| 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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expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 08:55
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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| Words of the week | Jun 22, 2022 |
Here are the words that defined the week of Proz: dead, dying, die, speed, cost...
Let's look on the bright side! Optimists live longer.
So many things have already changed for better and for worse and yet we are still here.
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 09:55
English to French
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Lieven Malaise wrote:
In my opinion you can only say that if you are convinced about the fact that in a some near future or in the medium term computers will be able to think or feel like humans do. I highly doubt that.
[Edited at 2022-06-22 05:52 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-06-22 05:53 GMT]
In my opinion, in times of persistent high inflation, any profession is not viable if its members cannot set rates keeping up with inflation because compounded rates are working against you. And even before the inception of NMT, rates have collapsed by 80 percent or so over a 20 year period although during this period, MT was hardly used.So this downward pressure on rates is bound to gain in momentum due to the rise of MT.so in my opinion, you have to extrapolate the trends and draw the conclusions. Of course, it s possible to live on a day to day basis without seeing what s ahead.
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:06 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:55
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Lieven Malaise wrote:
..... if you are convinced about the fact that in a some near future or in the medium term computers will be able to think or feel like humans do. I highly doubt that.
It seems we won't rest until we have replaced ourselves with machines that can think and feel. I'm not saying technology can't do this; it probably can.
But why?
[Edited at 2022-06-22 12:48 GMT]
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 09:55
English to French
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Lieven Malaise wrote:
My opinion isn't based on my own situation but on the mere fact that there are still an awful lot of translators that earn a decent income by translating. I mean that you can't rely on the testimonies on Proz to draw general conclusions,
Frankly, I don t know because most translators usually don t reveal how much they earn.But the testimonials I ve read all come from respectable translators with more than 10 years of experience with a strong experience in their field.Conversely, you can t draw the conclusion that translators who don t share their experience earn a decent income.
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[Edited at 2022-06-22 12:57 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:08 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:11 GMT]
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 09:55
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| You can't generalize. | Jun 22, 2022 |
David GAY wrote:
And even before the inception of NMT, rates have collapsed by 80 percent or so over a 20 year period although during this period, MT was hardly used.
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:06 GMT]
In my 17-year period of freelancing my rates have only increased (apart from 1 isolated case due to exceptional circumstances). Perhaps my initial rate 17 years ago was rather low (who knows?), but certainly not too low to make an acceptable income, which has shifted to a very satisfying income nowadays.
Let's face it, you just can't generalize.
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:48 GMT]
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 09:55
English to French
+ ...
| it s just a hard fact | Jun 22, 2022 |
Lieven Malaise wrote: David GAY wrote:
And even before the inception of NMT, rates have collapsed by 80 percent or so over a 20 year period although during this period, MT was hardly used.
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:06 GMT] In my 17-year period of freelancing my rates have only increased (apart from 1 isolated case due to exceptional circumstances). Perhaps my initial rate 17 years ago was rather low (who knows?), but certainly not too low to make an acceptable income, which has shifted to a very satisfying income nowadays. Let's face it, you just can't generalize. [Edited at 2022-06-22 13:48 GMT]
As far as I remember, it s the figure for the Swiss market
[Edited at 2022-06-22 15:56 GMT]
| | | | LIZ LI 
China
Local time: 15:55
French to Chinese
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| A perfect example | Jun 23, 2022 |
[quote]Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
LIZ LI wrote:  I cannot understand how the translation for the second image came up with "noodles", since I do not recognize any Chinese character representing noodles in the original Chinese.
If "一米"+"线",
that's a reference line to indicate the distance of one meter, so that people may keep up with social-distancing rules.
If "一"+"米线",
that's litterally "one rice noodle".
I am not sure if this kind of mistranslations commonly seen anyway within my country apply to Japanese as well or not. But Chinese, as a language, is not so precise as German, French, English... a loooooong list to name (even if we indeed have an insanely difficult writing system)
Since machines are not able to read unpuntuated phrases nor are aware of the contexts,
the one-meter-line is mistranslated into "one rice noodle" that we shall step on.
Am planning on putting a "Stop wasting food" sticker right next to it.
It's true that something within our profession is fading, eternally, like any other profession in the world.
However, translators die, translation doesn't.
