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Poll: On a 1-10 scale rate your current satisfaction with the translation industry
Autor da sequência: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
STAFF DO SÍTIO
Mar 13, 2024

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 »



 
Alex Lichanow
Alex Lichanow
Alemanha
Local time: 17:12
Inglês para Alemão
+ ...
Why is 0 not an option? Mar 13, 2024

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.


The Shredder
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Vera Schoen
Betül Öztürk
Anne Navarro
Liena V.
Oriana W.
 
Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:12
Membro (2010)
Inglês para Português
+ ...
It is fine for me, 7 - 8 Mar 13, 2024

February was quite slow but, overall, work keeps flowing in, at a steady and comfortable pace.

Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
neilmac
Aline Amorim
 
Varies so much Mar 13, 2024

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.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Dan Lucas
Vera Schoen
Rachel Waddington
Liena V.
neilmac
Claudio Machado Junior
 
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Índia
Local time: 20:42
Inglês para Tamil
+ ...
My satisfaction rate is 7-8 Mar 13, 2024

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.

neilmac
Aline Amorim
The Shredder
Philip Lees
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 16:12
Membro (2007)
Inglês para Português
+ ...
7/8 Mar 13, 2024

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…

neilmac
Ana Vozone
The Shredder
edna escalante
Slama-Clauzel Traductions
Philip Lees
Josephine Cassar
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Bélgica
Local time: 17:12
Membro (2020)
Francês para Holandês
+ ...
Do I know? Mar 13, 2024

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]
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The Shredder
Becca Resnik
Philip Lees
 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 16:12
Membro (2014)
Japonês para Inglês
Meanwhile, we get on with things Mar 13, 2024

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


Lieven Malaise
Aline Amorim
Philip Lees
Kay Denney
 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Turquia
Local time: 18:12
Membro
Inglês para Turco
Hmm Mar 13, 2024

Dan Lucas wrote:
Life is what happens to you while the industry is busy making other plans

I always thought it was this guy who 'first expressed that idea'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khd3-TTSJvQ


Liena V.
Dan Lucas
 
Edith van der Have
Edith van der Have
Holanda
Local time: 17:12
Membro (2016)
Inglês para Holandês
+ ...
Same here Mar 13, 2024

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.


The Shredder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Philip Lees
 
Justin Peterson
Justin Peterson  Identity Verified
Espanha
Local time: 17:12
Espanhol para Inglês
+ ...
If I am busy: 10 Mar 13, 2024

If I'm busy: 10.
If I don't have work: 1.
The trick is to have work.
That simple.
For me, anyway.


 
Justin Peterson
Justin Peterson  Identity Verified
Espanha
Local time: 17:12
Espanhol para Inglês
+ ...
If I'm busy: 10 Mar 13, 2024

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


Rachel Waddington
Rintaro I
Kay Denney
Jorge Payan
 
Alex Lichanow
Alex Lichanow
Alemanha
Local time: 17:12
Inglês para Alemão
+ ...
Agencies hate this little trick Mar 14, 2024

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


 
Muhammad Salehi Nejati
Muhammad Salehi Nejati
Inglês para Persa (Farsi)
+ ...
Unfair rates Mar 14, 2024

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.

 
Sarah Elizab (X)
Sarah Elizab (X)  Identity Verified
Itália
Local time: 17:12
Italiano para Inglês
Depends Mar 14, 2024

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]
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The Shredder
Tine Reichert
polishedwords
Michele Fauble
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
 
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Poll: On a 1-10 scale rate your current satisfaction with the translation industry






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