| 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: 16:54
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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David GAY wrote:
Why is PROZ as dead as a doornail
I don't know if PROZ is dead, but I do know that this discussion forum format is as obsolete as it can be (although I still like it).
| | | | Adieu 
Ukrainian to English
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Heavy-handed premodding. Incredibly frustrating and utterly pointless.
Everybody LEFT.
David GAY wrote: Adieu wrote: David GAY wrote:
WIWO What I m working on or what translators are working on
Otherwise I don t work with any of your pairs. You mean social network posts? I think established translators have become increasingly wary of accidentally disclosing who they work for or where well-paid work can be found and thus encouraging low-cost competition Or do you mean on ProZ? This site is dead as a doornail. There are ~20 active posters. [Edited at 2022-07-05 23:38 GMT] I meant on PROZ. There used to be lots of Russian and Polish translators posting in the What translators are working on section but it stopped soon after Russian and Polish were added in Deepl. Why is PROZ as dead as a doornail Is it because translation is dying or are there other reasons That s the question and also the topic of this thread. If translation is dead as a profession, it s only natural that PROZ should die. [Edited at 2022-07-06 17:22 GMT]
| | | | | About the title: Translation is dead as a profession | Jul 6, 2022 |
I don't really want to mingle into the discussion, it has evolved too far, but the title of this topic intrigues me, sounds like the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Translation is still there, but less, or better said, in another form, and it will survive, just like the dinosaurs, after all the birds are still flying.
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 16:54
English to French
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| Apt comparison | Jul 7, 2022 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote: I don't really want to mingle into the discussion, it has evolved too far, but the title of this topic intrigues me, sounds like the extinction of the dinosaurs. Translation is still there, but less, or better said, in another form, and it will survive, just like the dinosaurs, after all the birds are still flying.
Birds need much less food to survive.
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Juno Bos
Zambia
Local time: 16:54
Member (2011)
German to Dutch
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Robert Rietvelt wrote: I don't really want to mingle into the discussion, it has evolved too far, but the title of this topic intrigues me, sounds like the extinction of the dinosaurs. Translation is still there, but less, or better said, in another form, and it will survive, just like the dinosaurs, after all the birds are still flying.
Same as computer programming has changed over time. I still remember everyone needed to learn Java, nowadays its Python. Things change, we can accept it or become a T-rex (or Diplodocus).
| | | | | Translation becomes something else. Evaluation? | Jul 8, 2022 |
Machine translation is still way far from being good, but there is a plenty of room for translators to get involved in MT tools development.
| | | | Sadek_A
Local time: 18:54
English to Arabic
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Ornela Chorgolashvili wrote:
Machine translation is still way far from being good, but there is a plenty of room for translators to get involved in MT tools development.
Pass!
I, for one, won't be part of developing that thing at a peanut per-word rate.
Show Me Big Cash, is my say to those requesting my help with that.
| | | | | Language is beautiful. Translated language is ugly. Why? | Jul 9, 2022 |
When I'm working, I can physically feel how much energy my brain is using (science says the brain is the most energy-hungry organ in the body, or so I think). After all my years as a translator, I still can't say this job has become easy for me. It's really hard. But then I also know translators who don't invest much energy into their results and feel okay about it. They write things that make no sense in their own language, and if asked why, they'll probably try to shift the blame on the person... See more When I'm working, I can physically feel how much energy my brain is using (science says the brain is the most energy-hungry organ in the body, or so I think). After all my years as a translator, I still can't say this job has become easy for me. It's really hard. But then I also know translators who don't invest much energy into their results and feel okay about it. They write things that make no sense in their own language, and if asked why, they'll probably try to shift the blame on the person who wrote the original text. I know how they work, I know their translation algorhithms, and those algorhithms are pretty easy to follow (and to code into MT engines). So, why should I bother spending so much energy doing a job which others do with zero to little effort? Well, it's because I believe I should be making a change in the process. A translator with 20+ years of experience working for a major bank kept asking me: why are you changing and shuffling things in your translation? I offered her all the arguments in the world, but she didn't get the main point in the course of more than an hour of talk time (I was defending a test translation I did for that bank and ended up discovering that she didn't actually understand the main concept around which the text revolved). There's a way and a way to have our job done. It's only natural that some people stick to the easy way. But wait: if translation is dead as a profession and someone still wants it done well, this should mean that, before long, they won't be able to find a good LSP because no one cares any more. That's sad. I'm not happy with the idea that our languages will keep evolving into ever-uglier forms because of being tampered with by unsupervised MT engines (and I guess most of us here do understand how ugly machine-translated texts can get, even if they are neural network-powered and the original language is not Chinese) ▲ Collapse
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Panopticon
Spain
Local time: 16:54
Member (2012)
Spanish to English
| Maybe it's just the economic slowdown | Jul 12, 2022 |
Could it be that you feel the profession is dying when actually it's just that you have subconsciously picked up on the economic slowdown that is playing out right now (with a recession on the horizon in the US in particular)?
