translation is dead as a profession

Lieven Malaise wrote:



Thinking all of this really matters might be part of your problem. It's nice to have translated FIFA (my favourite game ), but I think it's safe to say that the majority of business translators work for popular or famous or whatever brands or companies (be it in a direct or indirect way). It means you're a professional translator, not that you're a top-notch, one-of-a-kind superb one.

[Edited at 2023-05-23 09:29 GMT]

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
As for my attitude, sorry, but I don't like being a commodity that works all day and all night just to make a living.
Cheers

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:

I just told MY POV, and somehow I was questioned whether or not I was a translator with a T.

Lieven Malaise wrote:



Even if you would be working 40 hours a week (which would increase your income significantly compared to those 25 hours), that still wouldn't be anything near 'working all day and all night just to make a living'. It would just be working like most fully employed people do.

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
A lot of translators gripe about not having enough gigs lined up.

You see them all over online discussions.

My beef, though?

I was fried by the time I hit 31, fed up with an industry that thinks it's par for the course to pull 80-hour weeks just to make ends meet, and then gives you a hard time if you don't toe the line.

Here's me, a translator who worked with big-name brands before the big 3-0.

I only mentioned it because, as usual, colleagues throw mud when someone shines a light on the industry problems that everyone else gripes about.

But hey, if you dig the translator life, warts and all, then more power to you. Keep on translating.

I just aired my side of things, and somehow that got folks wondering if I was a legit translator with a capital T.


[Editado a las 2023-05-23 10:28 GMT]

[Editado a las 2023-05-23 10:30 GMT]

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
Plus, there's this little nugget - even if you're pulling in 30 bucks an hour, you've got to work your tail off to scrape together a mere 3 grand (and that's before Uncle Sam gets his cut).

You might argue: "Hey, most folks don't even make 3K," and here's my comeback...

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
I just find it disgusting that former colleagues think they need to attack ad hominem just because I don't share their point of view and air the complaints everyone else gripes about.

Lieven Malaise wrote:



I see you have modified your post by now, but did you really instruct ChatGPT to adapt your postings into a fluent style with modern-like and trendy language? Perhaps copy-pasting from ChatGPT into Proz and after that deleting the excess text might not be the way to go. You could hit the 'Post reply' button by accident.

Working 25 hours, using ChatGPT to produce a kind of English you probably don't master by yourself ... It doesn't really help to make me think otherwise about your attitude.

[Edited at 2023-05-23 11:23 GMT]

Lieven Malaise wrote:



Through your postings you were basically saying that you need to be a fool without a brain to keep on doing what we are all doing. What did you expect ? Flowers ?

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
Please quote exactly where I said that.

Kay Denney wrote:



My hourly rate, calculated to reflect the amount I can earn translating at a decent per-word rate, is more than $30, more like $40.

You can very well move up in the translation world. I moved from working primarily for agencies who'll only pay a low rate, where I barely earned any more than when I was an employee, to working for agencies that pay much better rates and give me work that I really enjoy, in the arts. Then I moved to working more for direct clients who pay even better rates, and now I've reached the point where I'm earning more with direct clients than with agencies. My latest move was to give a hefty quote, more than double my original rate, to a potential new client, who accepted it. I ditched one of of the worst paying agencies last year, and I've been refusing more and more jobs from others to the point that I'm barely working with any of them any more. In the six years I've been freelancing, with decent volumes right from the beginning, my earnings have more than doubled and I'm now looking to work less in order to preserve my status, with simplified taxation but an earning ceiling.

Ice Scream wrote:

… like a rat leaving a sinking ship???

I share some of your concerns, Juan Pablo, but your experience is not everyone’s experience. I for one make way more than you are talking about working 25 hours a week.

It’s interesting though because I thought you were incredibly successful before? And how do you know your new venture will be any more successful and any more immune to AI? Maybe come back when you know the answer.

If you’re right, of course, there will probably be a lot of people making the same move, meaning much competition. I also worry that whatever it is that keeps people out of the high end of the translation market will also apply to any other kind of writing they try.

But good luck and keep us posted!

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
I was fried by the time I hit 31, fed up with an industry that thinks it's par for the course to pull 80-hour weeks just to make ends meet, and then gives you a hard time if you don't toe the line.

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
I'm a seasoned sales copywriter both in English and Spanish, with a solid translation background.
My English? C2 last time I tested in Cambridge.

Lieven Malaise wrote:



Perhaps you can ask ChatGPT what 'you were basically saying' means.

Juan Pablo Sans wrote:
I know how to create business solutions with AI + sales copywriting + email marketing + digital marketing + (even) localization + data analysis + sales + offer creation + prospecting.

For example, in marketing I can get 2K dollars for 40 hours of work when I find clients.

For me, that means I can take my mom to Spain or even enjoy more time with my children without telling them "hey, sorry chap, I need to stay home for a translation".