| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21] > | translation is dead as a profession Thread poster: Daniel Rich
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 08:48
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
And here's why I left the industry: when things got thorny and you run out of arguments, your attacks go against the person, their grammar, and now against the use of AI? Lol
Arguments for what exactly ? All I'm trying to say is that while you seem convinced the translation industry is the problem, I'm more under the impression you yourself might be the problem. You seem to work very little and have even spent time to become an 'influencer in the translation industry'. I mean, it probably looks fantastic on a cv, but what the hell has it to do with the core business of translation ? How do you even become one ? It most certainly will not be because you spent all your time silently translating to earn money.
But okay, I'll leave it at that.
| | | | | Can you clue me in please, I really need to know | May 23, 2023 |
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
No one can say I will be safe, but who knows the future, right?
I mean, in the end, you need to do whatever you feel right about.
For example, in marketing I can get 2K dollars for 40 hours of work when I find clients
Is this pattern where each paragraph contains exactly one relatively short sentence a non-negotiable standard in modern copywriting? I break it in my forum posts all the time, but that's just me: I'm a barbarian from a barbarous country, and the rule saying that one paragraph should contain exactly one line of thought doesn't exist for me. However, I'd really like to know the main principle behind this choice for structuring the text: what if the knowledge of it will make me a top-ranking copywriter with an indecently large income?
| | | | | Do you even know what a real business looks like? | May 23, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
And here's why I left the industry: when things got thorny and you run out of arguments, your attacks go against the person, their grammar, and now against the use of AI? Lol
Arguments for what exactly ? All I'm trying to say is that while you seem convinced the translation industry is the problem, I'm more under the impression you yourself might be the problem. You seem to work very little and have even spent time to become an 'influencer in the translation industry'. I mean, it probably looks fantastic on a cv, but what the hell has it to do with the core business of translation ? How do you even become one ? It most certainly will not be because you spent all your time silently translating to earn money.
But okay, I'll leave it at that.
Maybe this is some kind of breaking news to you, but translation work is in a tough spot right now.
Rates have been stuck in a time loop for a quarter-century— it's not just my take, but the industry's collective sigh.
This has been going on for so long that many of my translator buddies have swerved into copywriting or some flavor of digital marketing.
Maybe that should ring a bell about the current vibe in the industry and its shaky future prospects?
Check out this article by The Guardian if you're keen:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/nov/14/where-have-all-the-translators-gone
And you've got this thing about me "only" clocking 25 hours a week. You've even hinted I might be slacking off.
Did you know that on an average day, most folks only put in about 2.5 hours of solid work?
The rest is just spinning wheels.
I didn't pull that out of thin air; it's what industry magazines say: https://www.glamour.com/story/how-much-work-are-we-supposed-to-do-at-work
So, your angle there doesn't hold water.
As for me, I've noticed that translation jobs seem to travel in packs, so those 110 hours usually end up squeezed into a fortnight (and turning down work isn't an option, because the other two weeks can be pretty quiet).
But let's play devil's advocate.
Even if translators are these superhuman word machines who can churn out 300 words an hour, month after month— what if I don't fancy tapping away at the keyboard for 160 hours a month, cranking out 300-400 words an hour for less than 40 bucks an hour?
That doesn't mean I'm kicking back for the rest of the month.
In my opinion, being a freelancer isn't just about grinding away until your fingers are crying uncle. There's a whole lot more to it.
A good chunk of my day goes into prospecting for clients, doing the paperwork, shooting off proposals, handling sales calls, crafting my marketing materials, and even engaging in lively debates like this one (just like you're doing, BTW).
But there's many ways to skin a cat, right? If you like the idea of typing as fast as you can to make a decent living, more power to you. Just isn't my cup of tea.
Take care and happy typing.
(Revised with your friendly neighborhood ChatGPT. Open for any friendly fire you might have)
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 08:48
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
I thought you were looking for closure, and then you give me this novel to read. I'm not going to read it, though. I mean, how much time on your hands can you have? 😉
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| As much as you, my friend | May 23, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
I thought you were looking for closure, and then you give me this novel to read. I'm not going to read it, though. I mean, how much time on your hands can you have? 😉
As much as you, my friend 😉
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 08:48
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
As much as you, my friend 😉
You also had a day off, then ? Just like today, tomorrow and after tomorrow ?
You see, that is the beauty of running a translation business like you are supposed to: you earn enough money to have some (obviously unpaid) vacation too. I have to admit, though, that I will never be able to become an influencer in the translation industry and that might be a little sad.
I've got to go now. I had an extremely lazy procrastinating day yesterday (hence our developing conversation), but I live on the countryside, it has been raining a lot and now there's sunshine all over the place. So it's kind of a jungle here at this moment and I actually took vacation to make my place ready for the summer. So I'm going on safari in my own backyard now. Have a nice day (and no hard feelings, love to play around and fully accept my part of the blows  ).
