudi translation market possesses distinctive features, evident in both freelance translation and agency-based work that require much more support.