With the growing "global village" born by the growth of computers, and more specifically, the Internet, there has been an upswing in the demand for translators and interpreters.

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"It is a booming industry," says Muriel M. Jerome-O'Keeffe, president of the American Translators Association. "It has gone from a cottage industry to big business."

Translators and interpreters are not one in the same. A translator always deals with the written word, while interpreters provide oral renditions of language. This also includes those who work with the hearing impaired.

"Not only do you translate, but you must be sensitive to different cultural aspects," says Jerome-O'Keeffe, who is also managing director and founder of JTG Inc., a professional translating firm based Alexandria, Va.

As companies such as McDonald's Corp., which has restaurants in 110 countries, continue to expand internationally, the need for translators for business will grow simultaneously.

The most common native languages of ATA members, according to statistics collected by the ATA in 1996, are English and Spanish, followed by German, French and Russian.

Walter Bacak Jr., executive director of the ATA, says nearly 70 percent of the organization's 7,000 members are independent contractors and split almost evenly between full-and part-time. He says many work only part-time because they are afraid to take the leap to becoming an independent contractor.

According to Jerome-O'Keeffe, "people used to fall into translation but that's not the case so much anymore," she says. Many colleges in the United States are now offering bachelor's and masters degrees in language translation.

In fact, Jerome-O'Keeffe says the software industry is concerned about getting enough graduates with the proper training. Microsoft, for exmaple, needs a staff just to translate its various software products and manuals into foreign language versions. In 1996, only 10 percent of ATA members specialized in computers, but that number has surely grown since then, says Bacak.

Approximately 20 percent of ATA translators worked in the medical and legal industries in 1996, where specific knowledge of terminology and abbreviations for each of the languages is critical.

Although it is virtually an unregulated field, more than 2,000 ATA members have achieved accreditation by passing a written examination administered by the organization.