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:48
Serbian to English
+ ...
Lieven Malaise wrote:
David GAY wrote:
So it doesn t explain why there are so few jobs and Kudoz activity on PROZ.
I can't say much about the jobs offered here, except that in my opinion most decent translation agencies don't need Proz to find suppliers for a single translation request. But about Kudoz: who needs that when there is the internet? In 95% of the cases I find the terminological solution somewhere on the internet. And if it's so specific that I can't find anything, I ask the client for more information and propose a term myself.
Half of the Kudoz answers, even the 'approved' ones, are rubbish anyway.
Proz and Kudoz are far from perfect - very far. Agree on that.
But whatever you can or can not find on the Web, a "second opinion" from other translators can make a huge difference if you're lucky that your question is answered by someone who knows well the subject matter.
There is also the very real problem of some Askers not being capable to spot the right answer when it's staring at them, but then it's back to "Half of the Kudoz answers, even the 'approved' ones, are rubbish anyway."
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Denis Fesik wrote:
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
No one can say I will be safe, but who knows the future, right?
I mean, in the end, you need to do whatever you feel right about.
For example, in marketing I can get 2K dollars for 40 hours of work when I find clients
Is this pattern where each paragraph contains exactly one relatively short sentence a non-negotiable standard in modern copywriting? I break it in my forum posts all the time, but that's just me: I'm a barbarian from a barbarous country, and the rule saying that one paragraph should contain exactly one line of thought doesn't exist for me. However, I'd really like to know the main principle behind this choice for structuring the text: what if the knowledge of it will make me a top-ranking copywriter with an indecently large income?
Easy. If your text looks like this, people feel like you're forcing them to read an endless block of text. They will find it difficult to understand your ideas.
Instead, with shorter paragraphs, ideas read faster.
And when you're a top copywriter, you want to keep people engaged.
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| How much is the average wage for a translator? | Jul 27, 2023 |
It would be interesting to know what the average annual salary is for different language pairs or for translators in general.
In 2000, the ITI in the UK carried out a salary survey amongst freelance translators and the average earnings were £30,000 a year.
I wonder how much the average freelancer earns now?
| | | | | Salary information from Germany | Jul 28, 2023 |
Stephen Emm wrote:
In 2000, the ITI in the UK carried out a salary survey amongst freelance translators and the average earnings were £30,000 a year.
I wonder how much the average freelancer earns now?
The BDÜ (a German translators’ association) regularly surveys both freelance and employed translators to create its salary table for different language pairs and client types. The most recent survey results are from 2017 (https://www.bdue-fachverlag.de/detail_book/137), but a new edition is in the works. I recommend waiting until the new one comes out and purchasing the book then. I don’t know how that edition will deal with the salary question, but the 2017 edition only gave average rates charged (again, per language pair and client type; also classed by “highest”, “most common” and “lowest” for each combination) for freelance translation, but annual salary earned for employed translators.
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 08:48
French to English
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
Instead, with shorter paragraphs, ideas read faster.
what about people though?
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 08:48
English to German
+ ...
Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
Instead, with shorter paragraphs, ideas read faster.
And when you're a top copywriter, you want to keep people engaged.
That's only half the story.
You also need to consider the _line_ length.
And that related sentences should be kept within the same paragraph.
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Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 08:48
English to German
+ ...
| Figures for Germany (employed translators) | Jul 28, 2023 |
Stephen Emm wrote:
It would be interesting to know what the average annual salary is for different language pairs or for translators in general.
In 2000, the ITI in the UK carried out a salary survey amongst freelance translators and the average earnings were £30,000 a year.
I wonder how much the average freelancer earns now?
Here you find some average estimates for employed translators in Germany: https://www.stepstone.de/gehalt/Uebersetzer-in.html
30,700 €-47,600 gross/year = max. around 30,500 € net/year = around 2,500 € net/month
Net calculator: https://www.stepstone.de/brutto-netto-rechner.html
Freelancers should be well above these averages.
| | | | MagnusRubens (X)
Local time: 07:48
| Should, but aren't | Jul 28, 2023 |
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Maybe we should, but my own experience tells me clearly that we no longer are.
I work mostly with documentation for industrial machinery/technical equipment and similar. I've worked full time for over 25 years. The decline in volume in the technical fields is quite clear, at least to me.
My personal guess is that technical jobs is one area where AI might work relatively well.
Some translators will manage to hang on, I'm sure. But the way things appear to be going, some of us (myself included) may have some rather 'interesting' decisions to make - sooner rather than later.
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How many people actually work as in-house translators, these days?
I think there a very few in-house translation jobs in the UK now and in-house jobs are not brilliantly paid.
I also very much doubt that the average freelance translator earns much more than the figure you give
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