[Edited at 2022-06-23 02:58 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:55
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Lieven Malaise wrote:
In my 17-year period of freelancing my rates have only increased
Yesterday I was contacted by an agency I've never worked with before, for a small 2000 word job. I quoted them my standard rate - which I haven't increased for more than 10 years. My offer was rejected.
10 years ago everyone was happy to pay that rate. Now, seemingly, for many agencies, it's too much.
[Edited at 2022-06-23 07:12 GMT]
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 09:55
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
David GAY wrote:
As far as I remember, it s the figure for the Swiss market
[Edited at 2022-06-22 15:56 GMT]
It will be a hard fact if you provide hard proof + context. If it's true what you say, then every translator in Switzerland should be poor by now.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 09:55
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| I wouldn't know. | Jun 23, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
10 years ago everyone was happy to pay that rate. Now, seemingly, for many agencies, it's too much.
[Edited at 2022-06-23 07:12 GMT]
I wouldn't know. Before I joined Proz, I was only contacted by project managers who changed employers and took my contact details with them. That is how I eventually built up most of my (very loyal) client base.
Nowadays, I am also occasionally contacted by translation agencies via Proz, but these offers are never really worth it. They probably send the offer to dozens of translators and then choose the cheapest one. The last two years (my years on Proz) I think I have been approached 2 or 3 times by a possibly interesting agency, but I didn't do anything with it because the last years I'm almost always fully booked. I keep their contact details, though. They will be the first I'll contact if that would ever become necessary.
I think you have to look for yourself if you want better clients. They do not come out of the blue.
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 09:55
English to French
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Lieven Malaise wrote: David GAY wrote:
As far as I remember, it s the figure for the Swiss market
[Edited at 2022-06-22 15:56 GMT] It will be a hard fact if you provide hard proof + context. If it's true what you say, then every translator in Switzerland should be poor by now.
I ve read it some years ago on the site of a Swiss agency, so I guess it s true. But I don t remember if inflation was factored in this calculus.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 09:55
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| A fact that's rather extremely soft than hard, apparently. | Jun 23, 2022 |
David GAY wrote:
I ve read it some years ago on the site of a Swiss agency, so I guess it s true. But I don t remember if inflation was factored in this calculus.
You've read it "some years ago" on the site of "a Swiss agency". So basically you know nothing about it, but still you keep mention it as a fact whenever you can.
Rates would have collapsed by 80% but miraculously my clients keep on accepting my rates that on the other hand have risen by x % over the past 17 years. So I suppose Belgium (and France, because several of my best clients are French agencies) is a magical island of prosperity amid a pool of unspeakably low rate misery where no translator can earn a decent living anymore. Boy, am I a lucky b*****d.
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David GAY
Local time: 09:55
English to French
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Lieven Malaise wrote: David GAY wrote:
I ve read it some years ago on the site of a Swiss agency, so I guess it s true. But I don t remember if inflation was factored in this calculus. You've read it "some years ago" on the site of "a Swiss agency". So basically you know nothing about it, but still you keep mention it as a fact whenever you can. Rates would have collapsed by 80% but miraculously my clients keep on accepting my rates that on the other hand have risen by x % over the past 17 years. So I suppose Belgium (and France, because several of my best clients are French agencies) is a magical island of prosperity amid a pool of unspeakably low rate misery where no translator can earn a decent living anymore. Boy, am I a lucky b*****d.
In Switzerland, translator was once a highly respected profession and a translator could earn as much as a Swiss lawyer.
But I think it s no longer the case. Actually since the advent of internet, a lot of Swiss agencies work with freelancers who are not based in Switzerland.The second reason is that in those prehistoric times, there were no discounts for repetitions. That s why translation rates collapsed.I guess that information provided on the website of a genuine Swiss agency is 100 percent accurate
[Edited at 2022-06-23 14:16 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-06-23 14:34 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:55
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Boy, am I a lucky b*****d.
I agree with part of that statement.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 09:55
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Yes, I'm lucky, but ... | Jun 23, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote: Lieven Malaise wrote:
Boy, am I a lucky b*****d. I agree with part of that statement.
Well, I do consider myself lucky in many ways, but not because of the so-called reality that I would be some kind of exception in terms of being able to earn a good living as a freelance translator. Unless proven otherwise (every single testimonial on this website is anecdotal and has zero evidential value towards the bigger picture), I am convinced that there are a lot of translators out there that are still doing (very) well.
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