Job posting paying low rate

On 2002-12-13 09:34, eli wrote:

I would really like to know if under these conditions, YOU would consider working for 3-4 cents, a rate that made it possible for me to work from home all this year and earn 3 times as much as a programmer (they have the highest possible salaries in my country, except for CEOs and politicians, probably).

[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-12-13 09:40 ]





Good for you, Elvira!

But I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and as you work in one of my language pairs and my fields of expertise (as well as in many other language pairs and fields...) I sort of have to compete with you. I don\'t want to quote house and food prices in London here, it\'s just too depressing.

How do you expect us to react when translators in cheaper countries undercut our rates by two thirds or so?



I can\'t see what harm a minimum rate could do. Maybe different rates for different language pairs according to their \"market value\". There would be a lot fewer job offers on ProZ but a lot less outrage as well and the website as a whole would look a bit more upmarket (not like a bargain basement). ▲ Collapse

But I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and as you work in one of my language pairs and my fields of expertise (as well as in many other language pairs and fields...) I sort of have to compete with you.



Why be reluctant about it - of course you have to compete!



Quote:

I don\'t want to quote house and food prices in London here, it\'s just too depressing.

How do you expect us to react when translators in cheaper countries undercut our rates by two thirds or so?



I know the prices well - just returned from London this morning. The real question is: can you really afford to compete on price and cope with the cost of living in London?



Quote:

I can\'t see what harm a minimum rate could do. Maybe different rates for different language pairs according to their \"market value\". There would be a lot fewer job offers on ProZ but a lot less outrage as well and the website as a whole would look a bit more upmarket (not like a bargain basement).



The \"bargain basement\" vs. \"minimum price\" issue has been discussed at great lengths in the forums - check this thread, particularly Henry\'s response: www.proz.com/?sp=bb/viewtopic&post=39319#39319. However, I have yet to hear a conclusive argument why ProZ would have an inherent bias toward lower prices. This is what competition is about - somebody out there may well be able to deliver the same job at half your price. Implementing a mandatory minimum price is no solution, since by definition it would have to be arbitrary (who says what price level is \"appropriate\"?), and would certainly not stop the competition. Sure, it would no longer be visible on this site, but let\'s not fool ourselves into believing that this would ease the competitive pressures.



I\'m sorry, but no client is going to accept your cost base as an excuse for a higher price. Although competing on price is an alternative, it\'s no answer (certainly not if you live in Central London) - the solution to your problem is to get direct clients, to market your services professionally, and to fight competitors head on (as opposed to \"sort of\"...).



Note that this isn\'t theoretical blurb - I regularly compete with colleagues offering their services well below my price level. And I can\'t say I\'m bored... ▲ Collapse

On 2002-12-13 09:34, eli wrote:

I have read tons of forum postings complaining about jobs that pay 3-4 cents per word.

I also wanted to share my opinion, but I thought it\'s no use, when those people complaining would not take the time to think that not everybody bathes in honey and milk.

I wonder if you would consider working for 3-4 cents in the following conditions:



1. your language pair is rather rare (compared for example to En-De, En-Fr, En-Es, En-It, etc.)

2. the rates in your country are as low as let\'s say 1 - 1,5 per page (yes, one dollar or euro, the same that you would probably get for 10-20 words, good for you) and the rates of an agency are as high as 4 dollars per page (I assume the translator doesn\'t get too much of that, they probably hire an in-house translator with a monthly salary of about the equivalent of 100 USD). Maybe now you will say that we have a low salary, but the living costs are low. No, that\'s not true. The monthly fee you pay for living in a 2-roomed flat in a panel building is 35$, then you have your phone bill (e.g. 10$), your electricity bill (10$), which leaves you about 45$ for food. (When I was in Germany about 1 year ago, the prices for food were lower than in my country). Furthermore, for buying the 2-roomed flat in a panel building you need about 20.000 Euros.

Now, after making some simple mathematical calculations, what would you say if someone offers you 3-4 cents per word, which would mean about 9-10 dollars per page (10 times more than you would get on your local market).

And if you think that you should charge the international rates, you can be sure that, under these conditions, there will always be good professionals in your language pair who would accept lower rates, just because they don\'t have enough work (how would you split up the let\'s say 20 English-Romanian jobs in a year between about 200 professionals).



I would really like to know if under these conditions, YOU would consider working for 3-4 cents, a rate that made it possible for me to work from home all this year and earn 3 times as much as a programmer (they have the highest possible salaries in my country, except for CEOs and politicians, probably).

[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-12-13 09:40 ]





Only a few things, here in Spain, not in Germany, I pay each month this ADSL 48 euros, telephone 70 euros,electricity 35 euros, water 16 euros, taxes to be a fre lance the minimun is 240 euros, a flat 2 bedrooms 400 euros,if I want to buy one 130.000 euros so YOU AND PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE THE RESPONSABLE IF I NEED TO WORK MORE AND MORE BECAUSE RATE ARE EVERY DAY LOWER,YOU KILL THE TRANSLATION WORD.

I AM VERY ANGRY AND ONE DAY I CAN BE HUNGRY TOO BECAUSE HERE IN MY COUNTRY ALL IS MORE EXPENSIVE. ▲ Collapse