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Poll: On a 1-10 scale rate your current satisfaction with the translation industry Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "On a 1-10 scale rate your current satisfaction with the translation industry.".
This poll was originally submitted by Lingua 5B. View the poll results »
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 21:02
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
| Why is 0 not an option? | Mar 13 |
To get it out of the way: I do actually love translating.
However, the industry is increasingly becoming a toxic wasteland between clients blindly trusting in machine translation and AI and agencies competing on a pure rate basis with no regard for quality. And what I definitely love considerably less than translating is "post-editing" (read: completely rewriting) the gibberish and hallucinations of worthless machines for pitiful rates.
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Ana Vozone 
Local time: 20:02
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| It is fine for me, 7 - 8 | Mar 13 |
February was quite slow but, overall, work keeps flowing in, at a steady and comfortable pace.
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There’s some really bad stuff going on in the bulk agency market and AI threatens the profession as a whole (if it gets better), but the boutique agency and direct customer market is the same as ever, allowing me to work how I want and charge what I want, so it was difficult to assign a number.
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| My satisfaction rate is 7-8 | Mar 13 |
I am not comfortable with the money I earn in the translation industry. That is why I would say my satisfaction rate with this industry is 7-8. Otherwise, I am completely satisfied with the translation industry. I love translating. It gives immense joy and satisfaction. Translating is a highly creative profession and a challenging one too. Everybody can't become a translator. You have to have a certain mindset and mental makeup to become a translator.
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I’m optimistic by nature and I’m nearing the end of my career! Since the pandemic years I’ve been noticing that the vicious cycle of ups and downs has stood out more persistently: after a great month comes a poor one. But all in all, everything is fine…
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 21:02
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
We can read about other translators' experiences on these forums and add it to our own experience, but is that enough to be able to properly evaluate the translation industry?
If I look at my own situation it is fine as it has ever been. January was slightly below expectations, February was good and March is on its way to become brilliant to the extent that it might make the first quarter outstanding instead of just OK.
I have been waiting for the continously and loudl... See more We can read about other translators' experiences on these forums and add it to our own experience, but is that enough to be able to properly evaluate the translation industry?
If I look at my own situation it is fine as it has ever been. January was slightly below expectations, February was good and March is on its way to become brilliant to the extent that it might make the first quarter outstanding instead of just OK.
I have been waiting for the continously and loudly announced translation apocalypse for years now, but it just won't come.
[Bijgewerkt op 2024-03-13 11:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:02
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Meanwhile, we get on with things | Mar 13 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
I have been waiting for the continously and loudly announced translation apocalypse for years now, but it just won't come.
Life is what happens to you while the industry is busy making other plans, as it were...
Dan
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Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 22:02
Member
English to Turkish
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Ana Vozone wrote:
February was quite slow but, overall, work keeps flowing in, at a steady and comfortable pace.
I answered the question with my part of the translation industry in mind: small- and medium-scale agencies that care about quality and some long-standing direct clients. The industry overall would get a lower rate, but I avoid working with price-sensitive agencies that treat me like a "resource" that can be replaced at any time.
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If I'm busy: 10.
If I don't have work: 1.
The trick is to have work.
That simple.
For me, anyway.
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If I'm busy: 10.
If I don't have work: 1.
The trick is to have work.
That simple.
When I am busy, I work from home, with no commute, no boss, no office politics, and no schedule
And I make more money than many doctors, lawyers and executives in Spain
And I enjoy what I do!
It's unbeatable... if I am busy
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 21:02
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
| Agencies hate this little trick | Mar 14 |
Justin Peterson wrote:
The trick is to have work.
That simple.
And as translators, we are completely in charge of whether or not we have work
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As for the overall industry I guess it is passable, but there are always some proposed rates suggesting the greed on the part of some outsourcers that pique me.
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There should have been an "other" option. I don't have a single answer.
On a personal level, fairly satisfied, in the sense that I'm doing OK in a country (Italy) that is generally not.
Taking the broader view, however, pretty unhappy. For me, the issue is quality, or lack thereof. I've been working as a freelance translator for about fifteen years now, about thirteen of those in a field (art and art history) in which I am highly qualified (PhD in History of Art; MA in ... See more There should have been an "other" option. I don't have a single answer.
On a personal level, fairly satisfied, in the sense that I'm doing OK in a country (Italy) that is generally not.
Taking the broader view, however, pretty unhappy. For me, the issue is quality, or lack thereof. I've been working as a freelance translator for about fifteen years now, about thirteen of those in a field (art and art history) in which I am highly qualified (PhD in History of Art; MA in Humanities; Post-Bac work in Studio Art). I'm still striving to be as good as the people who produce truly stellar translations in my area. (Some say I've already achieved that, but that's another story.) I've worked with a lot of people who should not be translating in this field, because their translations aren't very good. But our clients and their clients don't realise it, and so the cycle continues. They keep getting work and the poor translations keep accumulating. I think that what it comes down to is clients either don't care or don't know (or both). And the result is that the quality keeps going down, down, down. Not something to be really happy with.
[Edited at 2024-03-14 07:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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