You'll probably feel better once the Fed pivots and starts printing money like there's no tomorrow. We all will.
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Martin Henderson wrote:
Could it be that you feel the profession is dying when actually it's just that you have subconsciously picked up on the economic slowdown that is playing out right now (with a recession on the horizon in the US in particular)?
You'll probably feel better once the Fed pivots and starts printing money like there's no tomorrow. We all will.
The average business would only be hurt by an actual recession, not a slowdown.
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 16:54
English to French
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Martin Henderson wrote:
Could it be that you feel the profession is dying when actually it's just that you have subconsciously picked up on the economic slowdown that is playing out right now (with a recession on the horizon in the US in particular)?
You'll probably feel better once the Fed pivots and starts printing money like there's no tomorrow. We all will.
This thread is about PEMT and low rates. I don t see how printing money like there s no tomorrow could solve the problem. On the contrary, inflation might be fuelled. Do you know what has happened exactly one century ago? Perhaps inflation is not high enough to your taste.
[Edited at 2022-07-12 16:19 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-07-12 18:40 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:54
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| I don't know.. | Jul 13, 2022 |
I don't know, but 3 days ago a direct client I last worked for 3 years ago asked me for a quote on a job consisting of about 19,500 words.
I gave him a quote using the same tariff as 3 years ago.
He hasn't got back to me.
I don't know what conclusions to draw from this. There are three options:
1. The document isn't actually ready for translation yet. I should wait patiently.
2. The client has been quoted a lower price, by someone else w... See more I don't know, but 3 days ago a direct client I last worked for 3 years ago asked me for a quote on a job consisting of about 19,500 words.
I gave him a quote using the same tariff as 3 years ago.
He hasn't got back to me.
I don't know what conclusions to draw from this. There are three options:
1. The document isn't actually ready for translation yet. I should wait patiently.
2. The client has been quoted a lower price, by someone else who charges less than what I was charging 3 years ago.
3. The client's factory has been blown up and everyone's dead.
[Edited at 2022-07-13 08:41 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Jo Macdonald
Spain
Local time: 16:54
Italian to English
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| Quotes vs jobs | Jul 13, 2022 |
Lots of quotes that don't end up as jobs.
Was talking to a colleague at the pool the other day who said the same thing. He works for a lot less than me so it's not a question of high/low rates.
There's a great deal of uncertainty about the future of global trade, health and world peace; people not spending money on translation.
Google Translate is free and pretty much understandable/acceptable for someone who speaks a foreign language badly.
[Edited at 2022... See more Lots of quotes that don't end up as jobs.
Was talking to a colleague at the pool the other day who said the same thing. He works for a lot less than me so it's not a question of high/low rates.
There's a great deal of uncertainty about the future of global trade, health and world peace; people not spending money on translation.
Google Translate is free and pretty much understandable/acceptable for someone who speaks a foreign language badly.
[Edited at 2022-07-13 09:42 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 10:54
Spanish to English
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| The lone and level sands stretch far away | Jul 13, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
I don't know, but 3 days ago a direct client I last worked for 3 years ago asked me for a quote on a job consisting of about 19,500 words.
I gave him a quote using the same tariff as 3 years ago.
He hasn't got back to me.
I don't know what conclusions to draw from this. {...}
Tom alludes here to a grim reality.
Forget about adjusting for inflation. Rates in the common language pairs (at least into and out of English) have fallen in absolute terms relative to what they were 15 years ago.
In the case of Spanish-to-English, ten cents a word was considered something of a standard "minimally acceptable" rate back in 2007. The better and more experienced translators considered ten cents too low. (At the ATA Conference in 2007, the then-President of the organization rhetorically asked, "Who works for ten cents any more?")
Today, ten cents a word represents a high rate for Spanish-to-English translation (i.e., if a prospective client/agency even deigns to offer a per-word rate based on total word count, rather than differential rates based on a Trados grid of exact, near, and fuzzy matches).
Is it then any wonder that there is a highly diminished enthusiasm for translation as a profession - and that this would be reflected in the quality and quantity of discussions in these fora?
[Edited at 2022-07-13 15:22 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:54
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| WIth profuse strains of unpremeditated art | Jul 13, 2022 |
Robert Forstag wrote:
Is it then any wonder that there is a highly diminished enthusiasm for translation as a profession - and that this would be reflected in the quality and quantity of discussions in these fora.
They'll be sorry when there are no translators any more. We'll be remembered as chimney sweeps are remembered today, or organ grinders, or crossing sweepers.
[Edited at 2022-07-13 14:30 GMT]
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