Job ad may give emoji experts reason to employ the happy face

A London translation agency said on Tuesday that it is advertising for its first "emoji translator" to help meet the "challenges posed by the world's fastest-growing language".

Based in the City of London financial district, Today Translations advertised on its website for a translator whose job will consist of interpreting the miniature images, from smiley faces to pizzas, beloved by smartphone users the world over.

"Emoji translation is itself an emerging field - but one dominated to date by software, which is often insensitive to the many cultural differences in usage and interpretation," said the advert.

"We are therefore seeking an exceptional individual to provide the human touch needed where translation software is inadequate."

Chief executive Jurga Zilinskiene said the company decided to create the freelance position after being approached by a client to translate a family diary from English into emoticons.

"We started looking into it and decided we had to do much more work to understand the culture of emojis across the globe," she said.

The recruit will be required to write monthly reports on emoji trends and research cultural differences in usage, as well as carry out translations.

"In the absence of any native speakers, the successful candidate should be able to demonstrate a passion for emojis, combined with cutting-edge knowledge and awareness of areas of confusion and cultural/international differences," the advert added.

Zilinskiene is confident that demand for emoji translation is set to grow.

"We are already seeing a professional use for legal cases where text messages are used as evidence," she said, adding that interpreting emojis was "even more complex than the written word".

The winning candidate will join a company that works with 3,000 linguists who speak some 200 languages, according to the job posting.